Blue screen on boot

I am sure that I am not the first person to report this.... I have an HP/Compaq nc2400 laptop, pretty generic, and booted from one of the many isolinux bootloaders out there (actually, I have tried several of them). I get the gray screen with the apple in the middle, then a blank blue screen, then nothing. The DVD periodically spins up, but after an hour or so, still just the blue screen.

I feel like I am so close, but it never gets to the Select Language screen. I have tried various boot options like -x (safe mode) and -f (reload kexts), but always the same reaction. Anyone have a suggestion here?

Thanks

JEH