error while installing ubuntu

[hannah beatdown]

I messed up my computer pretty bad somehow. I used to have XP, and somehow now I have Windows 98. Well I've decided to give linux ubuntu a try, and i downloaded the ISO, and burned the image to a CD, when I ran the CD, and clicked on Install the disk this message came up on a black, coding screen:

"BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-5 Ubunutu12) Built in shell (ash) enter help for a list of built in commands"

when i entered Help, I got a list of maybe 20 commands. I tried typing of some of the commands and this message came up:

"(223.666128)atac:SRST failed (ermo=-16) (initramfs)"

i don't understand why i came to this screen, or what it wants me to do, and what failed.:confused:

can someone please help me?:

[Pumalite]

Post your specs.

[hannah beatdown]

Sorry, I'm not that smart with codes and stuff, what are specs? :/

[Pumalite]

Memory, Graphics? PCU?
If you can boot a Live CD; post:
lshw

[hannah beatdown]

ohh ok.

Well, um. 64MB SDRAM memory
the brand of the computer is HP Pavillion Genuinel Intel Pentium III processer 40.0 GB Ultra DMA hard drive

[hannah beatdown]

i can boot a live CD, that's how I downloaded the ISO image on a CD?

[BlueTesla]

When you get to the menu where you can select "Run From CD", "Install", etc, press F6 and type the following:

all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll

I had a similar error and this is what did it for me.

[Rodr!go]

Might sound stupid, but what worked for me is just to type "exit". After that, the installer just worked fine!

Im not that savvy, so just try it...Im also having issues with the install myself: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=910724

Good Luck!!

[Gavagai80]

64MB SDRAM memory

64 MB isn't enough to run a general purpose modern OS like Ubuntu 8.04 (Ubuntu requires 256 MB RAM), so you'll need to get a distribution that's designed for old computers.

I hear Puppy Linux (http://www.puppylinux.org/) has some Windows '98 integration (http://www.freeveda.org/linux/puppy/PupWin98.htm) to make things easy.

[Pumalite]

Stick to a small distro: DSL or Puppy.

[Crafty Kisses]

I really like Slitaz Linux, really slick distro I think.

[snowpine]

Nothing in the Ubuntu family will work with 64mb of ram. Puppy, DSL, and SliTaz are probably your best options. Or a newer computer. :)