12.04 Install hangs at welcome screen

[Weaver_]

Hi everyone,
I'm at my wits end with this here. Beside me sits a graveyard of DVD's and CDs. My soul broken with constant attempts at trying to get 12.04 to install and it just will not. I have tried both the 64 bit and the 32 bit intsalls. I verified the MD5 hashes about 20 times over the course of this weekend; they're good.

I tried various media; three USB sticks, several DVDs and CDs and I constantly butt into this error. I just don't know what to do. I also tried Wubi from Windows, it does not work either.

Here's what's happening:

I pick this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/SoulWeaver/IMG_0138.jpg

Everything seems fine and then I get to this screen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/SoulWeaver/IMG_0140.jpg

I know this screen is not supposed to look like this. It's supposed to contain "try" and "install" options. Obviously, it does not. It also demonstrates odd behavior; I can not initially move the cursor around. After about a minute it lets me move it, the cursor for some reason turns into a text selection cursor and I can't click on anything. My only option is to reboot the machine.

Any ideas or help would be appreciated. My system specifications are below:

CPU: Intel i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3400 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3
RAM: 16gb
Hard Drives: All western digital 2TB (x2), 1TB(x1); all are SATA 3.
Video Card: Evga nVidia GTX 580

Please let me know if I can provide any more information that would help you or others decide what might be wrong.

I am going to go console myself by baking something delicious and doughy. Hopefully once that's done someone will have replied!

EDIT:
I should also note that the live CD does not work. It's just a black screen. It is also worth noting that I tried an 11.10 live CD for fun and it worked absolutely flawlessly.

[jmfal]

Welcome to Ubuntu
Try running from USB first ,, then install from link on desktop

Also ther might be some problem with hardware and ubuntu is trying to sort thing out.

[sanderj]

EDIT:
I should also note that the live CD does not work. It's just a black screen. It is also worth noting that I tried an 11.10 live CD for fun and it worked absolutely flawlessly.

Worth a try:
Boot the 11.10 live CD, and install 11.10 onto your harddisk
Then boot 11.10 from the harddisk. Make sure it's updated & upgraded. Probably you need to reboot once.
Ubuntu 11.10 will then offer to do a distribution upgrade to 12.04. Accept that offer ... ;-)

HTH

[Weaver_]

Worth a try:
Boot the 11.10 live CD, and install 11.10 onto your harddisk
Then boot 11.10 from the harddisk. Make sure it's updated & upgraded. Probably you need to reboot once.
Ubuntu 11.10 will then offer to do a distribution upgrade to 12.04. Accept that offer ... ;-)

HTH
Not a bad idea. The worst that happens is the 11.10 install gets borked and I'm basically at where I am now.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[sanderj]

Not a bad idea. The worst that happens is the 11.10 install gets borked and I'm basically at where I am now.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Indeed. And installation of Ubuntu only takes 10 or 15 minutes.

[efflandt]

When you first get to that first screen you show, there should be a list of function keys at the bottom. If/when you see those try selecting nomodeset from the F6 list (cursor down to nomodeset then spacebar to X it). Esc closes any of the function key lists. Then boot to a live system. Video will not be optimal using nouveau, but the actual install from there should automatically install nvidia drivers.

Once you get it installed, no kernel parameters are needed.

If that fails, try the 64-bit Alternate Install CD from http://gb.releases.ubuntu.com/precise/