Sounds a bit odd to be honset. Dells Inspiron 530 is supposed to be Ubuntu compatible. Does the Ubuntu LiveCD boot? Are you installing with Wubi?

Ubuntu has been fine with SATA drives for a while. Shouldn't be a problem. We really need to know the exact installation method being used. If I'm not mistaken Wubi still has some issues with Windows Vista.

I think you have a problem with recognizing sata drives (would explain linux wining about hd and cd drive). U should try some new distro. Have you downloaded Ubuntu 8.04? Fedora core 5 or 6 lol are older distros, Fedora 9 is the latest one so you should try it. It does have problems with beta xorg so its kind of unstable... Linux partitions are formatted with ext3 these days (soon ext4) so i dont see a reason why r u using ext2? And if you could post results after typing in shell " sudo fdisk -l " it would be helpfull!

What's Wubi? lol For the 2nd reply, I used ext2 because Vector Linux only uses either ext2 or FAT, so ext2 it was. It was Ubuntu 8.04, yes. The reason I tried Fedora core 5 & 6 is because my Fedora 9 disc hasn't arrived yet. It's not just that, I'm just getting really really peeved that Kubuntu (all versions) is the ONLY distro that will install, and quite frankly I hate Kubuntu. What I'd love to know is why that'll work but no versions of Ubuntu will. The "exact installation type"... Umm... installing from the DVD to the hard drive? I don't quite know what you mean sorry. If anybody can tell me why Kubuntu works and Ubuntu doesn't, then I'll still be happy because at least I've gotten somewhere. I'd like Ubuntu but I just get that initramfs error. All I know is that initramfs has something to do with the new kernel. @ the 1st reply, that's what I thought too? They sell these things with Ubuntu on them, yet it won't install for me? What have they done that I haven't? Should I try the OEM install option?

Ok lets concentrate on ubuntu. U said it hangs up in linux shell with a message initramfs. When exactly? R u able to complete the instalation from cd or is it showing up immediatly after first booting the cd. I ask u this because initramfs is unpacking an archive and loading it to RAM to have the files needed to boot available. If there is a problem with it it can be 3 things. First, your CD is badly "baked" and there is a crc error on the cd, iso is faulty (i recommend downloading it from torrent to ensure its error free) or there is a problem allocating memory space for initramfs to decompress the files witch is less likely. You can try installing ubuntu in several ways:

1. From live cd

2. From alternative cd (it has a clean installer and no option to boot the entire system from cd)

3. From dell's "custom made" ubuntu dvd installer for wich u can find download link in this forum

 

I preffer second option although i havent tried no.3 (i will but i finally got the system running just the way i want it to run) . I recommend burning the iso image to cd with "brasero" program wich is calculating checksum of the iso and then compare it after it has burned the iso to cd and then u r sure u have a error free instalation media. Also i would recommend if none of above works to try installing 64-bit version of ubuntu if u have a 64-bit proccessor because you have 3 gigs of ram and maybe the are not allocated correctly with 32-bit version. If u further encounter problems - post it so we can brainstorm some more. 

I get the error after choosing the first option (boot from the live cd and install or whatever it is). It loads the linux kernel, gets to 100%, pauses for a few seconds and goes to the shell.

I've checked the checksum and it's fine. I only downloaded Ubuntu 8.04 last week :) I've requested a 64bit version of Ubuntu from the Ubuntu site but that could take up to 10 weeks to arrive.

 

I'm going to try a few things when I get home. Thanks for your help by the way :)

 

Oh just another thing, I'm using Roxio Creator 10.2 to burn the image since it came with my computer. They accidentally gave me 2 copies of it :P

Oh if you can get Kubuntu to install you can then install Gnome and use that as your default once it's installed. Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with KDE.

Wubi is a Windows installer for Ubuntu. Try using ext3 for the hard drives. That's what Ubuntu normally defaults to for me. Although I'm not sure how you got that far if it crashes before it boots.

If You Or A Friend Of Yours Has A High Speed Internet Connection With A DVD Burner, Then You (Or Your Friend) Should Try Downloading Dell's Customized OEM 2.1 Giga Byte Public Down Load Reinstall DVD. That Will Most Likely Resolve Your Problem.

I don't know about a lot of the other issues you are having, but as for the initramfs issue, I've had that same issue on my desktop (custom build) since Ubuntu Feisty.  I can't remember the exact reason why it happens (I believe there are several); however, in order to get past the problem try this:

 

1. Insert the ubuntu livecd into your CD drive and boot the computer.

2. At the screen that gives you the boot options (after you choose your language), select the option you want to do (livecd, alternate install, etc).

3. Hit the F6 button to bring up a text box that lists the boot options of your current selection.

4. In the text box, at the end of the line, add (without quotes) "irqpoll"

5. Hit enter to boot.

 

This may or may not work.  I've seen the initramfs error in a number of different situations, and in my experience this solution only works for one or two of them.

 

There is a kernel bug that prevents 2.6.24 based distros from booting on the dell 530. Go to bios and select RAID instead of SATA/IDE.

 

http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_8.04/Issues/Desktop_Wont_Boot

 

There is documentation on this bug in the dell wiki and on ubuntu forums. If you have problems with ubuntu please refer to the ubuntu forums (you are very unlikely to get help here...its mostly the blind leading the blind).

 

Link to the dell ubuntu forums area:

 

http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=342

Hello,

Don't worry. I don't think ubuntu creates any problem during installation. recently few days back I have installed ubuntu 8.04 on my Dell Vostro Laptop that has a SATA hard drive. Dust free around 10-20 GB space in your hardisk. Then run the ubuntu live CD(To do so put the CD on your CD/DVD drive and restart the PC, please ensure that the boot sequence is set to CD/DVD drive first.). Then select the live CD option. Then ubuntu will directly take you to the desktop. There you will find a icon called install ubuntu. Then double click on the icon then ubuntu wil lask you about the location chosse the option the longest continuous free space . That all within 5 min ubuntu will be installed in your pc.

I don't think you read properly.

I can't boot into it to get that far :)