I am working on a friend's DELL Latitude CPx J650GT (BIOS Version A08)

I also get:

<pre>
Scanning for USB/Firewire devices... Done.
Enabling DMA acceleration for: hda [FUJITSU MHK2120AT]
Enabling DMA acceleration for: hdc [SAMSUNG CD-ROM SN-124]
Looking for CDROM in: /dev/scd0 <blink>_</blink>
</pre>

And then just a flashing cursor.

One time I did something (I don't know what I pressed!) and it moved on to hdc, but it still didn't find the CDROM.

When I boot using failsafe it mounts the CDROM fine from hdc

I don't know whether it's the Samsung CDROM that's having the DMA problem, or just the way the DELL BIOS handles it.

If I boot with:

<pre>
knoppix26 nodma
</pre>

It gets through OK, but then it also hangs right after:

<pre>
Starting advanced power management daemon: apmd[PID]: apmd 3.2.1 interfacing with apm driver 1.16ac and APM BIOS 1.2 apmd.
APM Bios found, power management functions enabled.
</pre>

It then won't switch off unless I disconnect the power.

It seems that this is where it's doing the PCMCIA detection, which is a bit naughty, because it hasn't yet put anything on screen to warn you it's probing for PCMCIA at this stage.

I tried to boot with:

<pre>
knoppix26 nodma nopcmcia
</pre>

(& the other options I need) - this works perfectly! :o)

I hope this helps someone!

John Harrison