I've tried installing the new Mandriva without any success. Tried 3 different burns, but get a fault error.

I've also tried running gnoppix live CD without any success.

Default live system runs:

Loading /install/vmlinuz..............................isolinux: Disk error 10, AX = 4280, drive 9F.

I must have some hardware that is just not liked by all distros. Can anyone tell from this error if this is a CD-rom error? Gnoppix only runs off the CD, right?

Thanks for any help....

Did you do a checksum on the ISO before you burned it? That makes sure the image is intact and didn't become corrupted during download.

Did you burn the ISO at a slow speed (2x or 4x)? Sometimes burning at too fast a speed corrupts the disk as well.

Burn it at a real slow speed and try again. 2x or 4x. Should fix problem.

yea thats a disk drive error most likely from the cd drive
but that's about all i know
i agree it's most likely a speed problem
what kind of cd drive is it ?

Also, if you use nero use the varify option (bottom of the window when burning a cd). This will compare the source and the burnt cd. if varified successfully, then its not a cd burning fault.

I did a quick google for your error, and someone claimed it could be a BIOS problem (he says that he ran a checksum on the cd and the cd was fine).

1) Maybe try updating your bios.

2) If that doesn't work, trying moving your hard drive to a different IDE socket. and make sure its set to master via jumpers

3) Try upgrading the firmware for your cdrom drive (if its a fairly expensive drive by a name brand, new firmware is usually available). Or the cdrom drive maybe be bad

Failing all that I just dont know. Since knoppix runs in RAM only, I suspect it is a cdrom or cdrom drive fault.

I had already completed the following:

- updated bios
- did check sum before burning
- only running 1hd and 1cd

I updated the cd rom firmware and burned gnoppix at 4x (lowest my cd burner will go) and it seemed to work (a few things could not be found, but I managed to get it working).

I burned Mandriva 2005LE @ 4x as well and am still getting the same error: "fatal error finishing initialization". Here is some of the error code:

Logs:
* found a Mandrakelinux CDROM, good news!
* mount_clp_may_preload: /sysroot/tmp/image/install/stage2//mdkinst.clp into /sysroot/tmp/stage2 (eload = 1)
* short write (Bad address)
* third party: using modules location /sysroot/tmp/image
* fopen(stage1.c:337) failed: No such file or directory
* exiting bootsplash

Kernel:
<6>hdc: ATAPI 40X Cd-ROM CD-R/RW drive 2048kb Cache, UDMA(33)
<6>Uniform CD_ROM driver Revision: 3.20
<7>ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
<7>ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
<4>hdc: command error: status=0x51 {DriveReady SeekComplete Error}
<4>hdc: command error: error=0x54 {AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05}
<4>ide: failed opcode was: unknown
<4>end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 1255048
<3>Buffer I/O error on device hdc, logical block 313762
<6>bootsplash: status on console 0 changed to on

I'm not sure what specifically the error is saying, but it looks like a read problem from the cdrom. I've double checked the checksum values on all disks and everything looks good. I've burned at a low rate and updated the cdrom firmware. I don't understand why it won't load up, especially when a while back I ran 10.0 on the same platform before.

I like Mandrake, but it looks like I may have to look into another distro...any ideas on a userfriendly one like Mandrake.

Any further help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.