Installing Linux onto an empty laptop HHD

[WHGoolsby]

Having Problems installing. Downloaded several different types, used CDburner XP pro to convert to an .ISO file, burned the file to a bootable CD and nothing. I have partioned the harddrive with some dell software a buddy of mine gave me. I have used every DOS command I could remember to get the file copied to the hard drive and nothing works. The C: drive will not come up. The comp says that it is an invalid drive. The setup side recognizes the HHD but through DOS I get nothing. Through the Dell software the C: drive comes up but it is a ramdrive with only 512 of mem.



PLEASE HELP!

[cerberus]

well first of all how old is the laptop and what size is the harddrive?
as far as age of laptop what processor do you have in it

[WHGoolsby]

60gb HD, Dell Latitude c840, P4 cpu, 512 of ram. Built in 03 if I remember right.

[deltaflyer]

does the bios see the drive correctly ? did you change the boot order in the bios to boot from cd ?

andy