Please help - unable to load new rom from sd card

[knives of ice]

ok i'm going insane here and about to throw this f'ing evo across the room. i've flashed before. now every time when i go to flash a new rom it goes to flash and instead of loading immediately boots me back to the clockwork recovery menu.

first i apply the sd card update. then wipe data and cache. go to install from sd card. choose zip from sd card. i scroll down and see the old rom i want to installl, hit the power button and it just boots me back to the clockwork menu. what the hell is up?

please help with any suggestions or ideas.