Yikes

Minutes? Mine never took minutes, maybe 1/2 minutes, but never more than, say, 30 seconds. I think the drive is fine, since you have tried it on more than one, and get the same results.

This could come down to your system, and what you have in it...

Processor speed, and type, amount of RAM, swap disk (if any, and how large), stuff... I ran Knoppix off two systems, one was a 433MHz with 312 M RAM, and the other being a 1.7GHz with 512 M RAM. My system was not that (notably) slower using the "older" system, only problem was with some "video intensive" games, the video card was a speed issue, but the systems performed about the same as far as booting, and starting up programs.

I wouldn't count out the video either... Is the video running off main memory, as in, your video is on the motherboard, or do you have a seperate video card and memory installed on the system? My system was slower with I used the "shared" memory of a "on motherboard" video, and then installed an actual video card with its own memory.

Hope this helps, and good luck,
Ms. Cuddles