I just downloaded the iso dvd version of mandrake 10.1 and I have burned it to a dvd. I reset my laptop and it boots into the installation setup for mandrake Linux. I press enter to begin the setup, so it starts to detect my USB drives then it says "Loading program into memory" and literally straight away an error comes up saying "fatal error finishing initalization". Al I can do is press enter (ok) and it resets the pc.
Can some one help me get passed this problem?

I’m using a athlon (AMD) XP-M 2800 processor running windows XP with 192 RAM, 40GB hdd (HP pavilion ze4700 notebook)

Thanks Matt

At the moment im downloading Mandriva linux 10.1 iso for dvd from another website to see if the last iso was corrupt.
If any one could help me please post. Thanks

From searching I found that it could be a number of things, and different work arounds work for many people. So here goes.

1. Your usb drives may be the problem, unplug them. (Unless your trying to install to them, of which I did not see a work around )

2. Your disk may not have burned correctly. Check md5sum.

3. Try a different kernel (or a different distro, this could be a mandrake specific problem)

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I apologize if this is not very helpful.

Thanks for your help. I'm going to check the md5sum. If all it good il wait for my download to finish then try and install it, if it doesn't work then ill have to try another distro.
I don't really know how to unplug my usb drives though because it's in my laptop (i don't have anything using them).

Thanks for your help ill see how it goes

He might be referring to USB Pen Drives. Based on your response, I don't think you have any.

If he was referring to the actual USB Ports, then you can disable them in the BIOS.