pow12 wrote:Is 'errors on the CD burn process / faulty .iso download' the only possible problem?
No, there are other things that could cause the error. The most common cause of errors is an incomplete download, hence the need to check the MD5SUM of the .iso with the one posted on the web site.
pow12 wrote:I mean, when i set PC to boot from liveCD is there any interaction at all with already existing HDD content?
On boot up using the LiveCD, all the code referenced is within the live image. No extra code is referenced from the existing HDD. When the GParted application starts, it scans the existing HDD for partitions, but again does not run any code from the HDD.
pow12 wrote:Or is this boot a completely separate process that comes before anything else?
Yes, the boot from a LiveCD is completely separate from the HDD boot.
As a test, you might try booting the LiveCD using all of the default settings to see if that works.