Harry - my respects to you too and trust your better half is getting better. I apologize for not saying so last time, I got wrapped up in trying to help you out.
Again I agree with Billie. Try reloading the Boot manager from the DVD first. It does sound as though you have a system there but, just no access to it. It is always possible with any system you install to get a corrupt file or two during the process.
** An addition to this post - have a look here
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=828 at a post created by Leadfingers for Newbies. It is VERY instructive.**
I have been installing systems since the eighties and let me tell you, the amount of times I have had to reinstall even brand new out of the box system - well, I've lost count.
It could be of course that there is a bad bit on your hard disk drive and that is where the Boot loader is being dumped.
If the live DVD works there should be no reason for your system to not install unless there are differences in the final installation files (I have had this).
I must come back to the point that some part of Ultimate Edition may not like something in your computer make-up and although it is a backward step, as a last resort please try installing the older version of XUbuntu 7.10 that I suggested. It doesn't take long and the install is pretty much the same and you can even still opt to install alongside both Ultimate Edition and Windows.
If this gets you your Boot loader then you should see all three systems as options to run.
The Linux systems will always have other 'Safe Mode' type options on the Boot list but, you will usually choose the uppermost one of any Linux system shown on the Boot loader.
Good luck again and if you need to this weekend I will try to walk you through each step of a fresh install if you have another computer for communications.
Cheers,
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:40 am