Can't find KNOPPIX filesystem?

[Oblivious Sage]

Backstory: Tried to upgrade from Win XP SP1 to SP2 so I could play Fallout 3. End result: BSOD every time Windows launches (guess I should have bought a legit copy). I figured I would use Knoppix to get my important files off the main OS partition, then wipe it and re-install XP.

The Problem: When I try to run Knoppix regularly (no boot options) it says, "Loading linux...... Loading minirt.gz....." and then goes to a blank screen. When I run it with the failsafe option it gets past that point, spews out a bunch of presumably helpful information way too fast for me to read it, ultimately ending with:

"Can't find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry.
Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.
Press reset button to quit."

...and a command prompt.

It's a CD I burned a while back, is this likely to be a scratch on the CD or something? Or a hardware issue with my machine?

The last couple lines that look like it's actually working on loading are:

"Starting balanced_irq
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended
VFS: mounted root (ext2 filesystem)."

Assistance very much appreciated!

[Harry Kuhman]

I have not seen this error on a CD. I have seen it on DVDs, and there seems to be information starting to show up that there are some BOIS issues with some systems and Knoppix DVD booting that may cause this. In other cases it is just problems reading the DVD. I certainly could be problems reading a CD. Maybe a scratch, but (not knowing how you care for your CDs), I think it is more likely that the drive may be going marginal or that you did one of the things that is known to lead to problems: burn the CD at high speed. If you didn't burn the CD at slow speed (I suggest 4x but nothing faster than 8x), then I suggest making another disc. And, of course, check the md5 of the iso file before burning the disc.

[Oblivious Sage]

OK, I'll try burning a new CD. Thanks for the quick response!