Hi.

This is my first post and I'm making it on behalf of my nephew who is having trouble with his Acer netbook. Cars are more my thing than computers so I've kind of exhausted my knowledge.

It's an Acer and he got it from PC World with Linux pre-installed and it has ceased to function. When you turn it on the page that says ACER and gives you the option to press F2 to enter set up. Once that goes a cursor appears in the top left hand corner of the screen. After a couple of seconds the cursor moves to the middle of the screen. And that's it. If you press control, alt and delete it goes through the process again but reaches the same point.

He got a linux disc with the thing but being a netbook it has no CD-Rom drive. I've copied the disc onto a flash drive but when I try to boot from it, it says "no bootable partiton in table" and goes no further.

For some reasome partiton is spelled incorrectly.

I've used the search function but haven't come up with anything too helpful.

I'm thinking of attempting a fresh installation but would be very grateful for any other suggestions.

If you would like advice on the carburettor on your Mini in return, just ask.

Thanks

Keith

Since its a Acer netbook your going want to use unetbootin for windows if your using a windows or linux laptop...

Don't know the model your explaining to use so I figure it has a small screen space...

In this case I would advice using one of the following OS's

1. Ubuntu Remix ---- Ubuntu/Debian

2. Jolicloud ---- based on Ubuntu/Debian

3. Moblin ---- based on intel taking control of intel chipsets.... ops becareful seems to have trouble with Acer Aspire one netbooks

4. google OS ---- when it becomes available... its a beta write now...

If your nephew wants to do more then just chat online then I would go with Ubuntu Remix, Moblin or Jolicloud. Google Os when it gets hear in the near future will allow you to save documents only online with google apps...


Watch the videos to get idea what you like...


good luck...


later...

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I shall give it a go and report back when I make a complete pig's ear of it.

Read the book you got with the Acer and you will something like this.

Get to a Windows PC. Insert the disc into a drive and the USB drive into a slot. Restart the PC. At the bottom of the screen you will see a message: Press F8/F12 to change boot sequence. Use the arrow keys to get to the CDROM's description. Usually a name with 'IDE' in it. Got it? Hit Enter and then follow the prompts when you get a sensible screen.

This will cause the USB drive to be set up as a BOOTABLE drive. To copy it does not do the right thing. This is the reason you get the "no bootable partition in table" error.

Once done, click on the Task Bar at the bottom right of the screen and go over the icons until you find one "Safely remove hardware". Right click for a list and click on the USB's line. You'll get a bubble. Do it. Or. Simply Shut down the PC correctly.

Pull the disc and the drive. Shut down the Aspire. Insert the USB drive into a slot and boot up (switch on). The netbook will set itself up correctly. Just wait for it.

To save yourself a truckload of work, teach your nephew to google (search on the net). He probably already knows what that is. He will find all the answers on the net and more.

Google FilsecLab for a good firewall and parental controls in Windows. Come to think of it, that (parental controls) is one Windows application I've yet to see a Linux equivalent for.

That's just for starters. You can also download say Fedora Core 12 and install it in similar fashion.

Anyway, just get going, the wonderful stuff will come with time.

Good luck!!