I've got a IBM Thinkpad T22 that has been working great for quite a while. Finally the hard drive crapped out on it and I replaced it. Now that I have a new drive in it, of course I have to reinstall Linux. Previously I was using Ubuntu, 6 and later 7.04 upgraded to 7.10.

Now I decided to try out a new flavor. I can't seem to boot from a DVD-R with Fedora 8 or a CD-R using Zenwalk. On both I get a white cursor in the upper left and that's all.

Any ideas?

~ Quietas

Run through the checklist:

Is BIOS set to boot from the drive?
Does BIOS try to boot from the drive (watch the POST)?
Does the drive engage the disk? (It'll spin then click a lot.)
Do you get a boot: prompt?

When you changed HDD, maybe you bumped the optical drive cables? Reseat them? (Gods I hate servicing laptops...)

Also please elaborate on your thread title What CDs or DVDs will boot the laptop? Did you recently download and burn the Fedora and Zenwalk disks? Do you know that they are good and can boot other PCs?

I don't think that is the problem. Many distros selectively work on some machines and don't work on others. Have you checked around Google and looked to see if someone installed Zenwalk, Fedora, or similar distro on a T22. In the past I have had some distros work and others not work in burning from a CD/DVD. Try your Ubuntu disk, as Ubuntu happens to work decently on a lot of hardware. Alternately, you could try installing Arch Linux or a similar distro. If you do manage to get a distro working, back it up with RemasterSys and keep it as a backup if you ever experience a similar problem.

The T22 is pretty old:
"Specs: Processor: Intel Pentium III (900 MHz); RAM installed: 128 MB SDRAM; Weight: 5.3 lbs; Display: 14.1 in TFT active matrix Integrated; OS provided: Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (Preinstalled); Chipset type: Intel 440BX"

According to that page, the machine only has a CD drive. So DVD-R based distros will not boot. That explains fedora.

There is only 128MiB of RAM, so Ubuntu won't boot either - you need at least 192MiB. Try the alternate CD and XUbuntu.

The laptop matches the minimum requirements for Zenwalk... don't expect ZenLive to boot. But the install disk should be fine.

Curious: I see puppy won't run either... but feather, mu, and DSL should be fine. May want to look at debian - text install.

It's plenty capable of running Linux, I have ubuntu 7.10 on it now. The optical drive was upgraded to a DVD at purchase many years ago and the RAM is upgraded to 384, with a 60gb HD in it now. It hums along nicely with Ubuntu 7.10 via Wifi using WPA on an Atheros PC-Card. It even plays DVD and ripped movies using the codecs from Automatix, I often use it as a portable DVD player for my toddler to watch Bob the Builder.

But I'll be damned if some DVD's won't boot. Fedora Core 8 is a perfect example. The downloaded official DVD hangs, but a 5 disc CD based spin boots and installs beautifully.