I am trying to add Jolicloud 1.1 to my Dell Dimension 8100 (256 mb RAM, 36 GB hard drive, Windows ME, Pheonix A09 BIOS).

I will primarily be using it for internet browsing. My problem is that I can't get either a live CD or USB to load and the installer requires Windows XP.

I started out with A06 BIOS and the live CD was not working (either giving an error message or loading a screen of multi colored flashing symbols). I updated the BIOS and now it is not loading the live CD at all and just booting Windows.

I am indifferent about having Windows on this computer at all so if there is an easier way to get a Linux distro on this computer that is fine I just don't know how I would do that.

What exactly was the error message you were getting?

I'm not sure if you have enough RAM. The only reference to minimum RAM requirements is in the "Install to Virtual Machine" instructions which recommends to use at least 348MB.

As to the LiveCD booting problem, can you boot other install CD's (Win ME, or a different LiveCD)? Did you check the boot order in the BIOS after you updated it?

If you can get anything to boot, you might just try a different distro like Puppy Linux, or a bare bones Debian install (or LXDE install disc).

I am not sure what the error message was I should have wrote it down but I was hoping that updating the BIOS would fix it.

I did set the boot order after updating the BIOS but I cannot boot this live CD or any others (tried Windows). My computer can recognize the live CD when I view the drive in My Computer but it will not boot to it. Since I can't get anything to boot I'm really not sure what my options are.

Does the CD Rom work from within Windows (i.e. can you browse CD's)?

You could try installing PLoP and boot from a USB installer (or try the CD again).