Final Update: Received a new Live SMP today. Installed it without ethernet connection, but wifi, and upon reboot it did EXACTLY the same thing as the previous one did. Booting and rebooting. What a **bleep**. I switched the HDMI port - didn’t help. Was going to try analog video when the wife, who knows nothing about computers, says “why don’t you reboot the router”. Well, that fixed it and the SMP proceeded with the install. So I pulled it off and re-installed my old one and it worked again, although since I had done a reset on it I had to set up everything again.
I have no idea why the router connection, even on the new one via wi-fi, would cause this problem. So, when in doubt reboot the router! I’ll be returning the new one to Amazon and not happy about having to do that. Thanks for the help and I hope my problem may help someone else down the line.
