Quote Originally Posted by rpgmaker35
i have the same problem, and when using knoppix testcd, it attempted to load knoppix. if it helps, i was using Nero 5.5 to burn using the default, 48x. i checked the md5 checksum, and it was ok. i used the bittorrents
I'll bet both of you just dragged the ISO into Nero and burned one ISO file onto a CD. That simply is not the way to do it; it does not put a boot structure or a file structure on the CD. You need to use the burn image option under the file menu in Nero to make a bootable file (or to make any proper CD when you already have an ISO image).

Also, just as an aside, while burning at 48x should work just fine, I've certainly seen that burning slower yields more reliable results. I burn most of the things I want to keep at 4x, and I certainly would suggest doing this at least until you have a working copy of Knoppix. Once you get it right and have all problems resolved, then switching to a faster speed may be reasonable (you're likely to burn a newer Knoppix CD before the old one ages out anyway). But for now, while trying to resolve a problem, burn your first CD at a more moderate speed.