Apologies to you guys for beating your heads against the wall for me.

I didn't realize that the GX-260 that I was working with had drive (or more accurately partition) encryption software installed on it. I should've known that. On the 745 machine, I had attempted to install drive encryption software on it, but it didn't install properly and said the drive was not encrypted at all. So I figured it was a good test machine to play with.

I now remember where I heard about the Dell drive issues. I was trying to use BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) and had to include a plugin for Dell machines, otherwise they wouldn't see the drive or OS partition, I can't remember which. Anyhow, with that in the back of my head and the struggles I encountered (especially the same issue on different models), I assumed it was an issue with Dell.

I'm still a tiny bit perplexed about how the unencrypted drive generated the same issue as the encrypted one. Although who knows what that software does when you try to install it. Lesson learned I guess.

I blew away and reloaded the OS partition on the GX-260 and the Knoppix 5.1.1 software works fine now.

Thanks bunches for your help! Especially you, cbagger01!