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I'm replacing WinXP with 13.04 on an older PC using wubi.exe on a USB stick. I had no problem changing the BIOS on another system that was a bit newer but when I change the settings on the older PC to boot from USB, I get a DOS message saying "Searching for boot record...Not found" & asked to try again. I don't have the ability to boot from a live CD so is there a reason why I can boot from a USB on a newer computer but can't from an older one? Both have options to choose to boot from USB, but the older one can find no boot record. The system was built on 12/13/01 by American Megatrends.

Since I don't have enough "reputation points" to post the screen shot image, you can see it at http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v633/boonevillephil/1029131748-00.jpg.

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  • UPDATE: I was able to burn an iso image to a DVD & tried to boot from a CD ROM but got the exact same message of a "boot failure" - unable to read boot record. So it looks like I won't be putting Ubuntu on this machine at all... Are there machines that do not support this OS? Oct 29, 2013 at 11:42
  • you mentioned wubi - it shouldn't be needed for installation from a USB key or CD. How are you using it? Oct 29, 2013 at 22:18
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    I may have not properly indicated what I was doing. I put 13.04 on both a pendrive & burned an image on a DVD. I then changed the setup on the WinXP machine to boot from the USB-FDD (which I found out later will not work) and then from the CDROM. On both occasions, I got the same error DOS message ("Searching for boot record...Not found") & could not get the machine to boot into Ubuntu at all (see the photo link). Oct 29, 2013 at 23:31

2 Answers 2

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I had the exact same issue and struggled for hours, untill I booted from USB pendriveLinux to set up the USB stick with 13.10

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Tor-André

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  • This would work if it were just me using it but it's for my son to use. The system only has 2 USB ports (on the back) & we use one for the printer. Oct 29, 2013 at 23:35
  • unplug the printer temporarily. Once you've got things working, plug it back in. Oct 30, 2013 at 15:39
  • Still getting boot errors with nothing plugged in the USB ports. Can I run the Ubuntu Windows installer (wubi.exe) & then do a full install that way or does this only allow Ubuntu to run alongside WindowsXP? I would like to replace the Win OS with Ubuntu but it appears that using the wubi.exe installer will only gives you a choice on which OS to run from a boot menu. Nov 6, 2013 at 18:09
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Yout should run Boot reapair from the usb or live cd

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

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  • I may have not been clear about my issue. The boot failure is not on an Ubuntu machine. It's on a WinXP machine that I'm trying to install Ubuntu on using either a pendrive or a CD. I'm getting the boot failure on the Windows system & I can't even get to first base in the installation process for Ubuntu. Oct 29, 2013 at 23:28

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