I am having a similar problem hopefully my information can help lead to a conclusion
I also realize this is an older post but I could not find any other post with a solution or similar problem
I have tried multiple computers and burning at an extremely slow speed. I have also done the knoppix testcd and everything is ok on that. When I tried useing smb I got the message smbk bad! I get the same blinking Hyphen or Underscore and it then skips to boot up windows xp. Some other background if it helps is that I CAN boot the install/recovery console for Windows XP but I never see the Boot screen for knoppix on this one computer. Just before I had a registry/SP2 problem I installed Quake III on the Windows HD disk with no problems.
Thanks in advance

I'm as Clueless as a baby in a topless bar!