Trouble installing ubuntu on an old company computer

[John Harris]

Hi, ive had ubuntu installed on my system for a couple of months now and am very impressed, nevertheless i am still a beginner. After raving about it so much my dad sacrificed an old work laptop to give it a go (I say old but it was top of the range a few years ago... much higher spec than the one i am currently running ubuntu on), i am trying to use the same CD i used to install mine (if you cant do this then we know where i have gone wrong) But after the boot up screen shows it says for more information press esc now, then counts from two and proceeds, anyway whatever you press from that screen or if you allow it to continue it simply goes to the same screen, half purple (the ubuntu colour) and half black, i cannot get past this point, whatever i try to do, even install within windows it just ends up at the same screen. Any suggestions as to whats wrong? could my dads office have put measures in place to stop other operating systems, if so can tyhey be removed? Much appreciated, John.

[darkod]

Sounds like video driver issue. When you see the first splash image, hit Space to get the main menu. Then hit Esc (or F4, I'm not sure) to show the boot line displayed.
At the end add nomodeset. Then try to boot with the Try Ubuntu option. Don't install right away.
Can that help to load the live mode desktop?

[lechien73]

You could try installing from the alternate CD. Sometimes the graphics for the desktop may need to be configured after the installation. It can be downloaded from:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#mirrors

[John Harris]

im afraid to say ive tried that several times and i still just find myself staring at the same old screen

[drdos2006]

I have also had that problem in the past. I found that I needed to use older versions of Linux, e,g, Redhat 5.2, Ubuntu 7.04 etc to be able to use the older equipment.

regards