Cannot Install Ubuntu 10.10

[apodictic]

Hello. I have been trying to install Ubuntu 10.10 on my laptop. Every time I boot from my USB and I select install, loops on an error message that seems like a DRDY error. Any ideas? The specs of my laptop are below:

Brand: MSI
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz processor
BIOS: A1674IMS Ver 1.0L
RAM: 4GB
Video: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series
Current OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit (just a note here, I reinstalled windows 7 over Windows Vista, but I am pretty sure vista is out of my computer. However, whenever I boot, I load into Windows Boot Manager and get the choice to select either Vista or 7, but both choices boot Windows 7)

Thanks for the help.

[Hedgehog1]

Welcome to the Fourms!

We need to get a look at your disk partition layout.

Please boot off the LiveCD/LiveUSB, select 'TRY' and then:

In the Terminal (Menu to: Applications >> Accessories >> Terminal), please run this command: (the -'l' is a lower case 'L')

sudo fdisk -l
Then copy the text from the output and paste it into your next post.

I expect with a little clean up of unused partitions we can get you rolling.

The Hedge

:KS

[apodictic]

Hi. Thank you. If you mean "Run Ubuntu from this USB," I tried that and it does the same error as when I hit "Install Ubuntu on a Hard Disk"

[Hedgehog1]

Hi. Thank you. If you mean "Run Ubuntu from this USB," I tried that and it does the same error as when I hit "Install Ubuntu on a Hard Disk"

apodictic,

When you boot of the Ubuntu USB, do you see this screen before you press any keys:
http://www.ubuntu.com/sites/default/files/active/maverick/trial_01_medium.jpg

If you are seeing a different screen, you are not using the LiveCD/LiveUSB iso, but the 'Alternate Installer' iso that does not offer the 'TRY' option.

Are you seeing this screen? Or something else?

The Hedge

:KS

[apodictic]

@hedgehog1 I do not see that screen first. The first screen I see is shown below.


http://img204.imageshack.us/i/img0752t.jpg/

[Hedgehog1]

apodictic,

OK - we can still work with this.

The very first menu option select says 'Run Ubuntu from this USB'. Choose that, please. When Ubuntu comes up, do this:

In the Terminal (Menu to: Applications >> Accessories >> Terminal), please run this command: (the -'l' is a lower case 'L')

sudo fdisk -l
Then copy the text from the output and paste it into your next post.


The Hedge

:KS

[apodictic]

Yea. That is what I hit. It still gave me the same problem with the DRDY loop error.

[apodictic]

So, any ideas?

[apodictic]

Results from the sudo fdisk -l command

---


To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x437c30c3

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 12768 102557696 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 12768 38914 210010112 7 HPFS/NTFS

[Hedgehog1]

apodictic,

So, it looks like you were able to 'Run Ubuntu from this USB'.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 12768 102557696 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 12768 38914 210010112 7 HPFS/NTFS

Right now your hard drive has two partitions, the boot partition for Win7 and the main Win7 partition. You also appear to have open space at the end of your drive.

The next logical step is to run gparted from the 'Run Ubuntu from this USB' option, and create the partitions you will want for Ubuntu to use.

The layout will be:

/dev/sda3 Logical Partition to the end of the drive, filling all space left
__/dev/sda5 ext4 logical drive, taking all but the swap space your want
__/dev/sda6 Linux Swap (make it the size of your RAM, plus a tiny bit more).

The Hedge

:KS

[Hedgehog1]

When you get to here on the install:

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/2588/hp4partitions09.png

It will get you to here:

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9937/hp4partitions10.png

Setup /dev/sda5 this way (your partition size will be different):

http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/5274/hp4partitions11.png

Setup /dev/sda6 this way (your swap partition size may be different):

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4934/hp4partitions12.png

Make sure your Device for boot loader installation is /dev/sda , not /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda3 - just /dev/sda

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/6342/hp4partitions13.png

And you should be ready to press "INSTALL" and go!

The Hedge

:KS

[apodictic]

Thank you for the instructions. I have followed your instructions and after I perform the first restart I get an this screen after selecting ubuntu from grub load:

---
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
-Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
-Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
-Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/ecaffac9-9043-43f8-bcde-5c7c0269dedc does not exist.
Dropping to a shell!


BusyBox v1.15.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.15.3-1ubuntu5) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) _

[apodictic]

Any solution to this problem?

[collisionystm]

are you trying to dual boot ubuntu and windows? Or replace windows with ubuntu?