What's the problem, everytime I try and install a Linux Distro whether it is Slackware or Red Hat it dosen't work, the only one's I can get to work are Live CD's but then again the Slackware Live CD didn't work. Please help me.

More information:
Type of system, any errors that you get, what distros you have tried, etc ...

I have an

A-Bit NF7+ Mobo
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton 1.83GHz
768MB of Corsair XMS Memory
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB Graphics Card
Maxtor DimondMax Plus 9 160GB HD 8MB Cache
D-Link Router

This is a custom built Computer BTW, not a dell or anything like that

No errors, usually it just stops installing and freezes, that is what happens while installing mandrake. When I am installing SuSe it stops at creating initrd. While installing Slackware I don't remember as it has been so long, and same with Red Hat. I was told that knoppix would install the the hard drive by typing knoppix-installer on the live CD, but that just boots the live CD. If you need to know anything else just ask.

If you can run live cd's but not install the actual distro, it narrows down the possible problems. I read your other post and if you downloaded Suse 9.1 from their main website, the possibility of the files being corrupt is very low. If you have a floppy drive, download a program called BootIt. You can get this file from CNet's download.com and it's used as a disk partition GUI. Reboot your comp with the floppy in the drive and it will kick into the application, it's what i've been using to split up my two hdd's for Windows and Linux distros. Make sure your "empty space" is formatted as ext2, the most popular Linux file type. I'll try to keep an eye on the progression of this thread for you, good luck.

It should install from the knoppix-installer command, try doing it with Ctrl+Alt+F1 then typing knoppix-installer.

Also when you come to selecting a partition "if you have a Linux partition there" go to it then hit space to select it.

I do well did have a hard drive, but my younger brother stuck his straw in it and blew, and it broke from all the liquid :'(

But any ideas on why I can't install anything?

@TuxToaster, lol before you said Ctrl+Alt+F2, but that didn't work so I typed it into boot. I will try this, but I am still curious as to why no other distros work for me.

Just a follow up note to my previous post... if you choose to use BootIt to partition your drive, MAKE SURE you do not format over your Windows partition or change it from being an NTFS file system or FAT32. Ext2 is not supported under Windows.

I know i said Ctrl+Alt+F2 but if that isnt working then you can try Ctrl+Alt+F1 lol
Dont know why you cant get any distros to install to HDD, you could check to see if there are any compatability problems with your hardware like your mobo or its bios.

ok, well let me go try the F1 way.

Left it on the install for about 15min or so and it stayed at 5% so another distro that won't install for me.

I would guess that it is APIC. I used to have problems like you mention. Since mdk10official and FC3test1 I have not, so if you have tried them, maybe it is something else. It is really a problem for knoppix - it complains about only one processor being present and stops.

APIC? Elaborate, I would just like to have a nice linux distro, with a graphical interface.

When you choose to install, try to go to the "advanced" installer of whatever one you decide on. Type "linux noapic" and see if you get to boot. I wonder if its your graphics card. Its reasonably new so you may not be able to have perfect performance until you install the ati proprietary drivers. That's one thing the live-cds usually have is the "non-free" programs that "free" distros like Mandrake and Red Hat don't, at least in their free download editions. I may be way off base here, though.

My main choices for a distro are SuSe, Mandrake or Linspire, but Linspire costs money and I don't want to pay for a linux distro. So basically I want one of those, but everyone seems to be getting this problem with the SuSe 9.1 free version. I am obviously doing something wrong on the installation, I thought it was maybe my partions but suse does that for you. Right now I am completly lost, and honestly would just love to successfully install any linux distro for the first time.