I am attempting to install 13.04 on a Dell XPS 15 (L502X), onto an Intel SSD. I have run shred to wipe the contents of the SSD, so I should be starting from a clean slate, and my objective is for Ubuntu to use the entire drive. Note, though, that I had an older Ubuntu installation on this SSD prior to running shred.

However, from both a amd64 DVD and an amd64 boot USB key (created using Startup Disk Creator from the downloaded ISO), I get "Operation system not found" when I attempt to boot. If I try booting from something else (e.g., an old SysRescue Linux mini-CD), it boots fine, so the issue is not that the L502X cannot boot from external media.

I even double-checked that the MBR on the SSD was wiped by using dd. Still no luck.

Any suggestions?

(and to those editing the title, no this is not a typo in my question)

Thanks!

UPDATE: Replacing the SSD with another hard drive (one with Windows 7 on it) allows the USB key to boot. Hence, the problem is with the SSD. The SSD itself seems fine -- SysRescue Linux sees it. However, there's something on it that is preventing the Ubuntu 13.04 live DVD/USB from booting, for some reason.