I tried out "Edge Eft" (6.10) -- both cd and dvd (downloaded from ubuntu.com) and both booted and worked (on HP Pavilion laptop as described above) like champs. booted properly (from power down) first time, every time.
fwiw, tried out "dapper drake" (both the original and the -1 versions) on cd only. Both failed in the same way as before; (boot first time after successfully booting Win 2K professional; hang on all subsequent attempts) In addition, I tried first booting "edgy eft" and then booting "dapper drake". Again, first boot of "dapper drake" after successful boot of "edgy eft" worked; all subsequent attempts to boot failed. (hanging in manner previously indicated). -- Live CD fails to boot after powerup https://launchpad.net/bugs/52092 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
