[Phil Owens]

I want to do a clean install of Ubuntu on my old Medion laptop.

I first tried installing along side windows vista but with all the other crap on the hdd it must not have enough room for the install as it gets stuck at the first step.

So I want to format the hdd, I don't have the windows disc so how do I format the hdd?

[ironjade]

It's been a while but doesn't Ubuntu give you the option to use the whole drive when you begin the installation? Assuming you want to remove Windows completely. Mint definitely does.

[1saintly]

Originally Posted by ironjade

It's been a while but doesn't Ubuntu give you the option to use the whole drive when you begin the installation? Assuming you want to remove Windows completely. Mint definitely does.

Yes it does.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/...desktop-latest

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

I want to do a clean install of Ubuntu on my old Medion laptop.

I first tried installing along side windows vista but with all the other crap on the hdd it must not have enough room for the install as it gets stuck at the first step.

So I want to format the hdd, I don't have the windows disc so how do I format the hdd?

Before you commit to loosing youre windows forever, have you tried running Ubuntu from the live dvd?
Firstly to see if it runs on youre old lappy, and secondly to see if you think you will like it.

[ironjade]

Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions can also be run from USB sticks, allowing you to make changes and updates which will be retained, which can't be done with discs.

www.linuxliveusb.com

[Phil Owens]

Originally Posted by 1saintly

Yes it does.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/...desktop-latest



Before you commit to loosing youre windows forever, have you tried running Ubuntu from the live dvd?
Firstly to see if it runs on youre old lappy, and secondly to see if you think you will like it.

When I boot the laptop with the disc in it only gets as far as the purple loading screen.
it goes through the motions of loading for a couple of minutes and the screen goes blank and nothing happens after that.

I don't think all the files were burnt as it doesn't look like the file in the link on the ubuntu site http://s4.beta.photobucket.com/user/...tml?sort=3&o=0

I have downloaded and burnt the disc three times...

[Maxatoria]

Does it have an ATI graphics card built into it as sometimes it can be a pain with certain ati cards

[Phil Owens]

Originally Posted by Maxatoria

Does it have an ATI graphics card built into it as sometimes it can be a pain with certain ati cards

Just a standard VGA graphics adaptor

[Maxatoria]

Whats the exact make/model of the laptop, much easier to find out detailed info that way

[Phil Owens]

Originally Posted by Maxatoria

Whats the exact make/model of the laptop, much easier to find out detailed info that way

It's a Medion MD 96489.

I burnt to DVD would it be better on CD ? or burn it at a slower speed.

[Robertfltn]

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

I want to do a clean install of Ubuntu on my old Medion laptop.

I first tried installing along side windows vista but with all the other crap on the hdd it must not have enough room for the install as it gets stuck at the first step.

So I want to format the hdd, I don't have the windows disc so how do I format the hdd?

if you want to keep Vista you could use a Windows application called Windows Disk management to shrink the windows partition down by how much you want to use for Ubuntu (10gb would be a sensible minimum but give it as much as you can spare). Its should read free space and the Ubuntu install disc will have an option to install itself into this free space, making the process far easier.

If you don't want to keep Vista Ubuntu will have an option take all hard disk space, deleting Vista.

[Phil Owens]

Originally Posted by Robertfltn

if you want to keep Vista you could use a Windows application called Windows Disk management to shrink the windows partition down by how much you want to use for Ubuntu (10gb would be a sensible minimum but give it as much as you can spare). Its should read free space and the Ubuntu install disc will have an option to install itself into this free space, making the process far easier.

If you don't want to keep Vista Ubuntu will have an option take all hard disk space, deleting Vista.

Sadly as I posted above the installation doesn't get that far before crashing

[Maxatoria]

Looking at a quick google its a via chrome 9 graphics chip and there does seem to be some pain in getting the graphics to work

[1saintly]

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

When I boot the laptop with the disc in it only gets as far as the purple loading screen.
it goes through the motions of loading for a couple of minutes and the screen goes blank and nothing happens after that.

I don't think all the files were burnt as it doesn't look like the file in the link on the ubuntu site http://s4.beta.photobucket.com/user/...tml?sort=3&o=0

I have downloaded and burnt the disc three times...

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

It's a Medion MD 96489.

I burnt to DVD would it be better on CD ? or burn it at a slower speed.

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

Sadly as I posted above the installation doesn't get that far before crashing

I assume from youre posts youre downloading from
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

if thats the case, then if i was you i would download
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=117
its not the OS youre after, but will answer a few questions/queries.

[ironjade]

You could also installing a slightly older version of Ubuntu via wubi.org alongside Windows.

[KJ44]

Originally Posted by Phil Owens

I burnt to DVD would it be better on CD ? or burn it at a slower speed.

Burn it on the slowest speed possible, and if your software supports it, verify the burn afterwards. On Linux, k3b has a verify option.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes

[Phil Owens]

Cheers for the help everyone. I think I will try an older version and go from there..