Errors during knoppix boot

[Kastor]

ok i've been trying to install knoppix and have come across problems, and i haven't been able to find solutions anywhere else, so i need peoples' help.

1. i downloaded knoppix and burned it to a cd, but for some reason the program wouldn't boot from a CD, even though i am positive i set it up to do so in the BIOS. so i made a floopy boot disk and it seemed to work.

2. i got to the initial boot screen, where you can type in cheatcodes and so on. i didn't use any cheatcodes, i just typed "knoppix", and it started to boot up or whatever, everything seems like it's working. it comes to the next screen with the two penguins in the top left corner. it tries to read the CD-rom, and after a second it gives me the following error:

accessing KNOPPIX CDROM at /dev/hdbl... cat: No file /KNOPPIX.etc/ld.iso.chache

setting paths... rm: not found
awk: not found
awk: not found
Total memory found: kB
expr: not found
expr: not found
mkdir: not found
creating directories and symlinks on ramdisk... mkdir: not found
chown: not found
/linuxrc:cannot create /var/run/utmp: directory nonexistent
FAT: bogus logical sector size 0
Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on 1:01

so i get all that, i'm not sure what to make of it. i've also tried using the "knoppix lang=us" and "knoppix toram" cheatcodes, but they have produced similar errors. when i use the "toram" code, it gives me a similar error, saying something about not being able to find the filesystem, then puts me into a "very limited" shell, but since i know nothing about using linux i don't know what to do here.

my first guess was that when i downloaded the .iso file it wasn't complete, but i checked it through with the files from the wbesite and it is indeed complete. i also thought maybe my hard drive didn't have enough free memory (the c: partition has just over 1 gig free, the other partitions have lots more), but i thought since the program was booting from a CD this shouldn't matter.

here's some specs on my computer that might be helpful:

pentium 4 2.8 Ghz with hyperthreading
windows xp professional sp1
Gigabyte motherboard
120 gig western digital hard drive.
nvidia geforce FX 5600 video card

like i said i know absolutely nothing about working within the linux system, so if you have any ideas for ways to fix this, please give me a thorough explanation or else it won't mean anything to me. thanks!

[Markus]

Try booting with "knoppix testcd" to see if it finds any faults.
Also check the md5sum of the iso, howto: http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/verifyiso.html
Oops, almost forgot: You'll have a better chance of getting a clean burn with slower speed, say 4x.

[Kastor]

Try booting with "knoppix testcd" to see if it finds any faults.
Also check the md5sum of the iso, howto: http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/verifyiso.html
Oops, almost forgot: You'll have a better chance of getting a clean burn with slower speed, say 4x.

ok here's what i've done: i downloaded another copy of the iso, checked it with the md5summer and there were no errors, so i burned it to a CD (at a slower speed like you recommended). still no luck. at the boot screen, when i either use no cheatcodes, or type "knoppix testcd", "knoppix lang=us", "knoppix floppyconfig", knoppix myconf=scan", knoppix home=scan", or "knoppix mem=128M" i get the error i typed in my first post. when i type "knoppix toram" i get the following error:

accessing KNOPPIX CDROM at /dev/hdbl... cat: No file /KNOPPIX.etc/ld.iso.chache

/linuxrc: /bin/mkdir: not found
copying KNOPPIX CDROM to ramdisk...please be patient. /linuxrc: /bin/mount: not found
/linuxrc: /bin/cp: not found
umount: invalid argument
rmmod: no such file or directory
can't find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry.
Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.
Press reset to quit.
Additional builtin commands available:
cat mount umount
insmod rmmod lsmod
knoppix#

so that's what it gives me (the last line "knoppix#" is the command prompt).

when typed "knoppix tohd=/dev/hda1" i got the following error:

/linuxrc: /bin/mkdir: not found
/linuxrc: /usr/bin/tr: not found
/linuxrc: /bin/sed: not found
/linuxrc: /usr/bin/tail: not found
Copying KNOPPIX CDROM failed. /dev/ is not mountable
umount: invalid argument
rmmod: no such file or directory
can't find filesystem, sorry.

maybe that is more informative? i'm thinking the problem might be my cd drive is incompatible, but i haven't been abel to confirm on any hardware lists i've seen. i'm using a NEC nd-1300a dvd rw. it is the secondary master. my hard drive, for some reason, is set as the primary slave. my hard drive is a serial ATA interface, and according to hardware lists, this SHOULD work, but i'm not positive.
when i use a cheatcode to enable DMA (i don't even know what this is or if my drives are using it), the knoppix message refers to my hard drive as "hdb" and my cd drive as "hdc". does this change the cheatcodes i should use to access/use these drives (for example the "tohd=/dev/hda1" code)?