I'm totally new at this, but I got the magazine linux format, which came with install disks for mandriva linux. I followed the instructions in the magazine perfectly, and everything in installation worked fine until it asked me to reboot. So i rebooted, and then when it loaded up, everything was different from what the magazine had said. It gave me two options: linux or failsafe. No matter which one i pick, it runs some text, and then suddenly stops at

apm: BIOS version 1.2 flags 0*03 (driver version 1.16ac)

I have no clue what to do. Could someone please help me?

If you have a fast internet you may want to download the official CDs. They sure are pretty good.

After you download the 3 .iso files you need to burn them in 3 CDs. You can use a program such as Nero on Windows to do that.

You can download Mandrake here:

LE2005 ISO CD for i586:

Austria
* ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Vienna)

Belgium
* ftp://ftp.belnet.be/packages/mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/

Brazil
* ftp://mirror.fis.unb.br/pub/linux/Ma...iso/10.2/i586/ (Brasilia)

Czech Republic
* ftp://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/linux/mandr...iso/10.2/i586/ (Brno)
* ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/ (Brno)
* ftp://mandrake.contactel.cz/Mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/OS/Linux/D...iso/10.2/i586/ (Prague)
* http://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/linux/mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Brno)

Denmark
* ftp://klid.dk/Mandrake/official/iso/10.2/i586/ (Danish only)
* ftp://mirrors.dotsrc.org/mandrake/of...iso/10.2/i586/ (Aalborg)
* http://klid.dk/homeftp/mandrakelinux...iso/10.2/i586/ (Danish only)

Estonia
* ftp://ftp.aso.ee/pub/Mandrake/official/iso/10.2/i586/

France
* ftp://ftp.club-internet.fr/pub/unix/...iso/10.2/i586/ (Paris)
* ftp://ftp.cru.fr/pub/linux/Mandrakel...iso/10.2/i586/ (Rennes)
* ftp://ftp.ens-cachan.fr/pub/Mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/ (Cachan)
* ftp://ftp.free.fr/mirrors/ftp.mandri...iso/10.2/i586/ (Paris)
* ftp://ftp.int-evry.fr/pub/linux/mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Evry)
* ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/linux/distribu...iso/10.2/i586/ (Paris)
* ftp://ftp.u-strasbg.fr/pub/linux/dis...iso/10.2/i586/ (Strasbourg)
* ftp://ftp.uvsq.fr/pub/mandrake/official/iso/10.2/i586/ (Versailles)
* ftp://linux.ups-tlse.fr/Mandrakelinu...iso/10.2/i586/ (Toulouse)
* http://ftp.club-internet.fr/pub/linu...iso/10.2/i586/ (Paris)

Germany
* ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/...iso/10.2/i586/ (Esslingen)
* ftp://ftp.fh-giessen.de/pub/linux/Ma...iso/10.2/i586/ (Giessen)
* ftp://ftp.fh-wolfenbuettel.de/linux/...iso/10.2/i586/ (Wolfenbuettel)
* ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/l...iso/10.2/i586/ (Muenster)
* ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/m...iso/10.2/i586/ (Chemnitz)
* ftp://ftp.uasw.edu/linux/mandrakelin...iso/10.2/i586/ (Wolfenbuettel)
* ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/linux/...iso/10.2/i586/ (Bayreuth)
* ftp://ramses.wh2.tu-dresden.de/pub/m...iso/10.2/i586/ (Dresden)
* ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen...iso/10.2/i586/ (Aachen)

Greece
* ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/ (Athens)
* ftp://ftp.physics.auth.gr/pub/mirror...iso/10.2/i586/

Hungary
* ftp://ftp.fsn.hu/pub/linux/distribut...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.prew.hu/pub/Linux/Mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/

Italy
* ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/linux/distrib...iso/10.2/i586/ (Napoli)

Japan
* ftp://ftp.kddlabs.co.jp/Linux/packag...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/Linux/mand...iso/10.2/i586/
* http://ftp.riken.go.jp/Linux/mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/

Netherlands
* ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/dist...iso/10.2/i586/ (Amsterdam)
* ftp://ftp.surfnet.nl/pub/os/Linux/di...iso/10.2/i586/ (Amsterdam)

New Zealand
* ftp://mirror.inspire.net.nz/mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/

Norway
* ftp://ftp.uio.no/linux/Mandrakelinux...iso/10.2/i586/ (Stockholm)
* ftp://ftp.uninett.no/linux/Mandrakel...iso/10.2/i586/ (Oslo)

Poland
* ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/linux/mandr...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.pbone.net/pub/mandrakelinu...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.ps.pl/mirrors/mandrake/off...iso/10.2/i586/ (Szczecin)
* ftp://ftp.task.gda.pl/pub/linux/Mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Gdansk)
* ftp://ftp.tuniv.szczecin.pl/pub/linu...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/m...iso/10.2/i586/ (Warszawa)
* http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/...iso/10.2/i586/

Singapore
* http://mirror.averse.net/pub/Mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/

South Africa
* ftp://ftp.is.co.za/linux/distributio...iso/10.2/i586/ (Johannesburg)

Spain
* ftp://ftp.cica.es/pub/Linux/Mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/ (Sevilla)

Sweden
* ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/Linux/distrib...iso/10.2/i586/ (Uppsala)

Switzerland
* ftp://mirror.switch.ch/mirror/mandra...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror...iso/10.2/i586/ (Zurich)

Taiwan
* ftp://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Linux/Mandr...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://linux.ntcu.net/dists/mandrake/...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://mdk.linux.org.tw/pub/mandrakel...iso/10.2/i586/

United Kingdom
* ftp://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/Mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Coventry)
* ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsite...iso/10.2/i586/ (Canterbury)
* http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsit...iso/10.2/i586/ (Canterbury)

United States
* ftp://ftp.ale.org/pub/mirrors/mandra...iso/10.2/i586/ (Georgia)
* ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mirrors/m...iso/10.2/i586/ (Florida)
* ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Mandra...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/ma...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakel...iso/10.2/i586/ (Texas)
* ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/man...iso/10.2/i586/ (Indiana)
* ftp://helios.dii.utk.edu/pub/linux/M...iso/10.2/i586/ (Tennessee)
* ftp://hosef.ics.hawaii.edu//Mandrake...iso/10.2/i586/ (Hawaii)
* ftp://mandrake.mirrors.pair.com/Mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Pennsylvania)
* ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors...iso/10.2/i586/ (Wisconsin)
* ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/ (Illinois)
* ftp://mirror.umr.edu/pub/linux/mandr...iso/10.2/i586/ (Missouri)
* ftp://mirror.usu.edu/mirrors/Mandrak...iso/10.2/i586/ (Utah)
* ftp://mirrors.ptd.net/mandrake/official/iso/10.2/i586/ (Pensylvania)
* ftp://mirrors.secsup.org/pub/linux/m...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/dist...iso/10.2/i586/
* ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/mandrake/...iso/10.2/i586/ (Utah)
* http://mandrake.mirrors.pair.com/Man...iso/10.2/i586/ (Pennsylvania)
* http://mirror.umr.edu/pub/linux/mand...iso/10.2/i586/ (Missouri)
* http://www.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/m...iso/10.2/i586/ (Georgia)

At the boot screen (list of linux or failsafe) press the 'e' key, this should take you to a black screen where you can type. Type the following:

linux noapm splash=verbose

breaking this down:

linux - this tells the boot loader which option to use, out of linux or failsafe.

noapm - this disables apm in the linux kernel. The reason this might work is because your system seems to be hanging on or after apm has been detected and by disabling it you can determine if it's the problem.

splash=verbose - this simple writes out everything that the computer is doing when it boots up.

Try this and let us know whether it worked or if it stopped on something else.

when i pressed the "e" key nothing happened, the only keys it responds to are up and down (for selecting an option) and space for entering it

sekelsenmat: Thanks for ur tip, however, I haven't had time to install the new os in yet, I will post again when I do

Thanks again to all of you who are trying to help

Bugger, sorry, just read up, LILO doesn't support interactive boot options, it's only GRUB. You could try reinstalling GRUB as your boot loader. I think you can do this by booting from the CD/DVD and typing in "linux rescue" but I've never done it so don't hold me to it.

thanks, ill try that along with reinstalling with official disks, however, what is LILO and GRUB? Thanks Again.

Actually LILO does support interactive boot options and I believe all of those options SHOULD work though I haven't tried them. However, you have to push escape to get to the prompt in LILO, not e.

LILO and GRUB are bootloaders for Linux.