If you can, try booting the knoppix cd and then open a console as root (sudo su should be fine). Then do the following:
Code:
mount /dev/hda4 /mnt/hda4 -o rw
chroot /mnt/hda4  <--- root prompt should change since you are now in your desired home
cd /  <--- change directory to root on hda4
chown -R root:staff /home  <--- set permissions for all of /home
chown -R user:usergroup /home/user  <--- set permissions for your user account
chown -R user1:usergroup1 /home/user1  <--- set permissions for addtional user accounts if you have any
exit  <--- return to cd console
umount /mnt/hda4  <--- self-explanatory
exit  <--- closes console on cd
Reboot computer and /home should work fine. KDE crashes if the regular users don't have the correct permissions for its users in their home directory.

Notes: user:usergroup is your user account and the user1 is your other user if you have multiple users besides your normal user. Root doesn't have a directory in /home.

HTH,

Durand