I just looked up the specs of my laptop online & I do believe it’s “Universal Flash Storage”. Please see the attachment.
I followed your advice, and tried Ubuntu 24.10. All I had to do was format my USB stick (using Rufus on my other Windows laptop), and then I downloaded 24.10, and made it a bootable version on my USB stick.
I reinstalled Ubuntu, only this time it was version 24.10 & it worked!!! 
I now have Ubuntu 24.10 working perfectly!
I would have posted this much earlier, but Discourse limits how often I can post. I had to wait four hours before it would allow me to post again.
People like me rely heavily on online sources for technical help. I don’t know if any of the moderators can remedy this issue, but it sure wastes time for those of us who wish to seek answers in a timely fashion.
Either way, I’m very grateful to you all for your assistance! You guys/gals really came in clutch! 
