Hello Linux Masters, my nephew gave me his pavillion dm4 running windows 7 because the blue screen of death came up. I wondered if installing Linux 12.04 would make the machine usable again. so I put in my usb and restarted in bios by pushing esc saved exited and waited for it to start to run but it just went back to blue screen after the windows icon window popped up. So I am looking for a way to repurpose this computer how do I install from the BSOD any suggestions would be awesome.

first set the usb drive with this instructions and that select usb key in boot menu, or just make usb key first bootable device in bios.

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ok its loading up we will go from here. If I need more help sir may I return?

better to install debian on which ubuntu is based.

You find it easier to use Ubuntu than Debian.

Ubuntu is just what I know. I'd be interested in trying Debian though,where can I get the distro to put on my usb?

You can find every Linux distribution at www.distrowatch.com but there are so many that you might find it a bit mind-boggling. The two most popular distributions are Ubuntu and Mint (which is based on Ubuntu). Ubuntu is in constant development and the default desktop is Unity which is aimed at being the same for pc, netbook, tablet and phone. Mint uses the well established Gnome desktop.

I agree with BryanM77 that you would find Ubuntu (or Mint) easier than Debian. I suggest that you continue with Ubuntu for the time being and when you are comfortable with Linux, and open source software, experiment with other distributions.

Have fun.

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Keep in mind that on modern Windows systems a BSOD in many cases is not caused by misbehaving software, but by hardware errors. It might be possible that you run into problems if the hardware is at fault, regardless if you use Linux or Windows.
I recommend to make at least a basic hardware test (RAM with Memtest86+, HDD with the disk manufacturer's diagnosis tool).

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http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-in-all-35750/

All I can really say about it is Get the Ubuntu 12.04 Ultimate version, Great for Laptops, Installed it on Two Laptops and everything worked Great Right Away

debian can be downloaded from debian.org
be sure to use the gnome classic desktop and not unity
yes it is true that ubuntu is easier to use than debian until things go wrong and they will
then ask yourself which is easier to use
debian is a much lighter load on a machine and vey robust so things run faster

ubuntu was my first experience of a working linux operating system after red hat
which was impossible.

Please don't suggest them to install Debian, etc...
If he and his nephew are newbees just let them install mint 15 mate.
They will get a working, stable, complete and simple-to-use machine to start with :-)
From that point of they can start experimenting with other distro's or desktops...
Grtz...Eddy.