Cannot boot from CD; trying to install Kubuntu on computer running Wary Puppy

[Guest]

I have an older eMachines computer that suffered a loss of power (got accidently unplugged) a month ago. After that I was unable to start Windows XP (the original OS). I tried system restores and the start-up disk, but nothing worked to completely start Windows. I suspect that the hard drive was damaged when the power was lost.

Using another computer I downloaded Linux Wary Puppy onto a CD and was able to boot from CD. It didn't boot initially, but I tried various boot options. I ran Puppy in RAM and I used an AHCI option. Once I was running Puppy in RAM, I was able to format the hard drive (removing Windows), create a new partition, and do a check and repair on the hard drive. Then I installed Puppy on the hard drive and have been able to use the computer many times by booting from the hard drive. No problems.

My real goal is to get this computer to run Python-Pygame so my son can try to learn Python. However, I have not been able to install Pygame with Puppy.

So, Kubuntu ...

I would like to install Kubuntu (and remove Puppy). If I understand correctly, I should be able to burn the current version ISO onto a CD and boot the computer from it. However, I can't get this to work. When I turn the computer on and choose to boot from the CD, I get nothing but a cursor on a blank screen. I have also tried the same procedure with Ubuntu and got the same result.

I think the problem has something to do with whether the CD drive is AHCI or IDE. (Not sure if that makes sense; I don't even know what that means.) The thing is: Puppy had a way to get to various boot options (boot in RAM, ignore previous sessions, use AHCI, etc) and as far as I can see Kubuntu and Ubuntu don't have those options.

I got the idea that I might be able to change between AHCI and IDE in the BIOS, but I can't find any such option.

(I also tried to boot from a USB drive, but the computer says it doesn't find any "removable device" when I choose that option no matter which USB port I connect the drive to.)

Any help would be much appreciated.

thanks much!

[SteveRiley]

Insert the CD and power on the machine. When you see the image of the keyboard and the person at the bottom of the screen, press Shift. This will display a menu. Press F6 and select the nomodeset option. Now continue to start Kubuntu. Does it work this time?

[Guest]

Insert the CD and power on the machine. When you see the image of the keyboard and the person at the bottom of the screen, press Shift. This will display a menu. ...

That's it. With a little experimenting with the options that come up after pressing SHIFT I was able to install Kubuntu and it's running fine. Thanks very much. I don't know how I missing how to get to the options with the SHIFT key. Anyways, thanks again for setting me straight.

[SteveRiley]

Sheesh, I really goofed up my post there, must have pasted some text twice. Fixed the wording. And glad you were able to get your system running.