Newer Help x3: Regarding Ubuntu

My old Dell computer of 2005 which has windows xp installed (Used it for first time in over a year) keeps rebooting over and over again before it even gets to the desktop...

This PC used to work fine before we put it away after getting our new one. The first time I turned it on today, it was able to stay on the desktop for 5 minutes before it automatically restarted. And then progressively it kept restarting over and over again at a faster rate when it approached the main desktop screen. Now it restarts before it even shows me the desktop screen.

What to do? I have looked online but I would like more opinions please.

Last edited by bowdown on Tue May 29, 2012 7:17 am, edited 2 times in total.

I have an 03 Dell computer running xp. I've never had that exact problem, but I have had several random reboots. I have no clue what makes them do that. Usually works "fine" after that.

Try to boot it in safe mode (press F8 repeatedly) when you see the BIOS loading, hopefully that will give you a chance to at least do a bit of scanning and see what the hell is going on. Check the msconfig utility to make sure that nothing possibly harmful gets loaded along with Windows.

I have an 03 Dell computer running xp. I've never had that exact problem, but I have had several random reboots. I have no clue what makes them do that. Usually works "fine" after that.

For your random automatic reboots I saw a solution that said right click my Computer, click click and eventually Uncheck automatic reboot. Hopefully u can navigate. It should be in one of the menus after right click My computer

Try to boot it in safe mode (press F8 repeatedly) when you see the BIOS loading, hopefully that will give you a chance to at least do a bit of scanning and see what the hell is going on. Check the msconfig utility to make sure that nothing possibly harmful gets loaded along with Windows.

I cannot get to my desktop even in safe mode.

Try to get into your BIOS. You should be able to get there before it reboots, otherwise your computer is seriously fucked.

I have an 03 Dell computer running xp. I've never had that exact problem, but I have had several random reboots. I have no clue what makes them do that. Usually works "fine" after that.

For your random automatic reboots I saw a solution that said right click my Computer, click click and eventually Uncheck automatic reboot. Hopefully u can navigate. It should be in one of the menus after right click My computer

That computer was barely functional two years and I've probably used it like three times since I got a new computer over a year ago. I definitely had automatic reboot off though.

Format it.

Test the thing first, get your Windows disc and have your DVD Drive boot first. If it still reboots automatically, something is really wrong with it.

Or you could try startup repair with the same Windows disc.

Formatting is the last option.

Guys, I have decided that I want to put Ubuntu on it....are any of you using a free OS like Ubuntu?

I tried to use a USB stick to install Ubuntu by putting the installation iso. content onto it. This is supposed to emulate a CD rom installation. But after I get to the installation menu, I hit enter on Install on Hard Drive and then Ubuntu seems like it is about to start up but it gets stuck on the loading screen with the message, Trying to connect to network configuration...(something like that)..After which it just freezes and doesnt go to the language selection screen where it is supposed to go.

I have tried to look at solutions but non make decent sense to me. I know that USB method is very doable because I have seen youtube videos and even Ubuntu main website has instructions which I followed.

Can anyone please help me get Ubuntu (or any other good free OS) installed on my PC using a USB flash disk?

I burned many installation CDs today with OS on them but sometimes either a randomly specific file was found corrupted on the disk or my PC wouldnt even recognize the installation disk and continue on to loading Windows xp.

Help me getting the USB flash drive installation going please.

PS: I want to format the drive. A fresh install is what I want.

Formatting is the last option.

And you consider yourself a NLSC Team Member. For shame.

Did you use http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/ ?

That should allow you to boot the LiveCD version of ubuntu.

There's also http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download

There should also be a button to press, usually F12 on Dell's, to tell the BIOS which drive to boot from to make it load from the CD drive.

Also go in the BIOS and change it so it doesn't automatically reboot on a system error.

Formatting is the last option.

And you consider yourself a NLSC Team Member. For shame.

Well it's actually my first option. Then I'd think of other ways to fix what's wrong.

Did you use http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/ ?

That should allow you to boot the LiveCD version of ubuntu.

There's also http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download

There should also be a button to press, usually F12 on Dell's, to tell the BIOS which drive to boot from to make it load from the CD drive.

Also go in the BIOS and change it so it doesn't automatically reboot on a system error.

I tried your method but it takes me to a log in page before setup....
I have tried leaving username and password blank but it just sailed incorrect login...I have never set anything up so why is it asking for log in...I dont know

Can you help me bypass this login screen to get to setup?

When you boot to the USB it should come up with a black and white screen that offers you to Run, Install, etc.

Try running it from the USB. You can install from within the Live environment.

Ok guys, I just loaded up this Live environment of Ubuntu on my laptop and it made me kinda horny. I am considering getting rid of Windows 7 from my laptop and doing a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 on this laptop.

Are there any positives and negatives you have to tell me regarding which software would be better? Will my docx. files and other Microsoft Office files easily syncronize with the software installed on Ubuntu? How about any other differences that you think I should know?

LibreOffice will open Microsoft Office files, but they do handle certain formatting different.

Also, you won't be playing any major games.

You can dual-boot with Ubuntu and Windows fairly easily. This may be the easiest and safest method as it you do not have to worry about screwing anything up: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/ins ... th-windows

If you were still interested in trying to fix XP, if you have an XP installation disc then you can try booting into the Recovery Console and running CHKDSK /R. Additionally, in the same menu with all the Safe Mode options when you press F8, there should be an option to disable the automatic restart on system failure. That should give you a blue screen of death error message that you can look up and work from.

I don't want to create the same thread cause I figure I also have the same inquiry as bowdown.

Since I have a class that require to use a Red Hat Enterprise Linux at home. I plan to install one on my Desktop or Laptop but I only plan on using/studying it until the end of our semester. I know dual-booting is the way to go but I also heard that you can boot an OS via a USB. Is that recommendable? I'm having doubts on dual-booting because there might be performance issues that might happen

It's certainly possible. If you have any qualms about dual-booting, seems like it would be the way to go.

I don't want to create the same thread cause I figure I also have the same inquiry as bowdown.

Since I have a class that require to use a Red Hat Enterprise Linux at home. I plan to install one on my Desktop or Laptop but I only plan on using/studying it until the end of our semester. I know dual-booting is the way to go but I also heard that you can boot an OS via a USB. Is that recommendable? I'm having doubts on dual-booting because there might be performance issues that might happen

There will be no performance issues from dual-booting, there will be from using a USB drive. Dual-booting with Linux is a pretty painless process.

Also, no idea if you can even easily boot Red Hat Enterprise from a USB. The others use LiveCD environments to do it. Maybe if you told the the USB Installer it's Fedora or something.

Dual-booting with Linux is a pretty painless process.

Any links then? I might just go dual-booting if that the case.

Just create a blank section on your hard drive, when you go to install Linux it'll setup the dual-boot automatically.