Failure while booting Knoppix 5.0

[rjarvis]

Hello, I am hoping my problem has a simple solution

I am trying to boot up Knoppix 5.0 from a DVD-ROM to rescue a Vaio Z1RSP laptop which seems to have become terminally unable to boot XP (an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME problem). This is my first attempt to run linux on a pc.

I have tried a number of different cheat codes and get one of two problems, depending on the code used: after the "Accessing KNOPPIX DVD at /dev/hdc..." line, I either get the message:
Can't find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry
- and get dropped a basic shell,
or the two lines:
"nsmod: error inserting '/cdrom/boot/moules/cloop.k0': -1 Bad file number
insmod: can't read '/modules/cloop.ko': No such file or directory
- at which point the installation hangs

When I use failsafe, or use dma, I can see that the cd/dvd-rom drive is recognised, and of course have managed to read enough off the dvd to get this far, and so am not sure what can be wrong - worryingly, the only reference I can find to the second of these error messages is in the bug report section of this website.

Does anyone please have any advice? Any help would be very gratefully received,

Thanks,

Richard

[ckamin]

rjarvis:

The key to your issue might be that it is a Sony laptop. They tend to use a particular vendor's optical drives that have been known to have issues reading certain DVD media. If it is a QSI drive, then you might need to use DVD+R media, instead of DVD-R. I also have several Sony notebooks and this is the exact solution I have found. Also be certain to burn the DVD at no higher than 4X, if not slower. Use good media also. It does make a difference. If you hold some of the "Bad" disks up to a good light source at an angle, you can usually see imperfections towards the outer edges of the disk. You might also want to check your ISO file for errors by using an MD5 tool to verify it. There is more information on this in the documentation section on this site.

The DMS cheatcode might also be helpful, but I have not needed it for my Sony laptops.

You might also want to try some Windows based tools on your drive, like the recovery console. It is usually not wise to write to an NTFS partition using Linux. It may corrupt the file system and render the partition unreadable. If you are using Knoppix in order to copy the files over to some other drive/system for recovery, then you are on the right track. If you need to boot into an XP environment, look up Bart PE. It's a useful tool for Windows machines using NTFS partitions. There are other live Linux diustribitions made specifically for Windows/Linux system recovery, and have some useful tools for those purposes also. Don't know if they are superior to Knoppix though, but they are available for download. Look at www.distrowatch.com or www.linux.org for info.

Good luck! Let us know how you make out.