most distros fail
 

can anyone help..

been trying to install Lubuntu or any other light linux version..
and all are failing half way..
the machine is a freinds Fugitsu Amilo m3438g

the only sucsessful installs im getting are Mint 18.1 and deepin .

fedora
lubuntu
linux lite

all hang whether i select install or try from disk..

they are all off a fresh burn at 4x using image burn.. all live cds work on other machines .. media is verbitum dvdr

Looking at the specs of your machine:
http://www.notebookreview.com/notebo...ew-pics-specs/

Try giving Anti-X a spin.....
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

OR you could run Puppy Linux Live:
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm

Deepin is based on Debian Sid which is unstable.

Try installing from a thumb drive.

they all seem to hang on starting suspend...

how can i stop that?

By chance, does your laptop have 2 hard drives in RAID mode, which Ztcoracat's link to specs suggest is possible? If so, I would go into BIOS and get out of RAID mode. A careful review of BIOS settings might reveal something else that could cause trouble.

Linux Lite, Lubuntu, and Mint are all Ubuntu-based, so it is strange that Mint works and the others don't. What do you mean by "hang on starting suspend" during the installation process?

I agree, stanvan this could be an issue:-

Macmain, without an indepth knowledge of destroying a pc or two and doing installs regularly, you have one of the annoying things about different distro's of Linux...

Some work straight up and some dont.. Simple little distro's lack certain things an others dont like certain component conbinations... Sadly its a fact of such a diverse planet and linux...

Puppy has been reliable and quite small...

Mint I have found nice and boring to install and use, it just works! but has a lot of things included...

Ubuntu(x,l,k etc) all are by choice and some play ball, some dont...

Fedora, I really like(old redhat fan here), but can give you a head ache at times til you've finished hacking it...

I suggest trying Puppy and run it of disc.. Like anything, if you can get it to boot off media like a disc or usb, then you can install... Once you get it installed, then alter it to match what your friend needs... Not all machines are easy to install to(and that includes installing Windows too)...

Notes.
Some distro's need an optical drive boot paramater. I forget what it was but maybe in knoppix cheatsheet? The distro's don't properly use the drive or drive controller or something.

Guess you could try a netinstall cd.

The usb is a good test also. May fail for other reasons but a good test.