The main issue is that if the machine hangs on a Live CD,
it's a good indication of some trouble laying in the weeds.

Even on LIVE CDs (modern) that "did" let me perform a Hard drive install,
(such as Crunchbang Statler for example), the machine simplywould not boot.

It would not get past the "waiting for /dev to fully populate" stage.

I will do some reading on what makes the alternate installer
different - maybe there's some checking for ACPI problems?? Who knows for sure.