Burned Ubuntu to a CD but it won't boot?

Ubuntu does not boot up right away and will go to a blank screen for up to 15 minutes while it examines your computer and hardware and then set itself up. There is no problem unless you get the message Kernel Panic or one that says server error. If it doesn't finish after 30 minutes it will not do anything. This could be a burn image file at too high of a speed or it could not find compatible hardware drivers. Personally I would have chosen Mandriva 2010.2, it is main line Linux and gives you the choice of what desktop environment to install.