Installation of Base sytem failed

[Alfred Vahau]

Hi,
I encountered first failure of Ubuntu (Warty). The error message reads:
Install the base system
Base system installation error
The debootstrap program exited with an error (return value 1)
Check /var/logs/messages or see virtual console 3 for details.

The previous operating system was a Windows 2000 and I want the entire 
system replaced with Ubuntu.
I've repeated the installation a few times and each time I receive the 
same error message with the installation halted.

Any pointers would be appreciated,

Alfred,