Hi,
No, it's normal that it reads "proceed to checkout". However, I agree that this button should actually not be there at all if the cart is empty.
Try to change the line:
if($cart_type == 'cart' && $this->params->get('show_cart_proceed',1)) echo $this->cart->displayButton(JText::_('PROCEED_TO_CHECKOUT'),'checkout',$this->params,$url_checkout,'window.location=\''.$url_checkout.'\';return false;');
to:
if($cart_type == 'cart' && $this->params->get('show_cart_proceed',1) && $i > 1 ) echo $this->cart->displayButton(JText::_('PROCEED_TO_CHECKOUT'),'checkout',$this->params,$url_checkout,'window.location=\''.$url_checkout.'\';return false;');
in the file "showcart" via the menu Display>Views. That should remove the button when no product is in the cart. Let us know how it goes.