10.10 installation failed on old dell

[steven riddle]

using a, i think you call it, a mirror-image or iso but anyway it's a cd/rw i wrote the 10.10 meerkat to months ago but never used. my snafu, when i went to install it in an old borrowed dell, intending to erase windows entirely, changed the boot sequence to D:, inserted the cd/rw, it told me i'd need 2gig of space to install, i actually managed to install it. i thought. maybe because i elected to encrypt my files or some other thing but at any rate i soon lost all functionality. couldn't even shut it down. at least one of my snafu's was, during the first installation attempt, i failed to note that i'd forgotten to disconnect my 250gig ext-hd and my 8gig flashdrive. on the 2nd attempt to install, having disconnected these, it informed me 3 partitions would be erased but now i'd need 60gig of space to install. i went for it. then i get this message not halfway through:

INSTALLATION FAILED

(symbol) The installer encountered an error copying files to the hard disk.

[errno5] input/output error

This is often due tto a faulty CD/DVD disk or drive, or a faulty hard disk. It may help to clean the CD/DVD drive lens (explaining where I can buy one), to check whether the hard disk is old and in need of replacement (it's old but was working fine with windows before the installation), or to move the system to a cooler environment (it's in the basement).

i clicked "close" on that message and indeed did get the next message about where to report this as well as requesting i include or "attach the files /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to your bug" but gave no clue as to how i would be able to do this. as i do not believe this to be bug-related per se but neither do i know where else to file it, will file it here and at http://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ -- hopefully someone will send this on to where it needs to go, thanks in advance.

[Timothy Mayoh (timothy-m-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so I will close it and give further assistance in your question page at the support tracker. We understand the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having just in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs, instead of reporting in both places. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs.