Hello, I have a problem. I have installed Linux (mainly Mandrake, but I have messed around with Knoppix too) before but never on anything other than a standard 32 bit AMD home built machine. Now however I would like to install Linux on my LapTop, a Compaq r4012us (amd athlon 64)... I am having huge problems doing this, I have tried several flavors of Linux and come up with nothing.. Eaither it can't read the cd drive, or it simply locks up... I have tried RedHat, Knoppix, Gentoo.. and none work. Note that the versions i tried say that they are compatable with the amd64 in my macheine.. whats the issue then?!?!?!?

I've put Mandrake and SuSE on my X86_64 laptop without these issues. Do either of these work. Otherwise, you will need to provide details on what exactly failed, and which distro you are trying to install. The kernel used in the version may be of interest also.

One thing that you may try, is to use the NOAPIC kernel option when booting.

I've got a compaq desktop and ran into the same problems, ive got about 6 different linux's and open BSD ive tried to install , so far the only ones I've had success with is suse, xandros ,and ubuntu...

Im downloading xandros and ubuntu as we speak, wish me luck. Im glad (no offense) that I'm not the only one with this issue, as it makes me sound less crazy. Thanks.

Ok, Ubuntu works, sorta. Everything installed without a hitch and everything, but my gui (X server) "failed to start" every boot. it says that "it may not be setup correctly" how do i adjust it?