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I recently acquired a friend's computer to fix, an eTower 566i2 from 2000 because the machine wouldn't boot into Windows XP and would get stuck in a DiskCheck loop. After using Spinrite and the hard drive checking out fine, I decided to try to give her Ubuntu, as she only has the CD key for Windows ME (eww) and doesn't want to spend money.
So instead, I downloaded the newest copy of Ubuntu from their site, and tried to install it. Now, after I select install, it takes literally half an hour to give me a critical error and tells me it's going to launch a dekstop session to assess what went wrong.
Is there anything about eMachines or computers that old that would prevent Ubuntu or at least the latest version from running properly, and if so, what versions would be good to use? Thanks very much in advanced.

Daniel
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2 Answers2

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Maybe it's faulty RAM? Did you try running the memory test?

Joril
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It could be the install disk you're using, too. I've had a lot of problems with CDs. Here are some solutions I've used:

  1. Choose a different install media, like an USB flash drive. The Ubuntu homepage provides instructions.

  2. If burning the CD yourself, use the slowest possible write speed. Faster write speeds tend to be more error prone.

  3. If you got the CD from Canonical, you might want to run a disk consistency check just to make sure it wasn't excessively dinged up or otherwise hurt during the 6-week-long shipping process.

    If I remember right, the Ubuntu CDs have a boot option that lets you check whether the CD is okay by (I presume) running a checksum of its contents and comparing it to a MD5 hash on the CD. If they don't match, the CD is defective. Running with a defective disk can cause problems, like how bad sectors will prevent regular operating systems from running right.

Community
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Northrup
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