buffer i/o error on device sr0
 

I've tried to use many live cd's and I get weird block errors and usually the livecd will not boot due to them

They are like this:

buffer i/o error on device sr0 xxxxxxxxx

x = number

Anybody know why is does this? Ubuntu and fedora live cd's both give this error, the disks are fine, they work in other computers perfectly

Have you tried cleaning the lens on the problem optical drive with one of those lens cleaner kits? That error indicates the drive is having problems reading the CD-R. It could also just be a problem with the type of CD-R media that you are using. It's not uncommon to have certain drives not like certain brands of CD-R even though they work fine on other drives.