All ISO's corrupt?

[randy431]

I set out to burn a 3.3 CD. So far I'm getting the same errors from 3 different images downloaded from 3 different mirrors, and in all 3 cases, md5 checksums match the downloaded images, as do all 3 burned cd's. I've also used 2 different computers and burners to try creating the cd's. The cd's all boot, but dispay the first error message just after the 'setting paths' message. The boot continues with all subsequent messages looking normal until the Init 5 message. The errors all point to problems in the KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX image, errors decompressing, and loss of bytes.

The image file is KNOPPIX_V3.3-2003-11-19-EN.iso

Are there any known issues with this image? Having used totally different hardware to burn the cd's, and having downloaded the image 3 times from 3 different sources, and making sure md5 checksums are good, then havng the exact problems occur at the same points lead me think there is a problem with the iso itself.

[unamiccia]

I doubt that the image files on the mirrors are corrupt -- simply on the evidence that there would be massive discussion of that problem on this forum if that were the case.

You used different hardware to burn the CDs. Have you also tried booting the CDs on different computers? (You probably have . . . but if you haven't, I'd try that first!)

You say the checksums match. How are you testing that? If you haven't already, try running the Knoppix CD with the cheatcode "testcd" (that is, at the Knoppix boot prompt, type "knoppix testcd"). I'm not certain, but I think this will perform a bit more than a checksum test. Keep your eyes on the screen, though. The test takes a couple of minutes, and after it displays its verdict the booting continues, which scrolls the information off the screen.

[Colin]

I am also having problems with this I think. I burned a copy of 3.3 en, and all I get is a black background on boot. Any ideas?

[Colin]

And to clarify, I used an MD5 checker on mine and it worked fine.

[randy431]

I've tried booting the cd's on 3 different machines with at least very similar results. It seems one machine makes it past the first error, but it also starts complaining as soon as init level 5 appears. The cd's were burned on a windows 98 computer , and on a Debian linux machine. checksums were checked with md5sum on the linux machine and comes up with a perfect match. for fun and to make sure the burning hardware wasn't going south I reburned the 3.2 image on the debian box and that cd works fine. I'll try the testcd at boot and see what it reveals on the 3.3 disc.

[randy431]

Just when you thought you'd seen it all. After repeated attempts at burning and reburning, and with all sorts of different hardware to burn on and boot from and still no success I applied some abstract thinking. All tries at burning the 3.3 iso were done on cd's from a new pack of 50 that was just opened. For fun I broke open another new pack of discs and gave it a try. BINGO! First try out of the chute it produced a perfectly bootable/functional 3.3 from the same image that had failed many times before. Since it was company money, I proceeded to burn 2 more copies, one on the linux box, one on the windows box and both are perfect.
I tried one more time with a cd from the original pack, and though it appeared to burn fine, it totally refuses to boot.
My conclusion is that we bought a box of 50 pre-made coasters (ie:factory defects!)