If you boot up Ubuntu, it gives you the options of trying it as a "live" CD or a straight-off installation. Try the live option first, to see if everything works OK with your hardware. If it does, there's an Install icon on the desktop, double click it and your away. Installing it will get rid of anything lurking on your hard drive.

heh heh heh That's why I'm making the switch. I know Open Office has most, if not all, of the same types of programs (and maybe some different ones, too), but my main concern was with compatibility. Initially, I wasn't planning to partition at all, as XP has caused me a lot of heartache over the years. But, like I said, the issue with compatibility was a concern for me, since things like Excel are more mainstream, I didn't want to have any problems in transferring or sharing files with MS users (or with my own Windows computers).

Believe it or not, I even had problems with the XP home edition (running on a different laptop) and file sharing. In the end I just used google.docs if it was impossible for me to use a desktop.

OK then ... I'll try booting it from the disk! *crosses fingers*

Thanks again guys!

Windows is very stubborn! My pc thought about it for a moment and then decided to go with windows. BIOS says it's still set to boot from cd/dvd drive first, and then floppy, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

Anything else I may need to check in BIOS??? I tried it twice and it still wouldn't boot from the disc.

**EDITED TO ADD**

My desktop won't boot knoppix from disc either, however, my laptop took knoppix with no problems. Once again, Windows kicked right in after a delay, and then the final time I got a message asking if I wanted to start in safe mode, repair, or start normally, etc.

When you boot the computer with the live cd in the drive, does the screen say anything about hitting the 'F12' key to boot from a different device? Thats probably your issue. Start hitting F12 as soon as the machine is turned on.

Oh yeah. This computer doesn't say that at start up. (I'm not sure if this one ever did.) Just press delete for set up. I tried f12 and it did come up on the desktop. I pressed check disc for errors and it gave me a box with an error message telling me to reboot. I restarted, and f12 didn't let me boot from disc again.

**EDITED TO ADD**

I burned Ubuntu a second time at a slower rate. Both the copies of Ubuntu run just fine on my laptop. (In fact, I'm running the livecd right now.)

Nothing seems to work on the desktop. When I went back into BIOS the 5th or 6th time, I remembered that I had this exact same problem with this individual desktop before. Aside from not being able to get into safe mode, I actually did have a problem booting from the XP Pro CD. When I saw that it was configured to "force bios", that's when I remembered all the trouble I went through before.

I just wanted to update my question here. And if anyone knows anything about something I may need to fix in BIOS (or who knows what else) or if I may need a new hard drive or something, any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again to all of the nice and patient people who offered their help!