I want to change my i386 to x64 acer netbook

Question

Completely new to any type of computer system, including Linux. I do know a little, but am mostly in the dark.

I bought the Netbook from a pawnshop so I could try and learn Ubuntu, and Linux. It was a Windows 8.1 machine. I had a friend borrow me a CDROM so I could install i386 version of ubuntu. I have sense learned that x64 should have been the OS type installed. How do I go about installing the x64 version.

I have a USB stick with the x64 version, booting from USB seems to just restart machine at current version. Current version installed on USB stick is "ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso".

System as it is now: Memory 3.4 Gib Processor AMD A4-1250 APU With Radeon (TM) HD Graphics X2 Graphics Gallium 0.4 an AMD KABINI OS 32-bit “I want X64” Disk 488.5 GB

I am just interested in getting it upgraded to x64 and any help is most appreciated.

Answer 1

Does your netbook support 64-bit? It may not, googling it's exact model number (especially the exact cpu) should give specifications for them. If it doesn't support 64-bit then I'd expect it would give some sort of error, but quietly failing & rebooting is a possibility. Update: It appears that the AMD A4-1250 APU supports 64-bit, good news so far.

And is it set to boot from the usb, or was the usb created successfully (can other computers boot from it)? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD has lots of help, may need to change (at least temporarily) the boot order, or verify the usb.

It could be that booting from the usb is having problems, it's not as well supported as booting from cd. A cd or cd-rw may work better? Here's a link to my other answer about making a multi-boot USB from linux https://askubuntu.com/a/554834/129271 (references http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-multiple-iso-from-usb-via-grub2-using-linux/ basically the same info but hopefully a little clearer)

And this other question shows how to try adding a 64-bit kernel to 32-bit Ubuntu, not the same as a regular out-of-the-box 64-bit install, but maybe interesting: Install 64-bit kernel in 32-bit Ubuntu Little more related info here(different Q, same name?): installing 64 bit kernel on 32bit ubuntu It appears that just installing everything from a 64-bit iso(cd/usb/dvd) is probably a better idea, but if you'll be overwriting your Ubuntu anyway it couldn't hurt (much) to try installing 64-bit in place.