when I am trying to install fedora core 2 on a compaq presario 1215 I put the CD into the drive and it boots from it fine. The installation screen comes up but when I press enter to start installling the computer turns off, I get the compaq screen, and it boots from the CD again.

hi friend,
i also faced a similar problem..
my laptop didnt work with many distributions, and even didnt boot with live cds like knoppix etc until knoppix 3.3 came....
when it comes to fedora core 2,
it crashed in the installation after the xserver started,,,
this is due to my partition table ,,
i partitioned my harddisk in a wierd way,,
so i changed my partitions to traditional way .
and it worked fine...
so tell me the status of ur partitions,...
and also u try to boot for live cds and see if it works...
i hope u shouldnt be having any problem with installation of mandrake 9.0 and higher...
the reason can also be of ur bios information..
sometimes u may need to change ur bios settings ....
waiting for ur reply .
bye

the hard disk is partitioned for windoze 95 and I haven't changed any partitions because the installer quits before it can partition anything I will try booting to knoppix, I have a CD for it but it would be difficult for me to get mandrake because I have a modem connection to the internet. I could try to get it from a friend though.

It boots fine from knoppix 3.3. here is a bit more detail about the problem:

It boots from the FC 2 CD fine and after I press <enter> it goes to

Uncompressing linux... OK booting the kernel

and that is the last thing I see before it reboots and the compaq screen flashes and it boots back into the CD.

for me , i was able to run only knoppix 3.3 , even earlier versions of knoppix didnt work,
and mandrake worked fine,
when using fedora core 2, i used to get problem after anaconda started and the graphical interface is initiated,
i changed my partitions layout and it started working fine,
this problem with fedora core 2 started only when i changed my partitions and again was solved when i rechanged my partitions, when i bought my laptop, i installed FC2 on new Harddisk , and i got installed fine.

But for u i am unable to understand or predict,,,,
but such problems may arise due to incoherence of BIOS information .

Sorry i can help it out.
Lets see if anyone can suggest u a solution,..
Rather try installing Knoppix 3.3 on ur disk, its really cool... if u are interested in it. u can go.
Wish u best of luck ...

all I am looking for is the command prompt. it doesn't have enough memory or hard disk space for anything else and I don't really need it. I think that the graphical client would want way too much resources.