I know my ailing PC isn't long for this world but this is the current issue:
If I switch it on it tells me Windows is corrupted, in the config sys., and to use a disk and repair it (I can't find the recovery disk at the moment but that isn't the major issue - or it is, but a different issue if you get me. I've found the recovery disk, it was in Pete's desk!!)
I want to install ubuntu - or at least something that gives me enough access so I can install the download of windows 7 I have waiting on Pete's Portable hard drive, and ideally save whatever files I can from it. I have an ubuntu disk and the first time I fired it up with the disk in the drive it worked, liked magic. This was fine but the inbuilt security software on my passport disk wasn't Linux compatible so I had to plug that into my netbook to disable the security software and hoped that worked.
Any subsequent switching on attempts have led to the aforementioned corrupted windows, and the kicker is if I try and access BIOS, to tell it to boot from the CD (to load Ubuntu) the PC switches off, without warning.
Any thoughts before I take a sledgehammer to it?