Alright, even the floppy didn't help. Maybe somebody could just recommend something that will run well on my old Windows 95 and I can try to install it there. (200mhz, 32mb, 2gb HDD)

Try Damn Small Linux...

What exactly is "didn't help"? What are you actually getting, any errors? How far do you get before you encountered a problem? Some more details about what you are not "getting" during boot would help pinpoint the issue.

My apologies for the grueling read.

Alright, so I've got the Kubuntu Live .iso file. It's the PC Intel x86 Live CD from (http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/kubuntu/5.10/)

I downloaded this twice in addition to checking the MD5 sums in my best effort to make sure it was not corruped in the download process.

Next, I burned the .iso to a CD. The first time I did it at, say, 40x (some fast speed that I can't specifically recall). I thought there might be a problem with the disc because of the speed, so I burned it again at 4x. That didn't work either, so I burned it *again* at 4x. Still nothing. (I'll get to the specifics of the "nothing" shortly.)

Next someone in this thread mentioned to me a floppy boot disk that might fix my problem, which is not being able to boot with the Kubuntu Live CD. I tried that, and although the diskette *did* work, the CD still didn't.

And now for a walk through a failed attempt to make the thing work.

I put the live CD into my disc drive and the Smart Boot Manager floppy disc into my floppy drive. Next, I turn off the PC. I wait a few seconds and then turn it back on. It starts to boot (it's XP, just so we're on the same page) and I press F12 to select my boot options. This is where I believe I should be able to boot from the CD. I select "IDE CD-ROM Device" from the list of boot options (reminder, this attempt does *not* using the Smart Boot Manager disc). It pauses for a moment, presumably in an attempt to boot from the CD. After a few moments, a message pops up and says "strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility." The only thing pushing F1 does is bring up that same message again. F2 brings me to the setup utility, where I don't think I'm able to do anything to help my situation. (I've already changed my boot device order to 1. CD, 2. Floppy, 3. HDD)

After it fails to do this, I allow it to go about its normal boot process. The screen flashes a bit as it fails to boot from the CD (again) and then boots successfully from the floppy that's still in the drive, as per the boot device order that I mentioned above. From the menu brought forth here I again choose to boot from CD, and the Smart Boot Manager floppy program responds with this message: 0xAA. (That's a zero, if it's hard to tell) I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing it translates to "Sorry pal, you're f***ed, and thanks for using Smart Boot Manager."

Then I tell my computer exactly what I think of it and boot XP like usual, defeated and miserable.

EDIT

If I've left something out that would be helpful to know, just ask.

Don't get too discouraged.
Try booting with another bootable cd preferably the one that installed your original O/S. If that doesn't work then your not booting from cd if it does work try a differnt distro.

For your old computer slackware would work well these are the requirements

http://www.slackware.com/install/sysreq.php

The PC came with XP pre-installed. I've got a "Windows Re-install" disc, which I suppose is bootable, but it didn't boot when I tried it. I can't find anything here that I know for sure is bootable, so I'll try a different distro tomorrow if I have time.

The recovery cd are almost alway bootable they need to be in case you o/s is fried so they can start the restore. If it won't boot then I doubt your computer is booting from cdrom. What type of computer is it? (make and model)

ATTN: Lazeeboy:

How's it going? I'm curious as to what system you have. I'm betting it's a DELL.

Robert

Yeah, it's a Dell Dimension 4550 from a few years back.

From Dell's website --

Preparing to Boot From the Operating System CD

1. Insert the Operating System CD into the CD or DVD drive.

2. Exit any program or utility that might run after you insert the CD.

3. Shut down, and restart the computer.

4. Press <F12> immediately after the Dell™ logo appears.

If the operating system logo appears, wait until you see the Windows desktop, and then shut down the computer and try again.

5. Use the arrow keys to select CD-ROM, and then press <Enter>.

6. Press any key when the Press any key to boot from CD message appears on the screen.


I haven't multi-booted with windows in years but when I did it was recommended that you do a thorough scandick and defrag before resizinng the windows partition so you will probably want to do that first.

ummmm that was supposed to be scandisk not scandick don't get too excited

Hey, I wish I could get to that part. The Dell-packaged CD I tried to boot with last night failed in the same way the Kubuntu Live CD does. It's possible the Windows CD I tried to boot with isn't actually the right one, but I didn't find anything that looked more likely than that one--everything else was applications and drivers.

I'll be sure to look for something called an "Operating System CD" from Dell later today.

Of course, I could repartition without ever running any Live CDs, but I'd really like to actually get the chance to *use* some type of linux distro (I've never even laid eyes on a PC running linux) before I do anything major.

Then again, just getting the boot disc to work feels like it's become a pretty major undertaking.

By the way, I actually read over "scandick" twice and just glazed over it both times. I'd never have known if you hadn't pointed it out.

the human mind automatically corrects spelling for us sometimes so much so that we don't even notice it there's an article on the mambo cms default page that is horribly misspelled on purpose but still readable

what happens when you press F12 and you are pressing the "F12" key not the keys F 1 & 2 right? (I had to ask because I've seen someone do it)

When I press F12 (yeah, it's F[twelve]) my boot device options pop up. I can't recall them specifically or check them from here, but it's basically "Floppy, CD, HDD." There may have been another as well. When I press CD I always get this message: "strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility."

Here's what I would suggest ....

(1) Take a deep breath. Step away from the problem. For me, tennis works wonders. Or a good long walk/jog along the greenway. Get away from the problem and do something physical.

(2) Whatever's interfering with the Linux LiveCD is probably the same thing that's interfering with the XP installation. So, you don't need to panic and reinstall ... you need to figure out the problem.

(3) Always work with a machine that you feel like you can afford to screw-up. An extra machine, in other words, not your "main axe." Copy everything off of it (USB 2.0 pocket disk drives are great for this, or use Windows file-sharing), then be prepared for a series of while (true) { .. .. .. .. .. } learning experiences.

Can you access the CD from within windows? I once wasted a bunch of time trying to get a CD to boot and found that my IDE cable had become loose...