v3.3 2004-02-16 ISO images download fine but missing files??

[dcljr]

I've been having strange problems with the Knoppix 3.3 EN ISO images dated Feb 9th and 16th. They download fine, the MD5 checksums match, but they also seem to be missing some content!

(I'm currently running Windows 95 [yes... still] on a Dell Dimension 2400, Pentium II 233MHz, 192MB RAM; burned with Nero Express to a LiteOn LTR-52327S CD-RW... but none of that is relevant to my problem, as you will see.)

The story:

I downloaded KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-16-EN.iso and md5sum.exe gave me the correct checksum, so I burned it to a CD (no errors) and booted up Knoppix (again, seemingly no errors). After booting, however, I began to notice problems.

These included the system pausing for many seconds when browsing the "K" menu, pausing for even longer when dialog boxes would come up, missing buttons in dialog boxes, some missing documentation, some programs not working properly, some crashing, and some even seeming to lock up the system. (The good news: Knoppix seems to recognize all my hardware. But what else would you expect?)

Eventually I tried a program that opened a terminal window while setting itself up and I saw multiple error messages, one of which appeared to be saying it couldn't find a button image. Hmm...

Well, to make a long story slightly shorter, the testcd cheatcode revealed similar errors, so I redownloaded the ISO image and again it gave the correct MD5 checksum. But when I used the option to check all the files individually, it gave me errors!

And here they are:

autorun.inf: FAILED open or read
cdrom.ico: FAILED open or read
Demos/Audio/green_openmusic_license.txt: FAILED open or read
Demos/Audio/opensource.ogg: FAILED open or read
Demos/Audio/README.txt: FAILED open or read
index.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/background.jpg: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/boot.img: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/1stleftfill.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/2ndfill.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/2ndleftfill.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/button-knoppix.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/button-links.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/button-openmusic.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/button-selflinux.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/button-talks.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/knoppix-logo.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/sidefill.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/topfill.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/topleft.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/images/topright.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_dk.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_en.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_es.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_fr.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_it.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_jp.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_nl.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/index_ru.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/knoblind.bat: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/knoppix-cheatcodes.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ-EN.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ-ES.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ-FR.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ-IT.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ-NL.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX-FAQ.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/knoppix-header.gif: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/LICENSE.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/links.html: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/mkfloppy.bat: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/rawrite2.exe: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/rawrite2-readme.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/README_Security.txt: FAILED open or read
KNOPPIX/web-background.gif: FAILED open or read
Talks/freesoftware-paper.pdf: FAILED open or read
Talks/freesoftware-screen.pdf: FAILED open or read
Talks/knoppix-vortrag-2003-paper.pdf: FAILED open or read
Talks/knoppix-vortrag-2003-screen.pdf: FAILED open or read

The exact same thing happens with KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-09-EN.iso: correct MD5 checksum, so it downloaded okay, but it's missing (or can't read) the exact same files! (This one I didn't even burn, obviously.)

So, how is this possible?? The ISO images have been up for over two months; they can't be corrupt! Right?

(OBTW, the site I used is ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mirrors/knoppix/, because that one gives me decent download rates. This shouldn't make a difference, though, because all mirrors should use the exact same ISO files and MD5 checksums.)

And it can't just be a problem with md5sum.exe, because some of those error messages seem to reflect the problems I'm having in Knoppix.

If anyone has an explanation or remedy, please post.

I'm now going to try the 2004-11-19 version. Wish me luck...

- dcljr

[dcljr]

Okay, why do I always discover something right after posting to a newsgroup/forum that completely changes my perspective on my problem?

I just noticed at a different FTP site that the files md5sum.exe was complaining about are exactly the files that are burned to the CD! I was deceived by how few there were. (KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX itself is the 700+MB compressed file containing most of the content.)

Okay, so forget about the error messages given by md5sum.exe. The fact remains that the regular checksum option returns the right checksum and I can actually boot to Knoppix on the version I burned to CD.

So I still don't know what could be going on.

I'm now going to try the 2004-11-19 version.

Yeah, well, maybe not. I thought I had found it online, but it turned out to be a phantom. Does anyone know where I can find older versions of 3.3 -- i.e., before 2004-02-09? (And please don't say P2P. I'm looking for FTP if possible.)

- dcljr

[dcljr]

Answering my own question...

Regarding the two posts above:

1. The problems while running Linux were due to a bad burn.
2. The problems with using md5sum.exe were due to my own misunderstanding of how to use that program.

For the record, should anyone having similar problems stumble across this series of messages, here's the right way to do it, assuming md5sum.exe is in the current path or the current directory (I put it in c:\windows\command).

To get the checksum for the downloaded ISO image, before burning it:

md5sum KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-16-EN.iso

To automatically verify the ISO file's checksum against the official checksum in the corresponding .md5 file, assuming both are in the current directory:

md5sum -c KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-16-EN.md5

Note: You don't use the -c option on the .iso file itself!

And the magic command I couldn't figure out...

To verify the individual files after burning the ISO image to the CD:

md5sum -c KNOPPIX/md5sums

Disclaimer: The above commands are for the Windows 95 version of md5sum.exe. The last command was executed in a DOS window after changing to the root directory of the Knoppix CD. For example, e:\ or h:\ or whatever your CD-ROM drive is.

[nroose]

Hmm

Well, I am having a problem, and getting 2 error messages.

When I try to boot using the cd that I have created, I get an "Image checksum error".

The checksum of the image I download says it is OK.

When I try to use md5sum -c KNOPPIX/md5sums to verify the individual files on the cd, I get a permission problem on the KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX file.

Perhaps the file is not burning correctly to the CD. I have tried burning 4 different ways, using Ahead Nero and burnatonce, and all have the same problem.

Any pointers?

Thanks.