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L33tZiggy
August 6th, 2011, 08:26 PM
Greetings! First time poster here.

Some background: A friend of mine's computer died. Did my best, couldn't save it. Her mom brought an old computer home from work to find that there was a login required and she couldn't get the proper credentials. She asked me and I thought, "Hey! There are linux tools for this!" So I grabbed my Ubuntu LiveCD I made a few weeks ago and popped it in.

Hardware Stuff I Know:
- The LiveCD is most likely 11.04 as I made it a few weeks ago.
- The computer is older- probably early 2000's
- It's running Windows NT

That's all the information I have at this time.


Now here's the problem. As it's trying to boot as a LiveCD, every directory it tries to access it gets an error citing an input/output error. My first thought was it didn't like the ps/2 connectors. So I grabbed a USB mouse/keyboard and tried again. Same thing, except this time it didn't even make it past the first directory; instead deciding to lock up.

I've done some searching and can't seem to find any solutions.

As far as my Ubuntu, and Linux experience in general, experience; it's next to none. I'm not computer illiterate, however, and could probably make my way through an advice you guys can give me.

Thanks in advance,
Ziggy
mikewhatever
August 6th, 2011, 08:39 PM
The cdrom could be defective (assuming the CD itself isn't), which would explain input/output errors.
Probably unrelated, but chances are, 11.04 Live CD is a bit too much for an 11 yeas old PC. I'd recommend something lighter like Puppy Linux, Slitaz or AniX.
L33tZiggy
August 6th, 2011, 09:27 PM
The cdrom could be defective (assuming the CD itself isn't), which would explain input/output errors.
Probably unrelated, but chances are, 11.04 Live CD is a bit too much for an 11 yeas old PC. I'd recommend something lighter like Puppy Linux, Slitaz or AniX.


Thanks for the quick respond Mike! I have an older Slax LiveCD I could use to test the drive itself. I hadn't thought to blame the CD drive, as I was told the drive was working the last time the computer was used.

As to the distro version, I had done some poking around I made my post and discovered the same thing. The Ubuntu FAQ I was reading had mentioned Xubuntu as a light weight alternative.

Out of those four, which would you recommend as the easiest to use? The computer isn't for me and is for my friend's mom who is quite computer illiterate and the smaller the learning curve the better.

Thanks in advance,
Ziggy
astoit1323
August 6th, 2011, 10:01 PM
Ziggy, I also had this problem trying to install 11.04 on my old XP laptop, and I think I have a solution that would work for you. First, try installing 10.04 on the computer, it might not be powerful enough to run 11.04. Second, use the alternate install CD. It uses a text based installer, and it is a better alternative to use to install Ubuntu on an older computer.

Hope it helps,
Alex
Hakunka-Matata
August 6th, 2011, 10:11 PM
How much RAM does the machine have, it could be a limiting factor?
mikewhatever
August 7th, 2011, 10:46 AM
Out of those four, which would you recommend as the easiest to use? The computer isn't for me and is for my friend's mom who is quite computer illiterate and the smaller the learning curve the better.

Thanks in advance,
Ziggy

All of them are pretty easy to use in the sense that all have point and click GUI. They are also hard to use in the sense that they are not like Windows, which probably what your friend is used to.
Xubuntu is a mid-wight distro, the only light one in the *buntu family is Lubuntu.