I have an old Toshiba Satellite 2545xcdt and the same thing happens when trying to boot a knoppix cd. Have attempted to use v.3.9 and v.4.

As the OP stated, the only way to get Knoppix to boot is to use nopcmcia cheat code. This is not acceptable as I need my wireless pcmcia card to be active for internet access.

Has anyone found a resolution or a work around for this issue?