installation - Can't install Ubuntu since 10.10

When I try to install ubuntu on my notebook from a disk, I get the screen that asks be what I want to do, (boot live, install etc)... no matter what I do, when I get to the point where I select an option, the disc will start to load, I will see the little man a circle with the keyboard under him, and then shortly after I get this screen:

I have been having this problem since version 10.10. 10.04 worked, and ever since the 10.10, i've tried the new versions and they all give me the same error.

I really love Ubuntu, and I want to use it as my main OS, but this issue prevents me from using it as something other than a virtual machine (which works).

I've tried the following things to resolve this problem.

• Tried 32bit and 64 bit OS'


• Tried multiple download ISO's


• Tried multiple installation versions


• Tried upgrading from version 10.04

With this, I get an error on the upgrade, my upgrade process freezes, and no key combination will undo the freeze.

• I have updated my BIOS to the newest version.



• Run hardware diagnostics on my machine.


• Looked for BIOS options to specify Video card / CPU video allocation (There's no options for anything like this on my BIOS)


• I have tried installing Fedora 15-16, and I get the same problem.


• Googled the world for a solution, and come up empty.

Here are the important specs of my notebook

• ASUS G51Jx



• Intel® Core™ i7 720QM


• 4gb DDR3 RAM


• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 360M 1GB GDDR5 VRAM


• More here if you need

Thanks to anyone who can help. I really want to get using Ubuntu as my main OS again.

When you boot from the live CD press and hold down the left Shift key. This will, after having selected the language, enter the Grub menu:

Press F6 at his screen and select "nomodeset" as a boot option to prevent loading of video drivers during boot.

If that does not resolve the issue try with the alternate CD for a text based installation.

In case you will not be able to boot into a graphical desktop you may try to install the Nvidia graphic drivers from a terminal, e.g. with jockey-text.

Additional note from comment: after a successful installation we may be able to boot to "Recovery Mode" (again hold left Shift key for Grub menu) to install graphic drivers, or if that fails drop to a shell to proceed driver installation from command line.