Okay, so far I have tried to run almost every version of puppy linux there is and I always get the same error messages one is 'initrd.gz.........isolinux:disk error 01 AX=4280, drive 82' or I get 'performing a 'switch_root' to the layered filesystem Kernel-panic-not syncing:attempted to kill init! Currently I am running Windows XP professional on a Dell optiplex GX520 with a 37GB SATA hard drive (but that doesn't really matter since I'm trying to use a live CD) and I have 2GB of RAM and an Intel pentium 4 processor that runs at 3GHZ. could it be that my system just isn't compatible with linux, or the file got corrupted during download or maybe I burned it wrong. FYI I burn it using CDCC at a 1X-4X speed and when I need to erase it I use CDburnerXP. I don't understand whats wrong.

I don't really know, but try searching on google for these error messages or key parts between quotes. Some results I've got:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...livecd-659113/

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/vie...843031807299e4

In these two results it appears that the problem was that either the CD was corrupted or the drive couldn't read it correctly, but there are other stuff too.

Someone also mentioned about a different puppy linux version for older hardware (I don't know if yours count as "older hardware" though). I'd also give slitaz linux a try. If this computer is able to boot a pendrive, it's only about 50 MB (I believe it's actuall 30). If you have access to any operational OS, install unetbootin (for windows and linux, perhaps mac too) and install it to a pendrive. It may be just me but I think I've only succeeded with unetbootin when I downloaded the ISO myself, and chose it manually on unetbootin interface, rather than using the option to download automatically.

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I have run Puppy of various versions on a lot of PCs and seldom had any problems.
If you are having problems with booting a lot of live CDs, I would suspect the CD R/W device is going bad.
That does happen.
But assuming your CD is reading correctly, you can try pressing Function key F2 and seeing if one of the boot parameters will get you further.

Also, specifics of what messages you see and what version you are booting help in trying to solve boot problems.

With 2 gigs of memory, you should be able to run almost any version of Puppy.

I would get an MD5SUM checker for windows if you are running windows to check the downloads for errors also.

Most versions of linux have one built in as a utility you can run from the command line.
Also the md5sum text files are usually at the same place you downloaded the ISO from.

..+1

there are also other easy available methods to fiddle with pups, without bothering with the burner stuff, or even a cd drive

If I remember rightly, there can be problems getting the Dell Optiplex machines to boot from ANY CD. I seem to remember having to supply a boot floppy with the last one I handled.

One might also try using SuperGrub on a floppy to boot with. I have used it to boot on some PCs that had boot problems with linux.

Yet another way would be to install Puppy on a USB flash drive on another computer and try booting from it.

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop that I have to set up to boot from USB by going to BIOS setup and selecting the USB flash stick as the first boot device. It is seen as another hard drive by the PC.
If I boot later without that flash drive present, the PC reverts to booting from the internal hard drive or CD and I have to set it up again if I want to boot from the flash drive.

you could try UNetbootin, i like vmware, a quick google shows folks running pup with your rig

I have an optiplex gx260 running slacko5 and lucid 268 booting with grub4dos on floppy disc.
I also run wary 5.2 on multi-session cd. Your hardware should be ok. A faulty cd burner can cause all sorts of problems.

thats a good idea and for everyone else, My PC is refurbished with a revised bios

I just had a refurbished Optiplex in last week-- had no trouble booting my Puppy 5.2.5 LiveCD to find and remove trojan files from the customer's Windows install. Perhaps you might try a CD-R instead of the CD-RW- I never could use those for anything more than data storage/backup.

Hi
Just boot pup on another pc and make a wakeup pup floppy.
Menu>setup>wakepup
Works for me on optiflex's