Boot problem? [Solved]

[Mysticalzoner]

I was curious if there is a work around for this?
I try to boot from cd and it does not boot. However, I boot in a older emachines computer and it boots fine, so, I know the CD works.

My computer specs are:
AMD Athalon 64 X2 Dual Core 5400+ 2.81GHz
2 Gig Ram
Samsung dual layer DVD writer w/Lightscribe
4 hardrives totaling 420 gig
Nvida Gforce 8600GTS xxx 256mb Video
20" Widescreen Acer Monitor

When it tries to boot, all I get is a black screen. There is a cursor present, but, will not accept any keyboard input. It will accept crl+alt+del for reboot, but that's it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[genfool]

I am confused at where it gives you the black screen with cursor.
Is it at grub? sometimes if you wait or hit enter, will start the boot process and 1/2 way through you will get video, sometimes.
Or does it get all the way to kdm...gdm before you get the black screen with cursor? alt, ctrl f1 should give you a cl at that point.
The computer should work with the specs you have, also post what version you are trying to use, ie 4.2g, 4.1, 32 bit or 64 bit all info will help.

[Mysticalzoner]

It does not boot at all.
After system goes through initial start and switches over to boot from cd rom, it hangs there.
I have tried 4.1 and 4.2 32 bit.
Have not tried 64 bit yet.
I have waited as long as 8 minutes for it to continue to boot, but yet nothing.
I do not get grub read out, or boot menu. Just a black screen. And it will no accept any input at all. I've tried Enter, Esc, F5, every thing. Nothing. Only thing that works is, crl+alt+del to reboot.

[joeoden]

4 hard-drives and Samsung dual layer DVD writer what are they ide, sata or scsi?
Might be wrong setting in BIOS (like having ide selected when you have sata)

Try some fault finding
Does your DVD writer read CD/DVD discs under different OS
Have you tried a CD/DVD lens cleaner
Have you tried a different live CD/DVD (besides Sabayon) like SystemRescueCd
More fault finding
Have you tried starting with just DVD writer (disconnect all hard-drives) and if
works reconnecting hard-drives one at a time
Does your DVD writer have same problem in a different computer
Try different optical drive (if you have a spare CD or DVD laying around)

[Mysticalzoner]

I'll try the hardware thing.
However, I have tried other OS boots.
Mepis boots fine from CD, Fedora 11 boots fine from cd, even Debian.
But, I'll try the hardware thing in case there may be a conflict.
I'll post back my findings.

[Mysticalzoner]

I want to convey my thanks Joe.
Sabayon did not like my DVD writer. I put in a old IDE one I had lying around and it booted from it.
The Samsung I have is a Sata, and it boots every thing else, but Sabayon and PCbsd. But they ran fine from a old piece of junk IDE DVD player.
I would have never thought that some thing so new would have hardware conflicts like that.
Thanks again for the help.

4 hard-drives and Samsung dual layer DVD writer what are they ide, sata or scsi?
Might be wrong setting in BIOS (like having ide selected when you have sata)

Try some fault finding
Does your DVD writer read CD/DVD discs under different OS
Have you tried a CD/DVD lens cleaner
Have you tried a different live CD/DVD (besides Sabayon) like SystemRescueCd
More fault finding
Have you tried starting with just DVD writer (disconnect all hard-drives) and if
works reconnecting hard-drives one at a time
Does your DVD writer have same problem in a different computer
Try different optical drive (if you have a spare CD or DVD laying around)

[joeoden]

I want to convey my thanks Joe.

Glad I could help

would have never thought that some thing so new would have hardware conflicts

May not be your hardware but could be the brand of blank DVDs you are using (keep away from the really cheap ones)

Please don't forget to mark this as solved