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Topic: For Linux officionados...  (Read 2260 times)

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Offline Centurus

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For Linux officionados...
« on: February 09, 2012, 09:44:13 am »
Past couple of months now I've been trying to install the current version of Ubuntu onto my main computer, first with 11.04 and then with 11.10 when it came out.

I go to the Ubuntu site, download the ISO for both 32 and 64 bit, several times and on two different formats (operating systems/hard drives since I use a mobile rack setup), and I burned the install discs, and I even created a bootable USB install drive using the method provided on Ubuntu.com.

Each time I try installing on my main computer, nothing happens.  If I install from a disc, I'm lucky if I get to the main selection menu, and then whatever I select, the whole thing stalls with a blinking cursor.  If I install from the USB, the thing stalls when trying to load the files necessary to begin setup.

If I try to just run Ubuntu off the disc or USB drive, the same thing happens, the disc barely loads to the main selection menu and if you select to run Ubuntu from the CD, the system stalls with a blinking cursor, and if I select to run Ubuntu from the USB install drive, it stalls while loading the files necessary to start running Ubuntu.

Here's a kicker.  Just to see if the intended hard drive I wanted to install to was bad, sometimes I'd have no hard drive plugged into the machine, and still the same thing happens.  I've also run DBAN on it and it finished fine, and I've installed XP on it just to see if it could have something installed on it.  By the way, I use SATA drives these days.

I've replaced my DVD burner just recently, and have used it quite a bit and it works fine, so I don't think the burner is causing a bad burn.  I've used several programs to burn the ISOs to disc, and they are Roxio 2012, Slysoft CloneCD, and the ISO burning utility that Ubuntu recommends.

To see if it was the Ubuntu ISOs that were corrupted, I removed the hard drive from my laptop and booted Linux from the USB install drive, and it worked just fine.

In the past I've dabbled with Linux installs on my main computer, and never had a problem like this.

No one I know has an answer, so I'm wondering if anyone here might know.

Current specs:

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 rev 1.0
BIOS version F9
AMD Athlon II X4 AM3 processor
4 Gigs Kingston Hyper X ram DDR2 800
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 PCI sound card
Lite-On 24X DVD SATA Burner
iStarUSA T-5PF-SA Trayless SATA mobile rack (two of them)
1TB Seagate SATA II running XP PRO w/SP3
500GB Western Digital SATA II running Vista Ultimate 64-bit with latest service pack and all updates
200GB Maxtor SATA II no OS

Whenever I've tried to install Linux, the only hard drive plugged in was the Maxtor, and again, as I stated before, I installed XP onto it after I ran it through DBAN, and the drive is fine.  I've wiped the drive again with just a quick format.

So again, any thoughts?
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Offline Commander Maxillius

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2012, 11:33:03 am »
I've heard that Ubuntu 11 was one of the buggiest releases they've ever done, worse than 5 even.  I'd suggest trying to install the last good version of 10.
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Offline Nemesis

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2012, 12:53:33 pm »
Are your BIOS settings at default or customized?  I've had both Linux and Windows fail to install on a system with customized BIOS settings.

Have you considered trying Linux Mint?
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Offline Centurus

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2012, 06:52:01 am »
The BIOS settings aren't really custom, mostly stock.  And when I last re-flashed the BIOS, it was reset to standard settings, and even then I still had the problems.

I haven't tried using Ubuntu 10 or Linux Mint.  I'll try one of those.
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Offline Commander Maxillius

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2012, 01:18:54 pm »
Mint is great, despite the fact that the last version I used regularly was Mint 6.
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Offline KBF-Kurok

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2012, 04:56:33 pm »
never had this problem. Do you have a different cd  burner that you could try to load it from? I have had this happen in windows. It might also be a security setting in the bios. Also you need to burn the ISO at the slowest speed. Might also try burning it on a different computer. Im just throwing out some common problems i Have read about. Might try asking at ubuntu  forums also.
 seems its a bug with this series of amd cards. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/560306 readin thru there might help.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2012, 08:21:15 pm by KBF-Kurok »
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Offline Centurus

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2012, 01:39:53 am »
So Ubuntu doesn't like AMD.  Damn.
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Offline Centurus

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2012, 11:04:01 am »
Update for you guys.  I downloaded Ubuntu 10, and it seems to be running ok.  I've only run it off the disc, but the fact that I was able to do that leads me to believe that I shouldn't have problems installing it.

Now, could someone recommend me a good UI for it?  I know there's one that mimics the MAC OS interface, but I don't know which it is.
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Offline KBF-Kurok

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Re: For Linux officionados...
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2012, 01:07:11 pm »
That is one of the great things about Linux your not stuck with just one desktop environment you can try as many as you want on the same system you just choose it at log in after installing it. I just use GNOME as for Mac like i cant recommend one because I don't know what OS 10 looks like. There are many themes you can choose and IIRC. As for Linux not liking your video card if amd wrote proper drivers for Linux we wouldn't have these problems
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