Please help with data recovery

[clarkrox]

I have been thinking about Linux for a new OS and now it seems it is time to move on it. I have a laptop with XP SP2 that won't boot. Windows begins to load, then goes to a screen that gives me the options to boot in various safe modes or last know good configuration. If I make no choice it tries to boot normally after 30 seconds. I have read that I can save my data using the Knoppix Live CD. I have downloaded and burned 'KNOPPIX_V5.1.CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso' but when I try to boot from it I get the message: media test failure check cable. The laptop is a Toshiba A105-S4134. Did I download the wrong version, or am I doing something wrong? Please help a rookie.

[unclebubbles]

Hello clarkrox, welcome to the forum
Your windows problem may be fixable, but i wont get into that here. There are lots of windows forums, but heres one i recommend:
http://www.pchelpforum.com/
Tell em uncleed sentcha. On your knoppix problem, when you burned the iso file to cd did you burn it as an iso image, or just copy the file to disk? Put the cd in a drive and open it, do you see one large file, or multiple files? If you see only one large file, youll have to reburn it. In your burning software you should have the option to burn an iso image, most do.