I read about similar hardware and software problems. Is it possible than in
such case the CD image was not downloaded properly or burnt properly to the CD ?
I had similar trouble with some distros downloaded from Distromania but at that
time I used Windows and it was almost unusable due to viruses and certainly the
downloads broke. There might have been problems with Nero also.
Later I had some cable problems that I solved.
Another trouble in my case is the incompatibility of some Linux distros with
some parts of my PC. For example, PCLinuxOS does not run on it, there are
graphical problems, but a PCLinuxOS derivative, TinyME runs on it flawlessly.
Others that do not run on it are Granular, Zenwalk, the older version of Knoppix
before Adriane (the live CD does not but the live DVD does run), Damn Small
Linux Not (Damn Small Linux runs on it flawlessly and so does Feather Linux).
Also, CentOS does not run on it, Kanotix runs on it only booted with APIC
disabled, Mepis runs on it when booted with the option "small display, minimal
settings", Ubuntu and all its derivatives run nicely on it; Mandriva, Fedora,
OpenSUSE, Debian, Puppy, Damn Small, Darkstar, Slax, NimbleX, Sabayon, Gentoo
etc. run on it nicely. So do Solaris, Belenix and OpenSolaris also.

Is it possible that there are hardware incompatibilities with some linux
distros ? The Kanotix, Mepis, Knoppix, PCLinuxOS and CentOS issue is very
frustrating.