I have a samsug 32-10-40 CD-R/W that reads/writes OK or Knoppix wouldn't work at all. However I don't boot from it as my BIOS is too old to enable CD-ROM booting. Try using the floppy boot option and see if it works then. That 1.44MB sure looks like a floppy size. I assume you have CD boot set as first in your BIOS.