On my computer the cd wont boot up right away.
You might check your bios to see if the CD is in the lineup to boot.
Move it to the top.

Also, and this is just my opinion, forget upgrading. You cant go from 5
to 7 anyway. Just backup your data and then go for a fresh install.

IF 5.0.5 is on the HD and version 7.0.4 is on the CD and you show 5.0.4
running you booted from the HD. Reach in the PC and drop the power to the HD
and try again to verify where you are booting from. If you don't boot then your
ISO image is faulty. And, what has been happening is that you are blowing by
the CD in the boot process. Let me know.

Yes, 5.04 is on the HD, and in the
CD I have the iso file just downloaded yesterday from Ubuntu. Now . .
. is the image faulty? Could be. I know that I'm telling the machine
to boot from the CD and not the HD, and the CD does spin for a while.
But it seems like at some point the HD takes over.

I will see if I can verify the iso file is good. I read something
about checking the hash values, but don't know if I have enough
reference material to let me do that right -- I *DO* know I don't have
the knowledge in my head.

The machine I have the system installed on is an old Toshiba laptop
that used to run WinME. Thankfully that is gone now. The HD is
probably 12 Gig, and the processor is a Pentium III -- don't remember
how fast, but not too. So, Wade, I'm not keen on unplugging the power
from the HD!! I've never cracked the case of this machine.

I'll do another download of the iso file and report back! Thanks again
for your suggestions.

I had just this problem a couple of weeks ago, and my
problem was caused by the .iso file being simply copied to the CD as
an .iso file instead of as an image. In other words, when you looked
at the CD, you saw a file with the suffix .iso instead of all the
install files that should have been there

how did you burn the ISO to the CD? what program did you use?

If you have K3B installed you can use that... open K3B, got to "Tools"
then choose "Burn Cd Image"... K3B will do a checksum for you to make
sure the ISO is ok.

if you don't have K3B installed and can't install it on 5.04, try
these suggestions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto#head-41d485cd1f4a2902492b7e5dc\
c1991af2ec8f564

If all that doesn't work, do you feel comfortable with a terminal window?

if you 'cd' into the directory or change the
"ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso" part to say
"/home/james/downlods/ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso" or where ever the
ISO is...

cdrecord -v speed=4 dev=/dev/cdrom ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso

I hope that helps, I think you burnt the ISO file to the CD as a file
and not a filesystem... or the cd is corrupt, either way try burning
another like I detailed and let us know how it works or if you have
any other questions.

One other thing, Fiesty takes about 256MB to put it in smoothly. The
specified minimum is 192.

are you sure you have burn the iso image to the
cd? it feels like if you list the directory of the cd
that you only see a file xxxxxxx386.iso from that you
cannot boot
be sure to have BURN the iso image

The disks I have
burned have ONE file, ending in i386.iso. So, what should I do next?
(I'm sorry to sound so dumb, but this is the first time I've ever
tried to do this.) I went to the Ubuntu site, and downloaded what was
offered, or at least I thought so. I must have missed a step in there,
somewhere.

Now I have such files for v7.04 and v6.06.1. Assuming that I can get
the right material on a disk, which of these is considered better?

in another reply is explained how to do it in
terminal, I like to add a tiny note to it: please
before burning check the md5sum of the iso file simply
in terminal you type md5sum ubuntuxxxxx386.iso(the
full path of the iso file) the result you get must be
the same as written on the ubuntu download page
make sure you have downloaded the life cd and not the
alternative one.when the checksums are okay you can
start burning and boot from the life cd

please be sure you have backed up the data you don't
want to loosse because a little too enthousiastic busy
and all is gone

Put those .iso files on the hard drive, and then use whatever software you
have and tell it to "BURN IMAGE to DISK". It will ask you for the image name
select it and you're done. What you did was to copy the file to the CD as
"data". Not what you needed to do. This is also why when you booted from the
CD drive it blew by it and booted from the Hard Disk.

In Windows XP (since I was just getting started with
Kubuntu), I used a program called InfraRecorder, you can download it
for free. In that program, just open it, click on "Action" and then
"burn CD image". A box will open up where you can select which image
you want to burn. I'm still so new with Kubuntu that I haven't found
how to do this there yet.

>Now I have such files for v7.04 and v6.06.1. Assuming that I can get
>the right material on a disk, which of these is considered better?

I'd use 7.04. I initially tried 6.somethinorother and my
wireless connection (802.11) didn't work. When I went to 7.04, it
worked fine. I figure there must be other stuff that got upgraded
like that, too.

I downloaded infrarecorder, and I did have a minor success. I now have
a CD that shows several different files. But it still will not boot
completely. I am beginning to think my old Toshiba is the culprit,
though the system DOES open and let me choose from that first opening
menu. However, after a while the screen goes dark and I hear the CD
drive grinding -- drive lights for CD and HD go on and off. I am used
to seeing a list of what's happening as the boot progresses, so I
assume that NOTHING is happening.

One of the opening menu choices is to check the integrity of the CD,
and that check showed everything OK. I don't know where that puts me,
however.

Here's something different. When I boot into v5.04, the CD-ROM shows
up on the desk top. If I click on it, the various files (from v7.04)
are there. I don't suppose it is as simple as picking one of those
files to install v7.04 while in v5.04???

I guess I will burn one more copy of the disk, and see if a real slow
burn might not clean things up. I am ready to try most anything, now.
I may even go so far as to buy a bootable CD (horrors).

That is pretty good. Do a simple happy dance... but don't get carried
away yet...

>
> Here's something different. When I boot into v5.04, the CD-ROM shows
> up on the desk top. If I click on it, the various files (from v7.04)
> are there. I don't suppose it is as simple as picking one of those
> files to install v7.04 while in v5.04???

no, but I like your thinking!

>
> I guess I will burn one more copy of the disk, and see if a real slow
> burn might not clean things up. I am ready to try most anything, now.
> I may even go so far as to buy a bootable CD (horrors).

I don't think it is the CD... you can boot to the CD and it checks...
So it may be your toshiba... What kind of Laptop is it?

Did you back up your files from 5.04 yet? I hope so because, and it
was suggested by someone earlier, you really should be wiping your
drive and doing a fresh install... if we can even get that far... Did
you try the "Install In Text Mode"?

also, this is a great resource for getting help with laptops...
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/toshiba.html

One of the replies suggested the use of Xubuntu, and since I had NO
luck with any of the Ubuntu CD downloads, I decided to try it. My
Verizon DSL line must have been choked today, because it was slower
(at times) than a dialup. But after about 4 hours I had the entire
Xubuntu 7.04 iso file. I burned a CD at 4x speed, and booted from it.
After a LONG time, it offered to install and I accepted. After another
LONG time, I had a clean install and am ready to start learning.

As far as preserving any files from 5.04, that was no problem -- I had
none. This laptop had WinME on it, and I just decided to let Ubuntu
wipe everything clean during the install.

I think that much of my problem revolved around getting a clean copy
of the iso files, and then trying to burn the CD at inappropriate
speeds. Someone suggested a "SLOW burn" and that's what I tried.

Another problem, no doubt, is in the hardware itself. I bought this
laptop when I lived in California, more than 4 years ago, and it was
on sale then. The hard drive is 12 Gigs. I don't know how to find the
processor speed (on Linux!) but expect it is less than 500 MHz. During
an unsuccessful install of Ubuntu 6.07. the hard drive made some very
interesting noises.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who helped. I am sure I'll have more
questions now that I can work in Linux (or try), so you will hear from
me again.

One of the replies suggested the use of Xubuntu, and since I had NO
luck with any of the Ubuntu CD downloads, I decided to try it. My
Verizon DSL line must have been choked today, because it was slower
(at times) than a dialup. But after about 4 hours I had the entire
Xubuntu 7.04 iso file. I burned a CD at 4x speed, and booted from it.
After a LONG time, it offered to install and I accepted. After another
LONG time, I had a clean install and am ready to start learning.

As far as preserving any files from 5.04, that was no problem -- I had
none. This laptop had WinME on it, and I just decided to let Ubuntu
wipe everything clean during the install.

I think that much of my problem revolved around getting a clean copy
of the iso files, and then trying to burn the CD at inappropriate
speeds. Someone suggested a "SLOW burn" and that's what I tried.

Another problem, no doubt, is in the hardware itself. I bought this
laptop when I lived in California, more than 4 years ago, and it was
on sale then. The hard drive is 12 Gigs. I don't know how to find the
processor speed (on Linux!) but expect it is less than 500 MHz. During
an unsuccessful install of Ubuntu 6.07. the hard drive made some very
interesting noises.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who helped. I am sure I'll have more
questions now that I can work in Linux (or try), so you will hear from
me again.

Well you have ended, or should I say started at the top end of Ubuntu
it seems. I have Xubuntu on one hard drive and its so much like XP I
find I use Ubuntu 7.4 much more.

You did not say how you connect to the Internet, but you talk a lot
about slow speeds so are you using Broadband via cable?

A lot of people swear by burning CDs at low speeds, but I always burn
at higher speeds with no problem. This is under Linux though, not
Windows.

> on sale then. The hard drive is 12 Gigs. I don't know how to find the
> processor speed (on Linux!) but expect it is less than 500 MHz. During

This works on my install:

abc@ubuntu-2$ dmesg | grep "MHz processor"
[ 0.000000] Detected 3002.085 MHz processor.
abc@ubuntu-2$

Another option is, from the terminal type
cat /proc/cpuinfo
this will give you detailed information on your processor

another useful command is
sudo lshw
this will give you lots of information about all off your hardware.