ok where to start? well im a fresh n00b as far as linux goes. i always like doing things with computers and decided linux soundss fun....but im stuck.
im running windows xp from my main 40gb hard drive, I've recently installed a secondary hard drive of 80gb. the 80gb is totally clean and formatted. As far as i can tell my computer is set up just fine so i downloaded two linux distros: linux mint gloria and ubuntu 9.04. i burnt them both to disks but when i try to start either of them the pc reboots(obviously) and (for mint) goes to a funny blurry screen. through the fuzzyness i see a contdown and when its over a black screen appears say loading and does nothing! i left it for 2 hours! (for ubuntu) it brings up the loading screen with the logo and stays there just like mint! someone please help me learn the ways of linux.

PC Spec?

cpu- pentiun 4 2.53Ghz
40gig Hdd
80gig Hdd
512Mb SD RAM
CD drive-HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8483B
video-3dfx voodoo3 (sucks!!)
this is all i know off the top of my head.

You may have to disable ACPI. Add "noacpi acpi=off" to the CD boot prompt.

the 512 ram is a bit on the low side. but doable ( i ran fedora 4,5,6,7 on 512 meg )
but that vodoo card may be a problem? That would cause the video issue on Mint.

when i was typing the last post i realized that when i setup y pc i never updated the onboard video card driver so i did now and it seems better. idk if it'll make a difference though.
the onboard video card is a intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV graphics controller

I can't imagine what wrong. i did every thing the way i read on so many sites and i'm so eager to try Linux but this difficulty to just install it is making me think again. if anyone had a similar problem or knows what i'm doing wrong please help

Try different distro's till you find one that works
Can it boot from USB?
Checkout distrowatch.com
and I use Ubuntu-SE which has a good forum and great wallpapers, etc

i haven't tried usb but i will. any suggestion on which distros might work?

Go to my site and download some
I recommend tinycore
I am coming out with tc-2.0 today superpack, look for it
( http://multidistro.com/ )

ok. thanks. ill be back with a report.

I wonder if you're skipping some important detail there.

I forget the exact boot sequence with mint or Ubuntu, but I think you get to some kind of GRUB screen first and you have some choice (with timeout) to enter different boot options.

I think GRUB displays are pretty robust and I doubt that would be unreadable.

On a variety of computers, with a variety of liveCD's, I generally failed with the default boot options, because the "splash screen" and/or the default X driver was incompatible with the display card.

With Mint, I never really figured out the working choices. With other liveCDs, especially Mepis, I figured out the options to turn off the splash screen, to select a more basic X driver (usual the VESA one) and sometimes to select even a more basic text mode for the screen to use during the portion of startup before the switch to GUI.

If you can't even read the Grub screen, I guess you better try a different distribution. Maybe if (like me) you can't figure out the safer boot options from the limited help packaged with that GRUB screen, you should try Mepis. (Not 100% sure, because I never looked at the GRUB help text packaged with Mepis 8.0, but with the previous Mepis version that boot time help text was more helpful than on other liveCDs).

i tried to install multiple distro via cd and usb but all have failed i am stumped

someone please help??? i downloaded: red hat, ubuntu, mint 7, damnsmallinux and tinycore plus many other iso's. i burnt cd's at low and high speeds and everytime i try to boot from them i get a fuzzy/blurry screen i cant disepher. i also used a program(Unetboot or something) to make a bootable usb drive but to the same outcome!!!

I don't see a clear answer yet to the question I tried to ask. I should have asked clearly rather than implying a question by describing the general situation. But after the clear question below, I'm forced to do it some more. I'm not there to see what you see, so my description of how things usually work implies various questions depending on what you actually see.

At what point do you get the blurry screen? What is the last thing displayed non blurry before the screen becomes blurry?

1) When you start booting, the display is controlled by the BIOS. Maybe you must choose something to make it boot from CD, or maybe you already had it set up so it would boot from CD whenever you have a CD inserted and boot the computer. I assume the display is OK while the BIOS is in control.

2) Every Linux liveCD I've seen boots first into a program called Grub. What Grub displays and how long it waits varies a lot by distribution, but it should display something and it should wait at least a few seconds for you to change things about the way it will load Linux.
It sounds like you are saying the display from Grub is blurry, but that is hard to believe. The Grub display is very simple and generic. If the BIOS can display, Grub should also be able to. I don't know what to try if you can't read the grub display.

3) After Grub starts Linux, you usually get a "splash screen". It is very common for that (and later steps) to be done by default in a way that is incompatible with your display card. That's why there are various overrides you can select within Grub, before it starts Linux, to handle your display card differently and probably work.