I give up! [installation]

[Fensus]

Okay so I've successfully had backtrack running in a virtual environment, but I've recently received an old asus eepc and thought it would be perfect to get a full install on it....IF ONLY!!

I'm now at a complete loss for how to install this. I'm booting off of a usb cd rom drive because the laptop doesn't come with a built in cd tray. So the problem occurs when I click forward after selecting my keyboard input in the installer...the computer just suddenly boots to windows! I have no freakin idea why that happens. So in my frustration I completely wiped windows off the HDD and formatted the drives. Now when I hit forward after selecting my keyboard input the computer just restarts?! wtf! all of the guides just show the installer going smoothly from step 3(the keyboard input) to step 4(format the partitions etc)... help!!!!

So here is the steps I go through!

1.download backtrack 5 r3 gnome-32bit image
2.burn to dvd
3.boot to usb (which is the cd usb cdrom)
4.Press enter at Boot:
5.select option 1 - default boot text mode
6.type startx to enter gui
7.double click install backtrack
8.select my language
9.select my time zone
10.select my keyboard input
11.hit forward after keyboard input and computer reboots....
12.bang head on desk repeatedly


For the record I have checked the md5 sum and tried re-downloading and reburning the disc. I am also able to install windows xp just fine! I've also tried typing ubiquity at command line but nothing happens. I really appreciate any help you can give!

[maverik35]

Try to use gparted once you boot and in desktop, gparted should be there. Open up a terminal and type it.

See if it sees any partition with ext4 filesystem or any HDD..Is the HD or any other type of HD (SD type)..

If no partition exists, try to create one with ext4 filesystem and another one for the swap partition (1gb aprox)...

Try it.

Luck.

[Fensus]

Try to use gparted once you boot and in desktop, gparted should be there. Open up a terminal and type it.

See if it sees any partition with ext4 filesystem or any HDD..Is the HD or any other type of HD (SD type)..

If no partition exists, try to create one with ext4 filesystem and another one for the swap partition (1gb aprox)...

Try it.

Luck.

I appreciate your help. So I installed and ran Gparted from the desktop and this is what it shows

/dev/sda1 ntfs 150gb boot flag
unallocated unallocated 8mb



The ntfs part is a windows xp install which I planned on wiping and dedicating this entire hdd to backtrack. So if If I read your instructions correctly, I should wipe all this and create 1 partition with ext4 (~145gb) and another ext4(~1gb) for the swap?

[LionheartX]

I appreciate your help. So I installed and ran Gparted from the desktop and this is what it shows

/dev/sda1 ntfs 150gb boot flag
unallocated unallocated 8mb



The ntfs part is a windows xp install which I planned on wiping and dedicating this entire hdd to backtrack. So if If I read your instructions correctly, I should wipe all this and create 1 partition with ext4 (~145gb) and another ext4(~1gb) for the swap?

i'm a total newbie but i think it should be one marked as ext4 and the second marked as swap.

btw, i find that the captcha security pics to post into the forum are extremely hard to read. anyone else?

[Fensus]

i'm a total newbie but i think it should be one marked as ext4 and the second marked as swap.

btw, i find that the captcha security pics to post into the forum are extremely hard to read. anyone else?

Yah I need to refresh it at least 3 times.

Anyways, I tried formatting the drive using Gparted as instructed. I made a EXT4 partition and a 1-2gb swap partition then attempted to run the installer once again and it rebooted the computer at the exact same spot. Very frustrated as I can't find anything on google or the forums about this issue.

[maverik35]

Yah I need to refresh it at least 3 times.

Anyways, I tried formatting the drive using Gparted as instructed. I made a EXT4 partition and a 1-2gb swap partition then attempted to run the installer once again and it rebooted the computer at the exact same spot. Very frustrated as I can't find anything on google or the forums about this issue.

Ok..Let's see..How did you create the partition?..Did you delete the sda1 partition and created a new one with ext4 filesystem?..Also need to create a nother partition as swap?..swap is not a filesystem..When you create a new swap partition (aprox 1gb), in the filesystem selection, you need to select the "swap" not the ext4, ext4 is for the sda1..

I'll be following your thread closesly..

Try it.

[mathiasjoel]

Ok..Let's see..How did you create the partition?..Did you delete the sda1 partition and created a new one with ext4 filesystem?..Also need to create a nother partition as swap?..swap is not a filesystem..When you create a new swap partition (aprox 1gb), in the filesystem selection, you need to select the "swap" not the ext4, ext4 is for the sda1..

I'll be following your thread closesly..

Try it.

FYI, I have had many failed attempts at installing BT very much like you are experiencing. I know this might not help other than ease the pain a bit, but I have simply rewritten the ISO (in my case using unetbootin on a flash drive) and reinstalled. My most recent successful BT install was after 4-5 failures.