I have followed the instructions from  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent - as well as a few other sites, which all said basically the same thing, in an effort to install Linux on my USB drive in a way that I could boot from it. I think I have done everything correctly - partitioning, formatting, copying the files from the LiveCD, running syslinux... etc. I did all of that, and then put my USB drive into another computer, and tried booting from it. I got the normal Ubuntu Live CD-ish menu, and tried starting Ubuntu. The ubuntu logo and loading bar come up, and it seems to be loading or doing something for a while, and then it just stops, and I am left with a black screen and a small blinking white underscore-type cursor at the top-left of the screen. No combination of keys can let me out (i've tried ctrl+alt+del, ctrl+alt+1, ctrl+alt+7, etc.).   Do you have any ideas as to why this is happening, or what is going on?  I'm relatively new to Ubuntu, and Linux in general - a while ago, I managed to partition my Vista box and install Ubuntu on that so I could dual-boot, and that has been working fine. I just can't seem to get my usb drive to work like a Live CD.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!