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While installing Ubuntu on my new commodore 64, I hit the AC adapter, shutting off power to the whole computer. So I restarted and Ubuntu surprising came up, even after the computer shutting off during the install. But I am running on a very broken ubuntu. There is a Install RELEASE icon, and when I run it it take me to the install, but it can't install Ubuntu cause it can't de-mount the drive. I tried booting to my Live USB but this keyboard doesn't have an F8 or F12 key so I can't get to a boot menu. Please help! I cannot run most programs like Gparted. I want to just format the drive but it won't let me.

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Ok guys I fixed it. I had to bust out a USB keyboard and hook that up to get a F8 key. I got it working now. Thanks for your help. – Will Gilstrap Dec 25 '11 at 23:03
please post your fix as an answer and accept it as the answer. This will help people with the same problem find the answer quicker. – lqlarry Dec 26 '11 at 0:18

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How did you manage to boot from USB before beginning the installation? The same way should work again.

Edit: that was supposed to be a comment. :~)

Edit bodhi.zazen - The OP posted the solution as a comment

I had to bust out a USB keyboard and hook that up to get a F8 key. I got it working now.

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I literally just built this PC a few hours ago. On my first launch it booted right from the USB. – Will Gilstrap Dec 25 '11 at 22:32
I see. Haven't tried that myself, but perhaps you could overwrite the MBR with something like sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1. That should make the hdd unbootable, and hopefully, will let you boot from USB again. I'd disconnect all other storage devices as a precaution. – mikewhatever Dec 25 '11 at 22:51
I would recomend using /dev/zero to make the drive unbootable. urandom can give some pretty interesting results if one is unlucky. Slim chance, but still. :p – Zoke Dec 25 '11 at 22:54
So you mean sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1? – mikewhatever Dec 25 '11 at 22:56
Yes. That will clear out the MBR and partition table. – Zoke Dec 25 '11 at 22:58
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If you want to just wipe the hard drive, use dd

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=dev/sda bs=1M
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I get "dd: Opening 'dev/sda': No such file or directory" – Will Gilstrap Dec 25 '11 at 22:44
While using dd in this situation seems a bit overkill I would suggest the use of the count option as the only thing one needs to wipe is the partition table of the drive. So one could use 'sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M count=1'. This saves a lot of time. – Zoke Dec 25 '11 at 22:48
Ok guys I fixed it. I had to bust out a USB keyboard and hook that up to get a F8 key. I got it working now. Thanks for your help. – Will Gilstrap Dec 25 '11 at 23:03

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