Hi. My name is jpie, and I am a linux noobie. Thank you.

err. im getting the following error

<0> Kernal Panic - not syncing:Attempted to kill the idle task!

I got an old computer of mine, took it all apart, and put it all back together. I just got it working today. This is my first build, and I wanted to try it on my own, without my dads help.

When we boot up, we get windows errors / bluescreen of death. I do not know where the windows ME CD we used to load OS on when we still had it, and somebody told me I could use a Linux image to load the linux operating system. Well, I downloaded the ubuntu(www.ubuntu.org) image, burned it to a disc as an image, and I put it in CD Drive and booted up. Told me to do normal settings, or type server for base system install. I just did normal settings. It did a bunch of lines of text, then it stopped and said the error that I have posted above. Its been sitting there like that for a few minutes. Long enough for me to log onto the website and post this thread. Any suggestions would be great. Note-I cant reformat the HD, as I cannot boot into windows, due to a file that is missing now that was there before..Thanks in advance!

Update - Now it says the same first part, but instead of attempting to kill, it says "Fatal Exception in Interrupt"

Try installing another kernel version. I got the same problem with 2.6.11-1.27 kernel on FC3. The problem didnt occur when I used the 2.6.1101.35 or 2.6.9 kernel.

The kernel panic is occuring during the installation?

If so, you burned the disk incorrectly, or possibly the downloaded image is bad.

Did you download the image via modem or broadband?

What speed did you burn the image at? If faster than 4X, try burning the image at 4X. The mistake that many do is to burn ISO images at the top speed of the cdrw drive. ISO images need to be burned slow,

When you say "old" pc, give some system specs. on the system that you put together. Include the CPU, amount of RAM in the system and the size of the hard drive. If you know the speed rating of the cdrom drive, post that also.

Some of these old computer's cdrom drives don't like home burned disks. Try using cd-r media, if you already did not.