Newbie problem: instal disk not working

[Tom Fernandes]

Hi,

> > Hi,
> > > I downloaded the i386 iso instal file, checked the MD5sum (OK),
> burned
> > > it to a disk, checked the MD5 again (OK) then set about installing
> -
> > > but nothing! My PC won't recognise the CD. Yet I can still use my
> > > Mandrake instal CD and Fedora instal DVD and a Knoppix Live CD in
> the
> > > drive (a Lite-On DVD-RW drive).
> > >
> > > Can anyone offer a solution to this problem other than downloading
> and
> > > doing it all again? (But if the MD5 sums were OK, will it be any
> > > different anyway after another download?)
> > >
> > read http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/BurningIsoHowto - hopefully
> this
> > helps. Most likely you did something wrong while burning the CD.
> Perhaps
> > you wrote the image to the CD as an ordinary file instead of writing
> an > image to the CD?
> 
> > Tom
> 
> Tom,
> Thanks for the help. I had a look at the HowTo. I used Nero in Win98
> and thought I had done it correctly - but I've been known to get
> things wrong before! Two questions. Is there any way to tell if the
> file on the CD is ordinary, not iso (other than it not working)? 

yes - if you put the CD into the cdrom drive and look at the contents of
the CD (with e.g. explorer, konqueror, nautilus, etc).
If you see one file with the size of several hundred megabytes you did
it wrong. If you see several files and directories on the CD you wrote
the CD correctly - at least at first glance.

> And, if it might be burnt as an ordinary file can I "retrieve" it from
> the CD and burn it properly to a second CD (I no longer have the
> original file).

yes - just copy it back to the harddisk from the CD, and write it like
advised in http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/BurningIsoHowto .

check that the filename ends with .iso . As far as I remember Nero will
recognise that file to be an image if you select it with clicking:
File --> Burn Image
or something similar.

> I hope to get Kubuntu working because it sounds very interesting and
> the folks around it sound friendly (maybe that rubs off from Ubuntu).

thanks :)

>  Is it really based in the Isle of Man? As someone who lives in, and
> runs a business from, the depths of the Somerset Levels I quite like
> the idea of using a Manx OS!
> Peter


Tom