Knoppix 3.9 gets stuck on the 'autoconfigure devices'.

Laptop: Fujitsu Lifebook N3511
I've tried all of the hardware cheat codes to turn off the various detections, including 'failsafe' by itself
Some commands tried: knppix NOACPI, PCI=BIOS, noscsi, noapm, failsafe... etc.

Only 'nohwsetup' will start the laptop.

Question:
How can I determine exactly what is hanging the startup of my laptop?

Thank you.
Serene