There're alot of different disros around, so next time, please, refer to the distro name and not to linux; besides, linux is just a kernel.
 
Check out these links:
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=75678
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=75008

Generally it appears that it may be due to one of a few problems;
 
1. The ISO image burned is bad, or the downloaded image is bad.
 
2. Burning the image at too fast speed. If you burned the image at the defaut speed, it may be too fast. If this happens with more than one distro, try burning the images at 8X or less.
 
3. Poor quality CD-R. Sometimes CDRW's cause this as well. Make sure your disks are good quality and if the CD-RW disk is an issue (consistent bad burns), burn the images on CD-R's.
 
4. Trying to install from an older CDROM drive that may not be able to properly read the image burned from a newer CDRW drive. For example, you burned the image from a new CDRW drive and tried to install using an older CDROM drive. Again, if your experience comes from burning an image on a CDRW drive and trying to install on another system with a very old or incompatible CDROM drive, the error occurs. I had a drive like this. When I installed from the same CDRW drive that I burned the image from, it worked fine.
 
So, verifying the CD-R's at install is always a good idea.

Thank you,nebulus
Thank you,danleff
 
First,I somehow missed 'distros' as in
'linux distros'.I'm not perfect (So close
you can't tell the difference but not perfect.).
 
I had that problem with 4 different distros.My
questions are sometimes ambiguous to avoid receiving
only distro specific answers.
Danleff confirmed my suspicions with his reply.Also,
I am sure I will find the links supplied by Nebulus very
usefull.
I suspect DL errors since I noticed each of these D/Ls
started at a good pace then slowed way down and later
picked up speed.I suspect due to other users entering
and leaving the sites.Actually it could be traffic or noise
anywhere along the route from my computer to the D/L URLs.
My ignorance is slowly diminishing due to messages from
users like you on this and other linux sites.
 
The more I learn the more ignorant I realize I am.
Thank you
Mel

It seems my problem isn't BETANAG after all.
I tried my distros on 4 other machines and they
all worked just fine.
The problem is only with the pavilion 551w.
May be the archetecture. I dunno.
I still don't know whwt betanag is,though.

From what I have read, it looks like the installer is having trouble with something on the HP. It could be the partition stucture or a piece of hardware on the system.

Well,lastnight I decided to take a close look
inside the 551w. Althought the cpu is 1600 mhz,
everything else appears to be 266 mhz.Now I know
why my 466 mhz always seemed to run twice as fast
as the 1.6 ghz.

Oh yeh
Mepis and Ark install ok on the 551w.
Ark appears to work fine so far but printers
appear to be invisable to Mepis.
SUSE, Debian, Lormalinux, and Fedora have problems
installing.Suse won't even boot.Debian loses the pav.mx70
monitor about halfway through setup.Fedora crashes just
before the media test que.(gets the blue screen and freezes.)
Lormalinux starts anaconda then gives import error "cannot
import BETANAG" and shuts down.
Thinking 'bout pulling that 700 mhz cpu from one of my junkboxes
(and old Gateway I got from my daughter) and see it it'll work
in the 551.Since my opinion of HP on a scale of 1 to 10 has gone
to minus 300, any change would have to be an improvement.
.
Only time I ain't confused is when I'm sleeping and then
I ain't too sure.

Mepis is based on Debian, and since it installs ok you should be able to get Debian running as well. That said, I have to admit that Debian installer is far from perfect . But they're working on it.