12.04 Desktrop fails to load kernel; CPU has no PAE feature

[Stan Osborne]

Downloaded 12.04 Desktop 32-bit to my Dell Inspiron 8600 running Windows XP.
The ISO was burned to a CD. Then rebooting the Ubuntu boot sequence would
report it was unable to load kernel as CPU did not have PAE supportr. This is
preventing me from getting to the menu of choices. 11.10 was able to get far
enough to display the menu.

If 12.04 will not run on this particular desktop, there should be a better documentaiton
on which kinds of Pentium hardware are supported by 12.04 LTS.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/993939/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Stan Osborne (stan-ana)]

There is no way for me to identify the package name or number.
The ISO fails to boot at all, so I am unable to identify the
Packages involved.

The ISO for Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop 32-bit is broken. I am sorry if
there is no Package number for this, or if it is very difficult for
non-developers to determin the Package name/number, etc.

Please repair the Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop 32-bit ISO so this problem
goes away for the hundreds of thousands of new users who will run
into this problem if it is not soon fixed.

Stan

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. While we appreciate the difficulties you are facing, it would appear that the CD image (ISO file) you downloaded could be corrupt. There is an easy way to verify the integrity of the Ubuntu ISO files you download. Could you please visit https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM follow the instructions and report back as to whether or not the MD5SUM verified? Thanks in advance.

[Stan Osborne (stan-ana)]

Thank you for your reply.

I have verified the CD. It is not corrupt.

Further investigation has revealed that Ubuntu 12.04 is now based on
corrupt reasoning. Instead of continuing to be based on non-PAE kernels
and adding PAE support as part of the installation process, using a
non-PAE kernel by default has been dropped. This means poor people
all over the world who are given a used non-PAE computer to use, are
not able to install the latest Ubuntu release. By doing this the
future market for long term Ubuntu customers has been curtailed.

Stan

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Mah, I don't know the structure of the live session, but sound really strange that we work on a light environement as unity-2d and cut out the user without pae support, but i can get wrong.
have you tried with the alternate version ?
Surely there's something strange because I've installed Lubuntu i386 on a pentium2 350MHz 500MBram and it is working, the kernel is the same..
Assigning to casper for a better triage.
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Bernd Ritter (commel)]

I can confirm this bug on the exact same version. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32bit won't boot on processors not capable of PAE with the said error message.

The laptop is a IBM Thinkpad T42, using a Intel Pentium M-processor.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

Nothing to do in casper, it's a well documented kernel change that we no longer support non-pae hardware.
For 12.04 only a limited number of flavours (lubuntu and xubuntu) will boot, as of 12.10, none of them will.

[Stan Osborne (stan-ana)]

Developers are building personal distros with the PAE kernel.
This allows people who are willing to download a non-supported
equivalent release to continue installing new releases of Ubuntu
on old hardare. There is no technical reason for locking people
out of the future, it is soley a political one. This prevents
the bottom feeders from receiving the benevolence of the work
done to cater to the 1%. It also means Ubuntu is not longer for
everyone.

Stan Osborne