Just check on an extra machine that one of the CD's work. Check that the bios for your machine has it booting off of CD (turn off all other options, turn "boot from other" to disabled). If it doesn't get into Bios, that's problem #1, and if it doesn't boot into the splash, the cdrom in the dell is probably trashed. <div> <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 1:24 PM, Frank Dolinar <<a href="mailto:frank.dolinar@comcast.net">frank.dolinar@comcast.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hi, Don, Thanks for the reply, no forgiveness necessary. None of the disks I have tried in this old Dell system display a splash screen at startup. It doesn't seem to matter which version of Ubuntu I use, whether I start the machine with the CD already in the drive, or whether I close the drive after I start up the system with its current WinXP OS. Never see a splash screen nor any installation option. I'm missing something. I'm all but certain that I've used one or more of these disks to install on a different system in the past. I am under the impression that all of these disks should allow installation, but I'm not seeing it. Could it have anything to do with the burning of the ISO image to the CD? If so, what? Thanks, Frank <div><div></div><div class="h5"> Don Bosman wrote: <blockquote type="cite">Please forgive me if you already know this, and the issue is elsewhere. The splash screen for Ubuntu has options for booting or installing. If you do nothing the Live CD version loads. I've not paid attention at times and missed the install option. Don Bosman Frank Dolinar wrote: <blockquote type="cite">Hi, folks, I'm trying to install Ubuntu on a Dell Inspiron 2600 laptop. There is nothing on this system's HD that needs to be kept. I have over time downloaded versions of Ubuntu from 6.06 through 9.10 and created CDs from the ISO images. In all cases I believe these to be installation disks. Booting the computer with the CD in the drive brings up the LiveCD functions, but I'm not finding a way to actually initiate the installation process. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, Frank *----------------------------------------------------------------* * Frank Dolinar <a href="mailto:frank.dolinar@comcast.net" target="_blank">frank.dolinar@comcast.net</a> * * nanoSteps, LLC <a href="http://www.nanosteps.net" target="_blank">www.nanosteps.net</a> * * PO Box 886 517.351.1899 * * East Lansing, MI 48826-0886 * *----------------------------------------------------------------* * Toward the future, one small step at a time. * *----------------------------------------------------------------* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ linux-user mailing list <a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu" target="_blank">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> <a href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user" target="_blank">http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a> </blockquote> </blockquote> </div></div><pre cols="70">-- *----------------------------------------------------------------* * Frank Dolinar <a href="mailto:frank.dolinar@comcast.net" target="_blank">frank.dolinar@comcast.net</a> * * nanoSteps, LLC <a href="http://www.nanosteps.net" target="_blank">www.nanosteps.net</a> * * PO Box 886 517.351.1899 * * East Lansing, MI 48826-0886 * *----------------------------------------------------------------* * Toward the future, one small step at a time. * *----------------------------------------------------------------* </pre> </div> _______________________________________________ linux-user mailing list <a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> <a href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user" target="_blank">http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a> </blockquote></div> </div>