johnpfree:

It appears that the version of Knoppix you are running is about two years old. I would suggest trying a newer version. The answer to your dilemma may well be the need to use a cheatcode. Failsafe might be a good one to start with. It may be that there is some sort of a hardware detection issue and that you wopuld need to try the right cheatcode to get around it. Failsafe eliminates a lot of the usual suspects in one command. For more information, look at this link: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes