Acer Travelmate 290 does not start up with live CD

[Carl Kritzinger]

I have an Acer Travelmate 290e (yes i know its ancient)

Before I install, I want to check that I can boot off the live CD (ie the menu option for "Try Ubuntu without installing").

The thing seems to boot and I get a splash screen (Ubuntu logo with some flashing red and white light thingies underneath).

This screen seems to stay up for quite a while. After a bit, that pattern of the lights changes.

Then the screen goes blank. The lights stop flashing and after a minute I can hear the disks spin down. Tried Alt-Ctrl-Fx but no console is forthcoming.

So i'm guessing one of the following:

   1. X barfs and takes the system down
   2. Its switching to native graphics mode and the driver doesnt work

I realise that this is not very helpful but:

 1. This is all the info I have
 2. I have no idea how to get better diagnostics out of the thing.

would it help to install the server version and then install X afterwards?

I would be happy to follow any instructions that would produce more useful information....