Initramfs -

[apprentice25]

I am trying to run Ubuntu for the first time. I have had nothing but trouble. First I had to disable the floppy drive in the BIOS to get rid of an error message. Now when I try to run it from a CD, all I get is this

Initramfs -

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[linux_0]

Shoot over your full specs please so we can see what kind of hardware you have.

The more details you can give us the better.

Also what version of Ubuntu did you download?

 

[apprentice25]

Homebuilt Desktop

Intel Dual Core
Asus MB
two HDs
Vista Home premium 64

Attempting to use Ubuntu 8.02 64 bit

 

[linux_0]

Did you mean 8.04 amd64?

 

[apprentice25]

Intel and Vista 64

 

[linux_0]

Did you download Ubuntu desktop 8.04 amd64?

Try to run the built-in media test to verify your CD is good.

Good luck

 

[apprentice25]

amd64, it makes a difference?
I will have to check

 

[linux_0]

The version matters, IA64 will not work

amd64 also known as x86_64 will work

i686 / 32bit will also work

When you first boot from the CD select the media test to verify your CD is good

If your CD has defects or your computer has stability problems you may have strange problems and freezes

Good Luck

 

[apprentice25]

The CD that I downloaded was amd64. This should work with Intel 64 bit processes?

 

[linux_0]

Yes it will work

x86_64 also known as amd64 is sometimes abbreviated as x64 or $distro 64

The Q6600 is 64bit capable and it would probably be a good idea to use a 64bit distribution

x86_64 / amd64 should not be confused with IA64 or Sparc64 or any other 64bit architecture

i386 i486 i586 i686 are all 32bit but each CPU has different features

IA32 is also 32bit and is used to describe 32bit intel CPUs ( x86 )

IA64 is the Itanium and Itanium2 64bit architecture and is not compatible with x86_64 / amd64 and is no longer x86 compatible in hardware

The i386 and i486 did not have MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSE4 or various other instructions supported by modern CPUs

Some i586 Pentiums and later CPUs had MMX and some did not and the same is true for MMX2 SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSE4 3dnow etc

i386 binaries should work on all x86 and x86_64 CPUs but the reverse is not true

IA64 binaries will not work on any intel or amd x86 or x86_64 CPUs so do not download any IA64 distributions it is a waste of bandwidth unless you own Itanium or Itanium2 systems

ubuntu's amd64 is the same as x86_64 -- it will run on any x86_64 compatible AMD or intel CPU including the Q6600

AMD developed amd64 / x86_64 and their CPUs run 30-80% faster in 64bit mode

intel later adopted AMD's x86_64

x86_64 / amd64 should run faster than i686 / 32bit on most 64bit CPUs

Besides running faster than 32bit, x86_64 / amd64 allows you to use a lot more RAM and create much bigger files and filesystems

On 64bit P4s x86_64 actually runs 3-8% slower than 32bit, the other advantages of x86_64 still apply though

I think all the core CPUs are 64bit capable

Some Pentium Ms and low end CPUs are not 64bit

 

[linux_0]

Sorry for pasting together a book from my previous posts

Please run the media check from the ubuntu CD, also it wouldn't hurt to run memtest for 2 passes and let us know what you get

Good luck

 

[apprentice25]

I just finished this computer build, and as yet it is not online. Vista is running without problems. I hope to be online sometime next week. I am waiting for my router. I am also thinking of downloading and burning the Ubuntu again.
Thanks for your kind assistance.

 

[linux_0]

The integrated media-check that is on the Ubuntu CD should tell you if your disk is good or not

memtest is also on the CD and if you run a couple of passes it will tell you if your RAM and system are working

memtest is a great tool for testing system stability

You don't need to be online to run either of them

 

[apprentice25]

I tried to do the CD integrity test. Got the same Initramfs

 

[linux_0]

It might work if you pass it "noapic" and "acpi=off"

IIRC you have to hit F6 "other options" and add "noapic acpi=off" to the kernel parameters without the quotes and hit enter

You might also want to try F4 "modes" and select safe graphics mode

Good luck

 

[apprentice25]

The only thing that works it the memory test. So far no errors. How long do I run it for? What do I do if I find errors?

 

[linux_0]

Run it for 2-3 passes, if left alone the memtest will run for ever

IIRC it usually takes about 1hour 20minutes for 2GB of RAM

The ESC key stops it

If you find errors then you RAM is probably bad or it is not stable with the settings you are running it at, in which case you can relax the memory settings and see if it passes

If it consistently fails memtest then you should test it in another system if possible and if it fails there too return it

If you Overclocked set your settings back to defaults

 

[apprentice25]

what about the fact that I could not test the integrity of the cd?

 

[linux_0]

Tough to tell, that could mean anything, some boards have horrible APIC and ACPI problems

A BIOS update may help you out but it's hard to tell

Good luck

 

[linux_0]

What kind of ASUS board do you have?

The model number is usually printed on the board in-between the PCI slots and on the mobo box itself on the barcode label

 

[apprentice25]

P5Q Pro

 

[linux_0]

Try a BIOS update if there is one for your board

You may need to add "irqpoll all_generic_ide" to the kernel boot options using F6 as described earlier

If that doesn't work try "irqpoll all_generic_ide noapic acpi=off"

You may also want to give fedora a try http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

Fedora sometimes works on boards that ubuntu doesn't work on and vice versa

 

[linux_0]

Also Linux likes to use the SATA controllers on this mobo in AHCI mode, you can set that in the BIOS

You may have some ethernet problems in windows and Linux

A Linux compatible realtek RTL-8169 for $10 should do the trick if you can't get the onboard ethernet working reliably

 

[apprentice25]

What is realtek RTL-8169
At present I am not networking.
I again downloaded and burned Ubuntu. Same result.
I was able to get into some help menu by pressing F1. When I scrowled on use Ubuntu from CD nothing happened. I am using USB keyboard. Would changing that matter?

Thanks

 

[linux_0]

The RTL-8169 is a popular ethernet chipset used on inexpensive PCI cards and sometimes on motherboards

Your keyboard doesn't matter

I would suggest trying Fedora 9 x86_64 and maybe i686 and see if it works better

GL