how to boot a "live" Linux CD such as Mint?

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I have a Thinkpad T60 (1953 DAU) and the sound suddenly disappeared. I did everything that the internet recommended to troubleshoot the problem with no success. I read the posts here about losing sound and read the following suggestion:

Boot a "live" Linux CD such as Mint and check for audio there.

I am not familiar with the linux OS. I found the website and read the instructions there but
I still have a few questions:

Is my computer 32 or 64 bit? (I am running windows XP version 2002 with service pack 3)
Once I download the OS, how do i burn it onto a CD?
When you say boot a live linux CD, does that mean that I should install the operating
system on my computer and then check and see if I have sound?
I have a couple of spare thinkpads. Is it easy to install a sound card from one of these
to my present thinkpad and can you point me to a source that will tell me how to do it?

thanx for your help

[ajkula66]

Your computer is a 32-bit.

Use freeware such as ImgBurn to burn the downloaded CD in an ISO format.

Once the CD is burned, insert it in the media drive and press F12 on boot, then choose the media drive as your temporary boot drive...

Sound cards are integrated into the motherboard and can't be swapped around.

Good luck.

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thanx