Ubuntu 6.10 hangs on install

[Bruce]

Greetings,

I have purchased a refirb from Tiger, added a second hard drive to it 
and attempted to (dual boot) install 6.10 Desktop from a CD I have used 
several times in the past.  The first GUI screen shows up with options 
for normal install, safe install, help and not much else.  When I try to 
install I get the "Failed to start the X server" message.  If I answer 
"yes" to the debug info I get a display that doesn't help me, a "restart 
GDM when it is configured correctly" message is posted, then I get stuck 
there.  If I answer "no" I will see about 3 screen flashes as the disks 
are being checked, then it hangs.  I do not get a command line prompt 
and I do not get a chance to do the vesa configuration trick that I see 
when I Google this problem. 

Once again, I do not have a command line, I can't edit the X11 config 
file and I can't do the apt reconfiguration.

The box is a Tiger Direct# J156-4260
IBM NetVista
2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4
512 MB DDR
40 GB HDD from Tiger, 250 GB HDD added as a home for Ubuntu
Integrated 10/100 Mbps LAN, video, sound

Thank you,
Bruce