<html> <body> Thanks all for your help and clarifications. I will now take a deep breath and put it all behind me. And when I have Ubuntu up and running, I'll let you know. []s - Peter At 02:53 31/10/2009, ApOgEE wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear Peter, From your answers, I can confirm that the Ubuntu CD did not cause your PC crashed. It have never do anything yet to your PC because you haven't instructed it. If you are still interested in installing Ubuntu dual boot on your PC, Please view these articles: 1. <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD"> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD</a> 2. <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot" eudora="autourl"> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot</a> - the detail instruction on how to do the dual boot installation 3. <a href="http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/Installing_Ubuntu_with_Windows_Dual-Boot"> http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/Installing_Ubuntu_with_Windows_Dual-Boot</a> - the screencast on how to do the installation it in details. Preserving your Windows partition. On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 12:44 AM, Peter Lenny <<a href="mailto:lenny@alternex.com.br">lenny@alternex.com.br</a>> wrote: <dl> <dd>Friends, <dd>I am impressed and grateful at your responses. <dd>I'm replying to all three together so that you do not duplicate efforts. <dd>The questions, in chronological order, seem to be: <dd>1. Did you burn Ubuntu LiveCD? <dd>I downloaded "ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso" (715.732 kb) from "<a href="http://unicamp.br">unicamp.br</a>", which I burned to CD. <dd>I have just noticed that it appears on my desktop as a compacted file. I don't remember unpacking it. <dd>When I now do so, it breaks out into a series of files and folders (folders are .disk, casper, dists, install, isolinux, pics, pool, preseed; and the files autorun.inf, md5sum.txt, README.diskdefines, ubuntu and wubi.exe). Same happens with 9.10, which I've just downloaded. <dd>Should it be unpacked first and then burned? I seem to be getting more confused. </dl> No, you don't have to unpack the ISO file before burning it. The ISO file is a CD image. Just burn the image as explained in <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto"> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto</a> <dl> <dd>2. What software did you use to burn the image to a CD? <dd>I used InfraRecorder, as recommended on <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto"> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto</a> <dd>3. What happened between the CD burn process finishing and the computer rebooting? Did you eject and re-insert the CD into the drive, or did it reboot while the CD burning software was still running? It's important that you provide as much detail as possible about what happened in this step. <dd>As I remember, I did nothing. I simply burned the CD, turned around and it was rebooting. I don't remember givng any command to the CD player. It's always possible that, if InfraRecorder ends the burn sequence by ejecting the CD, I may have touched it with my knee or something, but I don't remember doing so. <dd>4. When you booted up, did you choose try ubuntu without any chages or install ubuntu? <dd>I didn't even get that far: I aborted the reboot as soon as I realized it was happening. I didn't want to install until I had re-read the manual. <dd>5. have you booted the LiveCD until this menu? <dd>No chance: see 4. </dl> It seems like you have never installed ubuntu on your PC and the Ubuntu CD have done nothing yet to your PC. It is not that Ubuntu caused the crash. As per Phill Bull said, It could have just been an unfortunate coincidence that you were burning an Ubuntu CD at the time. <dl> <dd>6. What happens when you start your computer now? <dd>XP has been restored by my friendly neighborhood IT store. That is, when I first removed the CD and tried to reboot, I got a message that XP could not boot because a certain file (don't remember which) was missing. The techies said that, depending on which and how many files were missing, they might be able to restore XP intact. That's more or less the situation now, except that XP no longer shuts down the machine automatically: just ends with a screen saying it is now safe for me to turn off. <dd>Hope the answer's in there somewhere. <dd>[]s - Peter <dd>At 21:13 29/10/2009, you wrote: <dl> <dd>Hi Peter, <dd>Thanks for getting in touch. <dd>On Thu, 2009-10-29 at 13:26 -0200, Peter Lenny wrote: <dd>> 1. I downloaded Ubuntu 9.04 (jaunty jackalope) and burned the image to <dd>> a CD. <dd>What software did you use to burn the image to a CD? </dl> <dd>InfraRecorder, as recommended on <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto"> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto</a> <dl> <dd>> 2. Immediately the CD-burn program finished, the computed just <dd>> rebooted and (what I assume to be) an install process started. <dd>What happened between the CD burn process finishing and the computer <dd>rebooting? Did you eject and re-insert the CD into the drive, or did it <dd>reboot while the CD burning software was still running? It's important <dd>that you provide as much detail as possible about what happened in this <dd>step. </dl> <dd>As I remember, I had done nothing. I simply burned the CD, turned around and it was rebooting. I don't think I consciously reinserted the CD. It's pssible that, if InfraRecorder ends the burn sequence by ejecting the CD, I may have touched it with my knee or something, but I don't think I did anything in terms of computer commands. <dl> <dd>When booting from a CD, Ubuntu will load a "Live CD" environment, which <dd>lets you try Ubuntu without installing it. You could have been seeing <dd>this rather than an installer. <dd>> 3. In panic, I shut down the PC, then removed the CD. On rebooting, <dd>> Windows XP could not initialize, and I had to resort to an IT <dd>> professional to restore the system. <dd>The install process can't begin unless you explicitly start it yourself, <dd>and you will be asked to confirm that you want to install Ubuntu before <dd>any changes are made to your hard disk. If you didn't start the install <dd>process yourself, then Ubuntu shouldn't have made any changes to your <dd>computer whatsoever. <dd>If I understand the steps you performed, then I don't think that Ubuntu <dd>caused the crash. It could have just been an unfortunate coincidence <dd>that you were burning an Ubuntu CD at the time. <dd>> So my question is: Did I unwittingly abort a simple, legitimate, <dd>> automatic install process that would have preserved my existing XP <dd>> setup on C:, installed Ubuntu wherever I subsequently instructed it <dd>> to, and set up Grub for dual boot, or did I interrupt a potentially <dd>> disastrous overwrite of my existing XP installation on C:? <dd>It depends on which installation CD you're using, but starting an <dd>automatic installation process isn't trivial. It's most likely that you <dd>were just starting the Live CD, which doesn't make any changes to your <dd>computer unless you ask it to. Still, it's a weird problem, and I'd like <dd>to get to the bottom of it. </dl> <dd>Oops! So would I, but I don't seem to be helping much. I mean, I myself find it hard to explain. I really would like to install Ubuntu (I have used Kurimin and Mandriva), but can't find any local help. Workarounds that involve disconnecting one HD then seem tricky to bring round to a Grub dual boot. <dl> <dd>Thanks, <dd>Phil <dd>-- <dd>Phil Bull <dd><a href="https://launchpad.net/people/philbull"> https://launchpad.net/people/philbull</a> </dl> </dl> -- Best Wishes, ApOgEE a.k.a JeRuNgKuN ---------------------------------------------------- <a href="https://edge.launchpad.net/~apogee"> https://edge.launchpad.net/~apogee</a> - ApOgEE on LaunchPad <a href="http://artofapogee.blogspot.com"> http://artofapogee.blogspot.com</a> - Art Of ApOgEE <a href="http://coderstalk.blogspot.com"> http://coderstalk.blogspot.com</a> - Coder's Talk ----------------------------------------------------</blockquote></body> </html>