Update. I selected the option to boot from 1st hdd and I seem to be going round in a loop.
error message reads:
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[drm:drm_edid_block_valid] *ERROR* EDID checksum is invalid, remainder is 42
nouveau 0000:0c:00.0: DVI-I-1: EDID block 0 invalid.
[drm] nouveau 0000:0c:00.0: DDC responded, but no EDID for DVI-I-1
[drm] nouveau 0000:0c:00.0: No native mode, forcing panel scaling.
----
Is this relating to missing drivers for the graphics card ?

Add "nomodeset" (without the quotes) to the boot command. It is likely an issue with the video driver, video card, and monitor not working well together.

It looks like you may be running a NVIDIA card based on the reference to nouveau driver in the log.
 
You may try and run the native NVIDIA drivers instead. Take a look at the links here.
 
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia
 
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubuntu-quetzal-nvidia.html
 
In the event, that you are not able to find a way to get into X, you can run the installation commands in the second link in a shell instead. These commands install and setup the tools needed for compiling the driver, downloads the Linux kernel source code needed to compile the NVIDIA drivers, and then finally compiles the NVIDIA driver.

Unless the kernel crashed, CTRL+ALT+F1 should get you to a shell where you can login and CTRL+ALT+F7 should get you back to the X-server. I am not entirely sure if your X-server is having a problem loading or if this is the result of a kernel crash due to a hardware issue.

Thanks for the replies
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Today. Boot from USB.
UNetbootin option: Boot from first hard disk.
Tab and add nomodeset
i.e. > /ubnkern initrd=/ubninit nomodeset.
---
[7.2...]
BusyBox v1.18.5 (ubuntu 1:1.18.5-1ubuntu4.1) built-in shell (ash)
enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs)
Flashing underscore, waited a little while, not progressing.
---
Pressed ctrl+alt+f1, nothing appears to happen immediately, waiting, nothing happens.
---
Pressed ctrl+alt and this appeared
[299.8...] [hardware error]: machine check events logged.
---
Flashing underscore, waited a little while, not progressing.
---
Pressed ctrl+alt+f7.
Begin: loading essential drivers ...
<snip>
begin: running /scripts/init-premount ... done.
begin: mounting root file system ... begin: running /scripts/local-top ... done.
begin: running /scripts/local-premount ... done.
mount: can't read '/etc/fstab': no such file or directory
begin: running /scripts/local-bottom ... done.
done.
begin: running /scripts/init-bottom ... mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed
:no such file or directory
done.
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: no such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: no such file or directory
target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init.
no init found. try passing init= bootarg.
---
Flashing underscore, typed the above by reading screen, not progressing.
---
Pressed ctrl+alt and this appeared
[299.8...] [hardware error]: machine check events logged.
Flashing underscore, waited a little while, not progressing.
---
Pressed ctrl+alt+f7.
Begin: loading essential drivers ...
<snip>
begin: running /scripts/init-premount ... done.
begin: mounting root file system ... begin: running /scripts/local-top ... done.
begin: running /scripts/local-premount ... done.
mount: can't read '/etc/fstab': no such file or directory
begin: running /scripts/local-bottom ... done.
done.
begin: running /scripts/init-bottom ... mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed
:no such file or directory
done.
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: no such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: no such file or directory
target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init.
no init found. try passing init= bootarg.
---
ctrl+alt+del, pc reboot.
---
UNetbootin option: start kubuntu. (Since there is more than one start kubuntu listed as an option I went with the first one)
Tab and add nomodeset
i.e. > /casper/vmlinuz initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/kubuntu.seed boot=casper maybe-ubiquity  quiet splash -- nomodeset
---
Flashing underscore, waited a little while, not progressing.
Waited longer. Grey screen. kubuntu 12.04. dots. pc rebooted itself.
 

Just tried lubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.
Basically, Hardware errors, final line reads: kernal panic - not syncing: fatal machine check.
That message I had seen before, when I was trying to install ubuntu-12.04.3-desktop-amd64.

I have downloaded and burnt to a cd memtest86 v4.20.
That is now running, doing what ever it does as default.
I will leave it running overnight.
----
I downloaded OCCT for fun earlier. My laptop lasts about 2mins lol. Ran it until I got bored with it on the sr-2.
BTW I have not adjusted anything other than boot order in the BIOS, i.e. not trying any over clocking at this time.
I want to get stuff up and running before that !
----
Thank you for your continued support.

One more that I would recommend trying is http://tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/release/CorePlus-current.iso as it can sometimes work on hardware that other Linux distributions have trouble with. It still seems unusual that Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Lubuntu wouldn't boot on the SR-2. It looks almost like this my be a hardware issue with your video card, or a hardware issue with the board at this point.

apaseall
lots of colourful writing !
core appears to have installed
I can open a terminal.

 
Are you getting a terminal within a very simple desktop GUI, or just a terminal with nothing else?
 

Oh dear . I ran the tc_install by following directions from the tc website. I added no extra options.
I now have a tc boot manager offering me core and windows.
Pleased to say win7 is still there and runs.
Now for the oh dear part.
Selecting core goes through a plain text phase before the colourful text.
I get an error message after
---
decompressing linux... parsing elf... done.
booting the kernal.
---
dmar: drhd: handling fault status reg 2
dmar: dmar: [dma read] request device [0e:00.1] fault addr fff00000
dmar:[fault reason 06] pte read access is not set
---
core then does go to a gui which I think means it is running.
---
I think I had an idea. Is 'nix basically stuff on top of a kernal?
I mean have I now got the basic part of 'nix and just need to add libraries to get the flavour that I want?
As you can guess from my choice of kde ubuntu 'nix is a new universe into which I have only dipped my toes lightly so far.

EVGATech_IanJ
That error still may indicate a hardware problem with the system.

How do I go about determining what or where the hardware problem is ?

hmm.
tc@box:~$ lspci
sh: lspci not found

Thank IanJ
lspci 0e:00.1 IDE interface: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE91A4 SATA 6GB/s Controller (rev 11)
---
was in sata0, turned pc off, removed power, moved connection to sata1. same error message.
swapped sata cable for a brand new one (just so happen to have one).
same error message.
---
what now ?

Only sata device is the SSD, so nothing plugged into the red ports.
---
advanced bios features
sata configuration
configure sata#1 as [ahci]
hot plug [enabled]
sata detect time out (sec) [35]
ahci configuration
ahci bios support [enabled]
ahci port0 [hard disk]
usb configuration <snip>
sata master break event [disabled]
esata controller (backplane) [auto] > [disabled]
esata boot [enabled] > [disabled]
sata 3.0 storage controller [enabled] > [disabled]
boot display priority <snip>
---
save and reboot to ssd NOT usb
---
good news - error message mentioned above does not appear
bad news - new error message appears at what i will call stage 3. first stage is prior to colored text, stage 2 colored text, stage 3 after colored text.
message reads
pciehp 0000:00:1c.0:pcie04: failed to check link status
this message floods the screen
after waiting a little while core does not start. previously with the 0e:00.1 core gui would start. now boot does not progress past flooding the screen with the error message.
---
reboot from usb. let unetbootin time out to default option.
---
lspci
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801J1 (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 1
---
Please advise next step.

This may be an issue related to PCI-E Hot Plug support built in the kernel or built as a kernel module. I am not too familiar with TinyCore, but can you try and blacklist the pciehp module.
 
Boot time parameter:
 
tinycore blacklist=pciehp
 
http://tinycorelinux.net/faq.html#bootcodes