Hey everyone, I have tried to run the live cd so I can install Linux on my old A22m but during the boot up it comes up with the error that it might chang seril prom and that it is quiting.... any help?

Welcome to the forums.

If my quick research is accurate, you need to upgrade your hardware if you want to run Linux Mint.

ThinkPad A22: http://www.cnet.com/laptops/ibm-thin...7-5600305.html
Linux Mint hardware requirements: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2366

Here is some good advice how to upgrade your hardware for free/low-cost: http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/10...-old-computer/

Thanks for the quick reply..... I should have mentioned that this machine is running at 1 GHz and 256 meg of ram

Could you clarify the exact error message? "chang seril prom" doesn't make much sense. I can only guess what that might mean.

My guess, and it is a guess, is the cmos battery may me dead. IBM Thinkpads have a battery that is about the size of a quarter. It keeps the cmos settings active when powered off. They last about five years, and this system is older than that. Changing it is not too difficult. Lots of places to get a new battery at low cost. If you need help with that, post.

Looks like you can upgrade to 512mb (the maximum the laptop will take) for about $40 according to crucial.org. 512mb is the absolute bare minimum for Mint (1gb is the recommended minimum). Personally I would put the $40 toward my next hardware purchase (rather than spend money upgrading an obsolete machine) but I don't know what your budget limitations are.

The message it is throwing ... (247.022251) piix4_smbus 0000:00:07.3 ibm system detected this module may corrupt your serial eeprom Refusing to load modual.

failed to start X server


don't know what to think.

Looks like some Ubuntu/Mint users have had problems with the 'piix4_smbus' module on IBM ThinkPad hardware, for example I found this: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/162970

It is your call how much time/effort you want to spend troubleshooting errors on obsolete hardware that doesn't even meet the minimum requirements... I personally would start from scratch with supported hardware; here is a list of hardware certified to run with Ubuntu (and therefore Mint, which is based on Ubuntu): http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

or
use a operating system that is good on ancient hardware
have a look at
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ca...=Old+Computers

AntiX is supposed to be good ( i have NOT used it so ... )

I have the same laptop. Forget Mint since they dropped the Fluxbox edition. I upgraded my ram to 512MB.

http://antix.freeforums.org/post30021.html#p30021

Edit: Since you run lower ram than me. I suggest about 700MB of swap partition and installation of NetSurf
browser also after install. I installed Netsurf on my IBM a22m and it does not hammer the cpu as hard as Iceweasel does. Dillo and Links2 is in AntiX for browsers also.

A useful place to find help with your machine is
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:A22m

For a live CD to run in 256MB, try Antix, the LXDE version of Salix, or Zorin Lite.

It's possible to run linux on that hardware, but anything < 512MB will limit your choices. A raspberry pi has 512MB of RAM for $35, cheaper than buying more RAM. Although keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers are not included. You could find some parts at certain goodwill locations to better your hardware on the cheap. But it's not every goodwill store and you might end up spending more on gas than the part(s).

My debian wheezy install is running at about 130MB with cwm as the window manager. But that's not running pulseaudio. But I am running iceweasel. Good enough to watch youtube videos. It runs at about 222MB if I run pulseaudio (over jackd) and iceweasel.

You definitely want some swap space allocated. You might be able to use mint if you do that step, although not efficiently.