Installation on IBM T30 Laptop

[dasbrow]

My IBM T30 laptop will not install any free Linux distro. It won't run the live disks for Debian, Back Track, Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix, or Simply Mepis. It will launch Slackware 8 but I wanted a more complete install for my son. I've only tried to install from Live CD and DVDs. I've reformatted the HD, I've tried with XP loaded and not loaded. I just can't get it to load the kernel for most distros. I get a coded read error when I stry. "Couldn't read data at sector..." or similar type message. I've tried both Hardy and Intrepid with no luck. I've tested the CD/DVD reader. It appears fine. No problem installing WinXP or 2000 or 98 even from install CDs. AND, there's always the fact that Slackware runs as a live CD just fine. In addition, I can backup WinXP on the T30 with PING without a hitch. So the Linux kernel will actually run on the system.

Any ideas???

Is there something I can do to get around this? Is there an alternative (other than live CD/DVD) installation method?

Thank you very much.

[rok3]

You could try installing from an USB stick.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

I'm writing this from a T30 running Arch and I've never had any hardware issues with it. I hope this helps.

[dasbrow]

Thanks for the tip. I don't use a USB stick but could get one. I tried floppy disks and that failed too. I eventually created a Live Win XP disk with UNetBootIN on it and was able to get a great installation of Debian from them. My son is happy, I have less administration headaches, and it's faster. From what I understand, UNetBootIn does not work that well from Linux live disks. I didn't bother argueing so I have no first hand info.