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I have a HP Pavilion g4-1363la Notebook PC with the i3 Core CPU and Intel HD3000 graphics.

I had Windows 8 on it, but i guess it got corrupted somehow or something, it wouldn't start up anymore. My uncle, who somewhat knows a thing or 2 about computers, says that i need a new OS, because it was missing or something, so i checked out this Ubuntu & saw that u could install it to a laptop via USB flash drive, i have done everything i need (at least i think i have), every time i turn on my laptop, it shows me the Ubuntu install menu.

The options that i have are:

"Try Ubuntu without installing"
"Install Ubuntu"
"Check for disc for defects"
"Test memory"
"Boot from first hard disk"

The first 3 options takes me to a black screen, then the screen sorda turns off. "Test memory" takes me to a blue screen with a bunch of weird statistics that i have no idea what it is for, then i have options like "(ESC)Reboot" - "(c)configuration" - "(SP)scroll_lock" - "(CR)scroll_unlock". The "Boot from first hard disk" also takes me to the black screen till the screen turns off, unless i hit enter, it shows me the installing menu again.

I really need help installing Ubuntu, do i really need to repair my laptop?? am i missing something? or am i doing something wrong??

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  • Test Memory runs MEMTEST to check your memory hardware. I'll search through the system here and elsewhere for a way to work around the black screen, but Check Disc For Defects then Try Ubuntu Without Installing should be what you so, so you can pull the data out of C:\Data\USERNAME\My Documents to copy it to a flashdrive (same or different) or to an external USB hard drive and save your data and downloads.
    – K7AAY
    Jan 9, 2014 at 0:44
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    You have not done anything wrong. Sinec you had Windows 8, I have to ask: The BIOS option that comes on the screen before it boots: Do you have UEFI on or is it set to BIOS: Legacy Boot? Please advise, by editing your question above (click on the edit link below the end of your question). Take a look at this link and walk through it, trying each item listed: askubuntu.com/questions/162075/…
    – K7AAY
    Jan 9, 2014 at 0:52

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This will not answer your question completely but I wanted to put it out there so you know what's ahead.

Once you do get to where you can boot successfully into Ubuntu with Try Ubuntu Without Installing, you will find there are three slices ('partitions') of the original hard drive in your system.

The first partition, /dev/sda1 or just sda1 named "SYSTEM" which is the Windows 8 boot partition and has the bootloader which normally shows the Windows boot menu. Win8 launches by first running the booting program in this partition and then passes control to the second partition.

Partition 2, which Ubuntu calls /dev/sda2 or just sda2, named "HP" is the biggest slice and has the Windows operating system.This is where your data lives, your documents, videos and music, under C:\Data\USERNAME\My Documents - and copying those to a flashdrive (same or different) or an external hard drive will save your stuff.

Partition 3, /dev/sda3 or just sda3, named "FACTORY_IMAGE" is the recovery partition for Windows, and has whatever software HP has provided for restoring your computer's software to the state it was in when HP manufactured it. If re-install Windows to this computer, you would use it to rebuild what's in sda1 "SYSTEM" as well as fix any problems with the Windows files in sda2 "HP"

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