Bootable LINUX for OLD XP laptop

[watrhous]

I need a bootable linux for an old XP laptop that i need the data off of but wont boot XP due to BSOD on startup. I have tried peppermint, puppy and some other mystery version on a disc i had laying around but none will get me into desktop. Peppermint freezes before install the others just offer install/override of current OS. the laptop is an averatec 3200 series with an amd sempron mobile.

The hard drive is IDE but i have no converter so this is the only way i can get the data in a jiffy. unless there are alternative methods...

 

[Herc08]

Why not use a Live CD? Damn Small Linux worked for me in the past. I think it was 50mb

 

[mbarnes86]

hi


how much ram in system?

Hirens boot Cd is getting old but your system with ATA instead of SATA is also old

you can start with testing RAM, then hard drive using utilities on the Hirens cd

then you can use the Win PE based on XP to access the files and copy to a usb device

a old copy of parted magic (before the change to shareware) is a linux disk with grapics interface, a file manager etc

If several Live linux CD/DVD have already failed to start up i expect there are hardware problems

regards
Mike Barnes