Mint 17.3 Live DVD Loads, Won't Install

[Optiker]

I'm running Mint 13 on a very old computer. Some things aren't working and in another thread, I was told to try a newer version, like 17 or 18. I DLed 17.3, burned he DVD and booted from it. It takes a long time to load, but eventually does. Once at the opening desktop, I edited the time since it wasn't correct for my time zone. Then I tried to install. It wouldn't install. The desktop icon to install was highlighted, but double clicking or "open" did nothing. At that point the computer was locked up so I had to do a hard shutdown and tried again. Same thing happened, but it didn't even get that far. The opening desktop showed one icon at the bottom-left corner, and the white bar across the bottom but nothing else.

One note...during boot, prior to starting to load from the DVD, something went by too quickly to get, but had something to do with "PCI" (I think) and "scan" failure. The installed ver. 13 boots fine and works, though with a few problems, like opened program task bar (?) across the bottom isn't showing.

I have a vague recollection that a few years ago when I initially changed this computer to a Linux computer, I tried newer versions than the ver. 13 I am running, but backed off to 13 because newer ones were running slow. 13 isn't blazing fast, but at least it is usable. However, some things aren't working and when I tried to get help here, the advice was to try a newer one.

I am on the verge of trashing this computer as too old to be of further use. It's an old Alienware, Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz CPU.

Any suggestions other than use it as a boat anchor?

Thanks...Optiker

[Schultz]

Copy (or type) inxi -Fxz in a terminal window and paste back the results here (in code tags). I wouldn't trash your old computer yet. You might be able to run a distro geared towards old machines on it, like Puppy Linux.

[kc1di]

Hi,
How much ram does that machine have?
you may be better off running puppy or antix on that old of a machine.

[Termy]

Yeah, I also think trying something like Puppy Linux (and variations thereof) would be a good idea for a machine that old. Those P4 processors weren't too bad though; had a good kick, given their age.