yay have finally got this sorted the problem was a typo in the interfaces file

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet did read

auto eth0
iface eth0 unet static

so i changed it to inet and its all working now

thanks everyone who contributed in suggestions :)

Yay had some success with this i have now got linux ubuntu server succesfully intalled on the tower although as earlirt suggested it seems i have no internet connectivity i have tried with dhcp and also with setting to static ip but nothing i do seems to get it online i have tried to ping google but it wont ping

i use these instructions to set to static

1. give your server a static ip. put this line in and press enter

nano /etc/network/interfaces

change the dhcp to static then under it put like this
address 192.168.1.78
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.78
gateway 192.168.1.254

ofcourse these are my ips so please change to your own ips

once done hold ctrl+x press y then enter
now to restart network put this line in

/etc/init.d/networking restart

but the restart fails

check sum is

881D188CB1CA5FB18E3D9132275DCEDA *ubuntu-11.10-server-i386.iso

I am quiet willing ro try any suggestions just another question though how can i test the connection when i can not finish the installation ?

i am on a wired connection straight to my virgin media super hub dhcp connection the internet works fine on the tower in vista so i have no reason to think its not working during the installation

I have downloaded now 7 copies of linux server and come up with the same results can i just ask what is the archive download trying to download ?

well i have vista running on it now and the internet works fine but going through the installation process i'm not sure how to check

Hi i am trying to install linux server 10.04 on a tower i have but having problems.
I have set up a usb stick and boot to it and get the language selection screen then the option to install ubuntu server it goes through the keyboard setup and progresses through the network setup it then asks for a mirror to access archives or something and says its downloading but just sticks at 0% i can not get past this point i have even tried different countries but still the same

alo tried burning the iso to disc and it does the same thing

I have also tried a more uptodate version and the upto date version once selecting install ubuntu the screen seems to go off as if the resolution is not supported and sticks there

can anyone at all help me please

thanks in advance