I can't run it. I can't get into it. I have tried with all the commands known to man. What I am working on is deleting the whole thing, changing the drive to one partition and then reinstalling a version of linux. I am going to concentrate on getting rid of the broken version first.

Windows should be on sda2, which is the first physical drive (sda), 2nd partition. Remember that Dell computers have a hidden partition(s) that will show up as sda1.

The 2nd drive physical should show up as sdb, with Ubuntu being on the 1st partition (sdb1).


Molly, Windows uses drive letters A: B: C: D:, E: .. As gerard82 mentioned earlier, Linux uses different drive designations. Normally for serial ata drives, it's sda, sdb, sdc, followed by the partition number for that physical drive.

okay thanks, I was just wondering why Windows had those letters beside it.

To delete the whole thing do this:
Boot with your ubuntu cd or USB stick.
When it's finished booting go to terminal 1.
In Linux this is done by typing ctrl+alt+F1 (function key F1)
Then type
Check what fdisk produces.
If you see /dev/sdax and /dev/sdbx you're ok.
Then
you'll see something like this
Now type m and you'll get this
Now type d.
It will ask you which number to delete.
If it shows more than one partition start deleting the highest number first.
Then type p.
It will show you if there's anything left.
When there are no more partitions left do n.
This will make a new partition.
If you want to have just one partition make it a primary partition.
You will have then to hit Enter twice.
To finish type w.
That's it.
Of course the partition still needs to be formatted but that can be done by the ubuntu installer.
An alternative is just deleting all the partitions and then type w and let ubuntu do the rest.
Gerard.

I guess y'all can see by my new Avatar that my dilemma is finally solved. I would like to thank Gerard, Tux, Rich, Lyle, wbool, Nixnine, Saulgoode and bkh1914. I really appreciate all you guys for your input.

Another good samaritan showed up and offered his help by walking me through the whole progress, step by step. It took a lot of planning on his part and everything ran quite smoothly considering the mess I was in and a few slaps on the wrist for not listening,

Great Molly. I'm thinking of setting up Mint 12 on my system. Studying on it now.

Good for you molly.
The more the merrier.
Gerard.

WOO HOO, thanks, I think I will be liking it.

That's cool. I'm trying out fedora 16 too. Really love that gnome shell. Let us know what you think of the distro. I'm looking for a change as always.

Good for you Molly; still, I believe virtualization (with MB virtualization acceleration support which most modern MBs do) is the way to go. No need then to reboot and you can easily share files between VMs.

I am really liking it so far guys. I have a lot to learn though