Installing 12.10 x64 to desktop

[SnowKitty]

Installation details:
file: kubuntu-12.10-desktop-amd64.iso
md5: dc63881988af54677ab3084d031a12b6
Burned to DVD -R via imgburn

Desktop details:
Mainboard: Intel BOXDX58SO2
Processor: i7-960 Bloomfield LGA 1366
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 24GB (6 x 4GB) (PC3 12800) (with LEDs) Model BLT3KIT4G3D1608DT2TXRG
Graphics: PNY nVidia 470GTX Performance Edition
Others: Intel RAID SAS/SATA Controller Card (RS2BL080) (setup with 7x 10kRPM Raptor Drives in RAID5 configuration)
Others: Rocketfish 5.1 PCI Sound card
Current OS Installations: Windows 7 x64
SSD: Yes, 1
Monitor: 2x HP 2310m 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution monitors, connected via DVI.

The problem occurs when I boot to the kubuntu DVD, it never reaches desktop, it fails at some point and drops me to a non-BASH prompt.

Here's (typed out) everything on-screen that I see at the point of failure.
From the disc's grub menu, I select to run kubuntu.. it takes a few moments for it to get going, spills out the normal verbose info, flickers the screen to supported monitor resolution, shows the graphical loading.
Before it reaches the graphical loading it spams a bunch of "time out killing modprobe" messages.
As of the time of writing this (the 3rd attempt) the graphical loading isn't pretty looking, it's solid gray.
And here's what it finally gives me, at the fail point:
udevd[162]: '/sbin/modprobe -bv pci:v000010DEd000006CDsv000010DEsd0000079Fbc03sc00 i00 [223] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)
//and it mentions that 3 more times with 2 more PCI's and one HID, giving different numbers and ID's//

BusyBox v1.19.3 (Ununtu 1:1.19.3-7ununtu1) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs) _

I've goten to this point 3 times now, but it's behaved 2 different ways while booting. Last two times it did adjust resolution. This time, it did not.

I have no idea how to better explain or interpret what is going wrong here, but TLDR is: live disc won't boot to a GUI.

[oshunluvr]

Have you checked the MD5DUM of the DVD after the burn?

[SnowKitty]

Yes, I have verified the disc, but I can burn a new one and try again.

[oshunluvr]

Try dropping into grub menu and delete "splash quiet" from the boot line. This should give some more useful error output.

Usually this happens from a bad disc or grub detecting RAID that's not really RAID or isn't set up properly.

You could try the "noraid" option also.

[SnowKitty]

The problem ended up being that I was using the optical drive on an esata connection. Once I changed that to a USB usb-sata bridge it worked fine.
Now, I can't get past installing grub.

Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed.
This is a fatal error.
[OK]

[vinnywright]

so you have goten it to boot all the way to a live desktop ?

if so open a terminal and post the output of

parted -l

you may/maynot half to use sudo first as in "sudo parted -l" (not sure if it's necessary in a live environment)

VINNY

[oshunluvr]

Sounds like you might be trying to install grub to the CD instead of the hard drive. What's the output of sudo fdisk -l

[SnowKitty]

I finally got it now..
Problem1: Do not use the e-sata for the optical drive when booting to kubuntu live dvd
Problem2: Do not have an unused/blank hdd as SDA

Once I disconnected SDA (which was an empty 1TB hdd that I'm not even using) everything worked out fine. I'm all up and running again. I suppose an option of where to put GRUB would have prevented this complication, but just another minor nuisance, problem fixed by a simple unused HDD disconnection. Reconnected after installation, everything is good!

[vinnywright]

there is an option of where to put grub, on the disk setup section it is a dropdown box at the bottom of the screen ........but it may only be visable if you chose the manual partitioning option ,,,,,not sure if it is visible from the guided install setup screen

VINNY