LiveCD of CentOS not wanting to work

[Xelaric]

My computer is currently running an expired copy of the Windows 7 RC and I'm trying to switch it over to CentOS. I tried to boot with the LiveCD of CentOS, but got a slew of errors. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it looked like it couldn't recognize the hard drive and it dropped to the lowest shell.

Is the reason for the errors because my computer is currently running windows and the file systems are incompatible? Do I need to be running Linux in order for a LiveCD to work?

My computer's acting really screwy at the moment and I'm afraid to try again just now. But I will try another time and post the error messages.

[devils casper]

Is the reason for the errors because my computer is currently running windows and the file systems are incompatible? Do I need to be running Linux in order for a LiveCD to work?

Its not a Filesystem compatibility problem. LiveCD has nothing to do with Hard disk. LiveCDs use RAM spade and SWAP partition, if any.

Which version of CentOS you have downloaded?

it dropped to the lowest shell.

What does it display?

It looks like you haven't burnded .iso image correctly.

Do not create Bootable or Data CD. .iso images are bootable by default. Select Burn Image to Disk option in your CD/DVD burner package. Burn .iso image as an Image only. Most of Windows based CD/DVD burning packages like Nero, ImgBurn have this option.

[oz]

I tried to boot with the LiveCD of CentOS, but got a slew of errors. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it looked like it couldn't recognize the hard drive and it dropped to the lowest shell.

Your computer shouldn't need to recognize the hard drive to run a liveCD. In fact, you don't need a hard drive installed at all to run a properly created liveCD, so this sounds like it might be a case of the liveCD not being created properly.

Check the following guide for the proper steps to download the ISO file, verify the ISO file integrity, burn the ISO file to disk as an image, then boot with the newly created disk:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

You'll also find a link there that gives step by step instructions for burning ISO files with almost 2 dozen different burning applications.

Post back if you still have problems after following all the steps properly.

[gnuuser]

if your drive is a sata drive you may need to go into bios and set the drives mode to ide before it will be recognized.
I had to do this on a laptop for my friends son before I could install linux on it