installation problems

[mlvmhn]

i have borrowed a HP 550 laptop from a friend who wanted me to fix it. Thought it will be a good idea to install Ubuntu ;)

the problem is that as soon as i put in the dvd with ISO of Ubuntu, the prompt is telling me "Fast TLC calibration failed".

what does this mean?

then i see the Ubuntu installation process bar with the five dots changing.
then the laptop is shutting down, and the power is turned off.

when i turn on the computer without the Ubuntu installation disc, i notice that there is a old Windows installation.
but i suspect that there is something wrong with this installation, as i get some alternatives when booting up.
when i select "start Windows normally" it takes a few seconds and then the computer shuts off.

my friend told me that she did a factory recovery a couple a days before i borrowed it.

can this has something to do with this odd behaviour?

i always have the power cale connected to the laptop also.

however, should not the Ubuntu installation process wipe away the old Windows installation?

can i suspect hardware problems? battery?

[yancek]

It would be helpful if you posted some details on the age of the computer and its hardware rather than just HP 550 laptop. I've never seen the error you are reporting. Did you burn the Ubuntu iso file as an image? and also verify the download? If the computer tries to boot windows and just shuts off, I expect the recovery option did not work. Has your friend been able to use the laptop at all recently?

[mlvmhn]

It would be helpful if you posted some details on the age of the computer and its hardware rather than just HP 550 laptop. I've never seen the error you are reporting.

The age of the computer is about 6 years, and the specs is: http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c04142171

Did you burn the Ubuntu iso file as an image? and also verify the download? If the computer tries to boot windows and just shuts off, I expect the recovery option did not work. Has your friend been able to use the laptop at all recently?

Yes i burned the ISO from the Ubuntu homepage with Ashampoo Free Burning software, and got a verified burning process. It seems that my friend has done something that she did not suppose to do. It seems that it worked fine before she did a factory recovery.

Now when i tried to start Windows normally, it tells me that "some important software has been removed recently", and that it is impossible to start it without the Windows original recovery disc.

This makes sense, as the computer just shuts down after about 2 minutes.

Is this a lost case and no bother to put some effort in? shall i just look around for another computer?

[yancek]

some important software has been removed recently

You might try googling that specific error mentioning windows or try a windows forum where members are more familiar whichever version of windows is installed. If you have a recovery disk, there should be a repair option when you boot it which might work. You might also be able to use a recovery disk borrowed from a friend or downloaded from a reliable site but I believe it would have to be the specific version such as windows 7 Home or whatever.

I'm not sure why the Ubuntu DVD won't boot as I've never seen that error. Have you tried an online search for it?

[sudodus]

It would be helpful if you posted some details on the age of the computer and its hardware rather than just HP 550 laptop...

Please tell us more about the computer! Otherwise we can only guess, for example that the computer is too old and weak to run standard Ubuntu, while it would work well with for example Lubuntu.