I have the same problem. I have usb keyboard and mouse on A7V333 from Asus. It seems that Knoppix (or Linux) has problem with this. I think there are several not so good way to work around the problem.
1. use PS2 keyboard and mouse
2. there maybe an option in BIOS that reads "usb keyboard at startup" or alike
3. use nousb. In this case, you won't have any usb mouse.
I tried running the usb stuff manual and I got whole bunch of message saying
usb_control/bulk: timeout.
I am seeking help on this too. But I guess it is the way knoppix (or Linux) is for now. With 2.6 kernel+hotplug maybe better.
Edwin Lau