Hi I am a newbie & haven't much clue about Linux operating systems or hard ware.
I am a Windows 7 user. I have two machines a laptop & a new bench top.
Both machines run & boot Windows 7 very well.
I use a very good program to clone my Hard Drive to an external USB drive.
called Macrium Reflect. It is free and is a dream to use & very fast.
This program creates a Linux based boot disk, which will allow you to find a backup clone file on an external drive to restore your hard drive. It works a treat on my laptop & has saved my bacon many times when I have messed things up fiddling with the registry etc.
The problem I am having is that my new desktop will not boot from the start up CD & returns the error kernel panic,not syncing cpu context corrupt. & then just tries to reboot again.
I don't know what this problem relates to whether it is the computer hardware or the Linux CD or both. My laptop with the same OS does not have a problem, It is an Acer Aspire 5920G with 1.6ghz Intel dual core processor & 2gig Ram.
The bench top has an Intel Dual core 3.3ghz processor, Zotac mother board & 4gig of Ram. both machines are running 32 bit OS.
I have browsed through the posts on this forum with people having the same error at boot, but as I am not using Linux & only using a boot CD I didn't think it appropriate to but into their threads.
So I am hoping if some one can tell me is this a hardware issue or a Linux/New dual core CPU/ or Bios/Mother board issue. If it is a Linux issue then my Laptop surely would not boot would it?
My bench top is only a week old and guaranteed, should I be sending it from Adelaide back to Sydney(purchased online from MWave) for fault inspection? or just take to a local Technician for a diagnosis.
I am not having any hardware problem running Windows 7.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards Richard.

One simple test that may be revealing would be to burn one or two other Linux live CDs and see if they run. Most major distro installers are done from live CDs (Debian, Fedora, Suse, etc.), as well as the 'dedicated' lived CDs like Knoppix. You don't have to actually do anything, just see if the system is capable of supporting Linux. It might not, although I'm at a loss to imagine why.
--- rod.

Hi Rod, thank you for your reply. I will download a Linux program & give you suggestion a try.
Love your bottom line, "If it ain't broke fix it until it is" that's me to a tee. Also will take some time to read, "How to ask Questions the smart way"
Regards Richard.

Hi Rod, thank you again for your suggestion, both Linux Puppy & Arch Linux booted without a hitch. So the worry of a faulty computer is no longer the issue. It must be something to do with the boot code on the Macrium Reflect Linux Boot Disc & New hardware Architecture. Which is way beyond my comprehension!
Regards Richard.

Hi, to all that might read this post, (probably not many, as is not really a Linux problem I have since discovered).
I have communicated with company producing Macrium Reflect. They suggested that I build a Boot CD with BartPE instead of Linux Boot CD. That is all very well if you have a machine with Windows XP as Bart PE is not compatible with Vista or Windows7. You also require XP install disk.
So having made a Clone of my entire Laptop, I formatted it and installed XP (Luckily I still had an original XP Disc). I then made a Boot CD with BartPE which has a Plug in for Macrium reflect. I tried this new Boot CD on my Desktop & it Booted just fine with the option to restore my hard drive with Macrium Reflect. FANTASTIC. Then I restored My Laptop back to its original state. (Should my bench top OS. crash, I can now restore it).
I have to say this process of finding out what was wrong with what, & determining if this was a hardware/Software/Linux problem has taken 3 days & a lot of hair pulling,I'm now going to spend another 3 days sticking my hair back with super glue!lol.
I joined this forum because I wanted to know if the error I reported was a Linux issue, & I think it maybe an early Linux kernel code issue/ with new processor architecture, but not in later editions of Linux.
Special thanks to Rod, who pointed me in the right direction.
I hope this long winded saga might be of help to any body else that is searching to resolve the same problem.
I now have to figure out how to close this thread.
Regards to all Richard.