Live CD flaky or is it my DVD drive?

[gumby]

I've made several attempts to install Mint (Felicia Gnome} and am having some problems with the manual partitioning, as you can read in one of my other threads. However, now I'm also having a different problem.

When I am having these problems, I usually try to connect to the Mint Forum or Google in order to search for solutions, while I'm in the middle of the install. Which means the install is paused for a while. Lately, the Live CD operating system goes flaky after it's paused for a while. My external mouse and external keyboard stop working, though the internal keyboard and touchpad on the laptop still work. Then, if I'm viewing the Install window or the Gparted window, or Firefox, suddenly the window disappears and I am taken back to the Mint Desktop. Then, zip! -- I am back at the other window. And then I'm back at the desktop. It happens by itself, I don't do anything to cause this.

Also, as this is going on, a horizontal box with 3 or 6 sub-boxes within it (I can't remember exactly) flashes briefly on the monitor.

So I decide to quit the install and restart, but the Live CD does not shut down normally. I get a message: "The system is going down for reboot," various messages about Stopping various processes, and then the system never restarts and I have to shut the computer down manually.

So I am wondering what is going on here. Could it be that the DVD drive in my new laptop is defective and the Live CD is not able to function properly? It wouldn't be the first time I got a bad DVD drive.

Also, I recall, one time the Live CD simply failed to finish loading when I started it up. That really made me suspect the DVD drive.

What do you think? Thanks for any thoughts.

[distoaddict]

It could be either.I would suspect a bad burn cd first.