HELP!

I am currently running Windows 7. I am desparatley trying to install a version of Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Etc) OVER windows.

First, I tried burning the live CD image to dvd. Twice. First one got to the install option screen asking if I want to try it or install. As soon as I click install...the entire PC freezes...no mouse, no keyboard, nothing. Second dvd pretty much the same thing, except there was a hid error [790] i think.

So, I went to a USB drive. Tried BOTH Ubuntu and Fedora, both get to the screen where you choose to try or install and then it just freezes. No movement whatsoever.


Specs:

AMD Phenom X3 8650 @ 2.3
4gb DDR2 ram
video is a onboard geforce 8300
I have a 500gb hard drive that my Windows OS is installed on, and another 1tb hd that has all my tv shows on it. Obviously I dont want to mess u my tv shows, bust I am wanting to wipe out the 500gb one.

Can Anyone please assist with this?

The first thing I would try is to boot the dvd to the "try" screen and see what may happen.

Have you verified the download matching the keys? It is always possible you got a bad download, so it does not hurt to check and if needed download again.

When you burned them did you do so at slow speed? I find I have greater success burning at 8 or so.

You could also try booting with the nomodeset option. I had to do that with my dekstop pc.

Indeed I did try to use the "try it" option and had the same results of it simply freezing.
I did run the checksum thingy on the Ubuntu, said it was okay.

I actually burned the Ubuntu at 3x. Mainly trying to do this via USB flash now though as I am out of blank media.

I had seen the nomodset mentioned before. What is that exactly?

Keep trying distros until you find one that doesn't freeze, there are over 300 listed at distrowatch.com including a nice comparison of the top 10 here: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Ubuntu and Fedora have the reputation as being two of the least stable distributions, so maybe give something like Debian/CentOS/Slackware a try for comparison?

I wasn't aware of their reputation! Thanks Snow! I'll give it a go and see if I can find one that doesn't ruin my day LOL

A quick search for "Linux geforce 8300" shows a lot of people have had trouble with that particular Nvidia chip! Ubuntu can be very fussy over hardware and Fedora's not much better.

Mint is "Ubuntu done properly" and seems to avoid such problems.

You could try Salix. Snowpine mentioned Slackware, and Salix is Slackware with added user-friendliness.
http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.ph..._Startup_Guide

Debian and OpenSUSE are not bad, but if Fedora has problems then so will CentOS.