Quote Originally Posted by jkellyjr
Dumb me! I was misusing md5summer. When I backed off the root directory to F:\KNOPPIX, it faithfully checked md5 for all 41 files on the disk. The disk is good. The computer won't boot from it.
NO, The 41 files that you checked match their md5 checksums. That does not mean that the disk is good (although it certainly could be), it means that the 41 files you checked are good. It does not mean that the boot code is good, that is a part of the disk that you're not even looking at. And it does not mean that the CD will boot on your system, which you say it does not.

We're back to my two suggestions: Smart Boot Manager, which you seem to ignore when I suggest it, and getting your own copy of the ISO and burning it slowly.