The ".iso" image is not granted to be the same unless you check the hashes
that are shared by the download provider. Nonetheless, it is a shame that you
got such an issue. We can probably work this out faster if you tell us what
error you were given you when you ran the following command inside a
terminal(you can open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+t)
gnome-panel
After getting the error code and messages (if any) you will need to press
Ctrl+C to regain control of the terminal.
You can also try to run this command afterwards:
gnome-panel --replace
It will attempt to terminate the previous panel in execution and start a new
one. Again, include any error messages that you get.
The ALT+F2 method to launch programs is not the best, when you need to know
if something is going wrong as it will suppress the output.
# About hardware testing
Testing with a Live CD is not a very systematic approach as some hardware
will require additional drivers and you will need to reboot (very common with
graphic's cards for example), in order to test it properly you will have to
test the system as you want it to be in it's future functioning state. Of
course, checking hardware compatibility lists for devices like GPUs and
Network Interface Cards is a very good practice, since these vary greatly on
GNU/linux support.
