Cant even run live cd

[Stooshie90]

So my brother sent my mother an old laptop he had with windows xp installed but I discovered it has the virut virus on it, and as there is no recovery console installed, and he has sent no discs with it, (im assuming he has none now), I planned to install ubuntu for her.
The problem is, when i boot up the live cd it goes to the square with the two little icons at the bottom, then just a black screen with a flashing line and stops there.
I know the cd works, I tried it on my windows 7 pc, so Im wondering if its the laptop or should I just wipe the drive first.
Dont know much about the laptop, its a presario 2100, looks a few years old, and getting any info from my bro would be next to impossible.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[mike555]

You might need to push F6 and click "nomodeset" during startup, I think that laptop has ATI graphics card.

[Stooshie90]

Yes it does. Ill give that try and let you know

[Stooshie90]

Ok, showing my lack of technical knowledge here, but pressing f6 just brings up the battery calibration for me.
Add to this, also tried it when it loads cd, but just get black screen.

[mastablasta]

see here on where you do this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

otherwise you might need alternate CD or try Lubuntu (which doesn't use PAE kernel)

[Stooshie90]

Lubuntu looks more promising, I get the languages and F options, but hitting F6, or even enter on English just seems to freeze it, and leaving to countdown brings up just the flashing line.
i dont know whther to try it with a formatted drive, doubt if that will make a difference, or just give it up as a loss.

[shreepads]

Go Minimal:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

All hail the psychocats!

[CrusaderAD]

You could try booting from a USB stick and see if that makes a difference.

[BrianBlaze]

I had the same problem and for me the solution was the nomodeset option but to get to it once Ubuntu is loading I hit the left SHIFT button and then a bunch of languages pop-up, I press esc, then I press F6 to choose the nomodeset option Hope it works!

[Stooshie90]

Tried your suggestions now, none worked. I also tried Gparted to wipe the drive clean but it suffers the same fate.
Its like the dvd drive just stops reading, so I think Im going to have to write off this laptop.