can't boot linux, but can boot windows

Clarifications

General Guidelines:
Follow these general guidelines when installing SCSI devices in your computer:

* Although you install SCSI devices essentially the same way as other devices, their configuration requirements are different. For details on configuring your particular SCSI subsystem, see the documentation for your SCSI devices and/or your host adapter card.

* Configure the device for a SCSI ID number and disable termination, if necessary.

* To use an external SCSI device, you must have a SCSI controller card installed in your computer. Connect one end of the external SCSI cable to the connector on the back of the SCSI device. Attach the other end of the external SCSI cable to the connector on the controller card installed in the computer.

* After you install a SCSI hard drive, Primary Drive 0 and Primary Drive 1 should be set to None in system setup if no IDE hard drives are installed. If you have any IDE devices on the second IDE channel, such as a CD or tape drive, Secondary Drive 0 and/or Secondary Drive 1 should be set to Auto.

* To partition and format SCSI hard drives, you may need to use programs other than those provided with the operating system. See the documentation that came with your SCSI software drivers for information on installing the appropriate drivers and preparing your SCSI hard drive for use.

System Setup:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws470/en/ug_en/advfeat.htm#wp1136537

Entering System Setup

1. Turn on (or restart) your computer.

2. When the blue DELL logo appears, press immediately.

Go to your BOOT section and select the device that you wont to boot from, since you need to boot from your CD/DVD drive then select this drive or move it to the top of the list in the BOOT section of the BIOS.

Where did you get the Fedora Image from?

I always tell people to download a ISO image and not the other possibilities and then use their existing DVD Burning Software to convert that ISO Image into a Bootable Disc.

Quite often if you just download the bare image and burn to CD/DVD you do not make a Bootable Disc. ;)

You can get the ISO from here for Fedora 12.

http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora-all

If you are using the ISO what software did you use to make a Bootable Disc? You can not burn the ISO to a DVD and have it work as you need to convert the ISO to a usable format. ;)

Col

I have seen this a few time and each time when I've checked the md5 checksum it's been incorrect, possible cause could be corrupted image when downloading.

with some older systems, because of bios settings.
I had to turn OFF PNP os for linux to boot on them.
then if I wanted to boot a windows installer disk, I had to go turn it back on.

The fedora iso image, if the md5sum is correct, needs to be burnt to dvd as a disc image, not as a file.
the GNU/Linux iso images are bootable images if burnt right. [ Col's iso image issue only happens with pirated disc images, not an issue with GNU/Linux images. ;) ]