Ubuntu Errno Error

[JonUnix]

Hi i have been trying to install Ubuntu 10.04 on my desktop but it gives me this message when it is copying files

[Errno 5] Input/output error

This particular error is often due to a faulty CD/DVD disk or drive, or a faulty hard disk. It may help to clean the CD/DVD, to burn the CD/DVD at a lower speed, to clean the CD/DVD drive lens (cleaning kits are often available from electronics suppliers), to check whether the hard disk is old and in need of replacement, or to move the system to a cooler environment.

i would seriously like to remove windows from my desktop. i don't know how to make this work

please help

[JasonHippy]

Assuming that the problem is a damaged or dirty DVD drive and you can't afford to replace the drive; you could try installing the .iso for the liveCD onto a USB thumb-drive if you have one. I think you need at least a 2Gb USB drive to do this. For instructions, see here

If you don't already have a copy of the Ubuntu 10.04 .iso, you'll need to download it. Also, as the target machine is problematic, you might want to use another PC to download and install the .iso to the USB drive following the instructions in the link above.

Once you've installed the .iso onto a USB stick, you simply need to restart the target machine with the USB drive plugged in. You might also want to check the boot priority in the BIOS to ensure that USB has higher priority than the HD at boot-time. You should now be able to boot into and install Ubuntu on the target machine using the USB drive.

NOTE: When installing from the USB drive; if you still get that same error message, it could also indicate that the HD on the target machine is failing, or that there is a problem with some of your RAM. You can use memcheck86 to test your RAM. memcheck should be on the USB install and should be an option at boot-time when booting from the USB drive.

Once you've installed Ubuntu to your HD, you can then wipe the USB drive if you choose to. However, you might want to consider holding onto it in case you need to install Ubuntu again.

I've found that a copy of Linux on a bootable USB drive can be a very handy tool. I've been using a 16Gb USB drive to run a laptop with a dead HD for a couple of years now (using a persistent storage option, which allows me to save my documents and settings on there too).

I've also used it to boot, troubleshoot and fix several of my friends and family's Windows PC's/laptops when they've had problems (e.g. unable to boot into Windows, nasty malware infections etc).