I built a new system with the intent of using Ubuntu 12.04 as my primary OS, but I am unable to install it. Every time I boot, the splash screen with the options to try or install Ubuntu appears as it should. When I make a selection, regardless of which option I select, the system freezes. The above mentioned splash screen with my option highlighted remains on the screen and a hard reset is the only way out.
I am currently running Windows 8 RP without any major issues. I have been trying to install Ubuntu from a USB flash drive with little success. I do not have an optical drive and would really like to avoid having to use one.
I tried two flash drives (a 4GB Sandisk and a generic 2GB one from a eBay seller in Hong Kong). I've used both UFDs to successfully install various distributions of Linux in the past and the Sandisk to install Windows. I tried UNetbootin and the Windows command prompt to prepare the drives and I tried these methods with the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of both Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu Studio 12.04. The result is always the same: a frozen screen shortly after boot.
The relevant specs on my system are listed below:
Intel i5-3570K Processor, MSI Z77A-G45 (Fintek F71889AD) Motherboard, Patriot G2 DDR3 1600 Ram (4GBx2), Intel 330 Series SSD 60GB, EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 SC