Boot from a DVD with an ubuntu iso on a PC with no OS

I got a 32 bit computer from my school and I fixed it up with a graphics card and HDD (cause the school took them out before giving it to me). Obviously a brand new HDD has no OS so I've tried booting from a CD, DVD, and USB, all with no luck. The bios doesn't even give an option to boot from USB.

I've tried changing boot order in bios, still no luck. All I get when I start the computer is first the Sony Vaio logo then a screen giving all the hardware specs and finally a screen saying "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device". Please help :`(

user3591665

Posted 2015-06-07T16:56:54.913

Reputation: 31

How old is this PC and what Vaio model is it? Unless it's ancient it should boot from USB. Insert your bootable USB stick and then start the PC and go into the BIOS. Can you select the USB stick now as your first boot device? – Karan – 2015-06-07T19:12:22.460

For some reason the BIOS doesn't show the USB is even available. The only choices I have is the HDD or CD/DVD. Im thinking I don't have the right iso. All I did was download the ubuntu 14.02.2 and copy paste the download into the blank flash drive (the flash drive is MS-DOS (FAT32) ). – user3591665 – 2015-06-14T01:08:51.413

Well there you go. That's not how a bootable USB is created. Just use Rufus instead to transfer the ISO to your USB stick.

– Karan – 2015-06-14T14:33:03.677

I used rufus this time to make the USB (still FAT-32) and with no luck. Still no indication that the new computer is even recognizing thee USB. Is there an alternative to rufus that works well for DVD/CD? – user3591665 – 2015-06-14T23:36:23.840

Did you download the 32-bit ISO? Did you specify that Rufus should create the USB for a BIOS system that uses MBR partition scheme? Can you confirm that the USB stick can be booted from using a different PC? – Karan – 2015-06-15T02:01:14.017

Answers

Check the CD or DVD you're trying to boot from. Does it boot any other computer correctly? If not, the disc may not be bootable. If it does work, the optical drive may be defective.

anthws

Posted 2015-06-07T16:56:54.913

Reputation: 51

Your computer has 1GB RAM which is enough to handle Ubuntu 32-bit clumsily, but Ubuntu is too heavy for your computer so your performance will be slow, particularly in web browsers. For better performance you should install Xubuntu 14.04 32-bit instead which has the lightweight Xfce desktop environment. The Xfce desktop environment will free up more of the limited amount of RAM in your computer, so that it can be used by the web browser. Ubuntu has several different editions suitable for computers having different hardware. If you want to examine your Ubuntu version options in more detail, see the answers to How do I find out which version and derivative of Ubuntu is right for my hardware in terms of minimal system requirements?

The reason why Ubuntu did not boot from the blank USB flash drive is that you prepared it incorrectly by copy/pasting the downloaded iso file. The instructions for making a bootable USB stick in Windows are at the official Ubuntu How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows webpage.

If you do not have Windows, the official Ubuntu website also has links to instructions for creating bootable USB sticks and DVDs for all operating system plaforms at the Download Ubuntu Desktop webpage under the Easy ways to switch to Ubuntu heading.

karel

Posted 2015-06-07T16:56:54.913

Reputation: 11 374

I have 1MB total of RAM, so not much, but it should still be able to handle Ubuntu 14.02.2 the 32bit version. I checked the USB on another PC and it and that one did not recognize it either!!! You must be right that something is wrong with the USB. Im thinking I didn't do it correctly. All I did was download the ubuntu 14.02.2 and copy paste the download into the blank flash drive (the flash drive is MS-DOS (FAT32) ). Is this not how it's done? – user3591665 – 2015-06-14T01:18:12.467