I'm having problems trying to run v7.10 on a couple of configurations:

1. IBM Thinkpad R30 laptop

getting a string of errors on boot like [618.124000] Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0 then presented with BusyBox v1.1.3 shell

2. ACPI x86 based PC with
RADION XPRESS 200 Series graphics

Get the loading screen but eventually screen just goes blank and seems to disconnect

Could someone please point me in the right direction to learn how to get linux installed on these (old) machines?

Many thanks