i used the knoppix26 command and it did the same thing, i see screens below and then it stops and does nothing:

welcome to the knoppix live linux-on-cd

scanning for usb/firewire devices.....done
enabling dma acceleration for: hda [samsung cd-r/rw sw-240b ]
accesing knoppix cdrom at /dev/scd0...
total memory found 2069420 kb
creating /ramdisk (dinamic size=1643708k) on shared memory......done
creating directories and symlinks on ramdisk.......done
startint init process
INIT: version 2.70-knoppix booting
runnig linux kernel 2.4.27
processor 0 is Intel (r) XEON (TM) CPU 1.80GHZ 798 MHZ, 512 kb cache
processor 1 is Intel (r) XEON (TM) CPU 1.80GHZ 798 MHZ, 512 kb cache
processor 2 is Intel (r) XEON (TM) CPU 1.80GHZ 798 MHZ, 512 kb cache
processor 3 is Intel (r) XEON (TM) CPU 1.80GHZ 798 MHZ, 512 kb cache