I used unetbootin to create a bootable usb key off the alternate install .iso for the latest release of karmic. The problem is, my IBM X30 just cannot boot from this usb key, even though it boots up perfectly fine on my dell inspiron 1420. the ibm does not have an optical drive so I cannot use the normal livecd method. I think this may be a problem with the ibm but I can't fathom what it could be.
Any ideas?

Does your IBM supports boot from USB? Check BIOS settings first. On my PC it can boot from USB but cannot detect my USB at the first boot. So what I do is boot with Windows and when the USB drive is recognized I reboot again and there it is on the boot selection menu. Hope this helps.

the ibm does support booting from usb...the usb drive itself is recognised by the operating system but somehow bios does not detect that its bootable...