The messages about DMA above were 2 lines, reporting using DMA on the hard disk and the CD, both of which were correctly identified by model.

I then tried to boot "knoppix nodma". Now the messages about using DMA disappear as expected. The problem is immediately after that, apparently when Knoppix tries to do the 'insmod' command.

Has anyone else had this problem? I cant believe only I am getting it.