so i installed iatkos on the advise in another thread onto my pc installation went fine now when i restart i get to the chameleon screen where it says press any key for settings or something similar, i tried leaving it and it just rebooted endlessly, when i tried using the cpus=1 -x -v it started to boot and was clearly going through some files then abruptly shuts off. here are my system specs

Computer
Model : HP Pavilion 05 DA150A-ABU 743
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Processor
Model : Intel� Pentium� 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Speed : 2.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Integrated Data Cache : 8kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 4-way, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector
L2 On-board Cache : 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector

Computer
Mainboard : HP HP System Board
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD VG31310 08/23/2002
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus AGP PCI IMB USB i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 1GB DDR

Chipset
Model : FIC 82845G/GL/GV Brookdale Host-Hub Interface Bridge (A1)
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 177MHz (354MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : 64MX64U-40C 512MB DDR PC3200U DDR-200 (3-3-3-8 2-11-0-0)
Memory Module : Micron 16VDDT6464AG-265C4 512MB DDR PC2100U DDR-133 (2.5-3-3-6 2-9-0-0)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT (Microsoft Corporation) (PS2.0, VS2.0 234MHz, 128MB DDR 2x334MHz, AGP 3.00)
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT (Microsoft Corporation) (PS2.0, VS2.0 234MHz, 128MB DDR 2x334MHz, AGP 3.00)

Storage Devices
Hitachi HDS721616PLAT80 (160GB, ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 7MB Cache) : 149GB (C) (D)
SanDisk Cruzer 2GB (USB) : 2GB (I)
TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1612 (ATA33, DVD-R, CD-R, 512kB Cache) : 292MB (E
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 (ATA33, DVD-RW, CD-RW, 64kB Cache) : N/A (F)
SanDisk Cruzer (USB, CD-R) : 64MB (G)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C) : 51GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HDS721616PLAT80 (160GB, ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 7MB Cache)
Hard Disk (D) : N/A @ Hitachi HDS721616PLAT80 (160GB, ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 7MB Cache)
E-MU (E) : 291MB (CDFS) @ TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1612 (ATA33, DVD-R, CD-R, 512kB Cache)
Optical Drive (F) : N/A @ PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 (ATA33, DVD-RW, CD-RW, 64kB Cache)
3.5" 1.44MB (A) : N/A
U3 System (G) : 6MB (CDFS) @ SanDisk Cruzer (USB, CD-R)
Removable Drive (I) : 2GB (FAT) @ SanDisk Cruzer 2GB (USB)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Intel 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Interface Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : SMSC LPC47M15x/192/997
Audio Device : Creative Labs E-MU E-DSP Audio Processor
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : FIC 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) UltraATA/100 EIDE Controller
USB Controller 1 : FIC 82801DB/DBL USB UHCI Controller #1 (ICH4/ICH4-L A1)
USB Controller 2 : FIC 82801DB/DBL USB UHCI Controller #2 (ICH4/ICH4-L A1)
USB Controller 3 : FIC 82801DB/DBL USB UHCI Controller #3 (ICH4/ICH4-L A1)
USB Controller 4 : FIC 82801DB/DBL USB 2.0 EHCI Controller (ICH4/ICH4-L A1)
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Network Adapter : Wireless Network 300N USB dongle WL-302 - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 65Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : x86

if there is any reason you can see why this wouldnt work id be interested
maybe i should try an older distro but am unsure as to which one. i have been searchin so please dont dismiss this as lazyness. would be great if i could get it going

Did you remember to Flash the BIOS with the mod provided, and did you remember to edit your BIOS settings? My computer did the EXACT same thing until I remembered that I hadn't done that step.

haha no i didnt realise i needed to but i will look up now and sort it out
watch this space i expect there may be more questions