Hurdle number one = http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop this will give you the 12.04 version
I'm afraid I've fallen at the first hurdle....tried following the instructions but don't know where to find ISO image....tried Search on Ubuntu site...no luck...
Thanks Steve...it was Nick's birthday the other day, so perhpas he's still celebrating ... or recovering!!
Afraid it sounds like you're going to need more hand-holding on this, the BIOS is the controller within the motherboard that tells the computer what to do as soon as you press the power button. The HDD is your 'hard-disk drive' which is what is being described as 'not ready/present'.
You need to 'burn' the downloaded ISO file onto a CD, this would then make it workable as a liveCD. See information at the following link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
If NICK is around, he's an excellent resource and better than I am at guiding through the processes necessary to make the liveCD and to set your BIOS to boot in the correct order - hopefully he's watching this thread and will make an appearance shortly.
Sorry Steve, don't know what a BIOS is or HDD and I just downloaded Ubunto onto my computer and transferred it to a CD.....
Is your computer's BIOS set so that it will boot from CD prior to trying from HDD? Because even without any operating system on the HDD it should be able to boot up.
Also it IS the liveCD version of Ubuntu...? Just making sure.
Downloaded onto disk, stuck in computer but nothing doing, whirred for a couple of seconds but still have same messages on screen :-(
Thanks Steve.....will try that...
Hmm sounds like a failed Ubuntu upgrade to 12.10 (this is I presume what was being undertaken).
Presume that you've done the normal shut-down (switch off) and reboot, did it do the same?
Might be necessary to get a hold of a liveCD OS disk, then reboot off the liveCD and see if the HDD is then recognised. (Note for the liveCD use one based upon the OS version that WAS working (presumably 12.04).
Have not upgraded my Ubuntu kit yet - normally wait a month-ish to let any bugs come to light and get fixed before taking the plunge.