This probably won't help you much, but I have installed both versions on an Optiplex 740 at work. Neither gave me a problem. I did noticed that neither would boot the image from a USB flash drive (built from the *.usb install images), so I had to use a DVD/CD of the Live image.
How much memory do you have? The LiveCD won't boot with less than 768MB (if I remember correctly), but it will work with less after install. My 740 has 2GB memory, AMD Athlon Dual Core 4800, and broadcom ethernet. You might want to make sure its BIOS is current, and be sure your AHCI/SATA controller is set to a non-RAID mode. Wish I could offer more, but maybe something in here will spark an idea? -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
