Can't seem to install Linux?

[jacatone]

I have an old HP Pavilion 6730 running Win98SE. I wanted to get rid of Windows and install Ubuntu Linux but it hangs midway through. Tried two other Linux distros and they do the exact same thing. It had a shutdown problem in Win98. Anyone know the answer to this? Many thanks.

[ktkendall]

Sounds like a hardware problem, could be memory, harddrive, or almost any 1 of the other hardware devices that may be causing your trouble. You have to follow the troubleshooting steps to narrow it down.

[indigo0086]

I used a program called Gparted. You can use that to partition and format your drive first, and then install the OS. I had a hard time with an already formatted drive with no partitions, then I booted from the Gparted live cd, got the drive I wanted, created a primary partition with riserfs, then when I got to the setup for linux it didn't have to do much.

I think you should use that to reformat and dictate the space on your drives first, then install.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Just format the drive to hell, partition it, then load up ubuntu installer (I recommend text mode, the graphical mode hangs for me and tries to repartition everything to ex.

[jglen490]

It could be that the shutdown problem in Windoze crashed the partition table on the hard drive, which COULD cause a hangup. While Gparted could solve the problem, you may want to go a step further and use fdisk to completely wipe the existing partitions, then try the Linux install again.