curiouser and curiouser, ok so tried another seemingly identical computer in that internet cafe (non-passpword locked bios) and this time it is puppy that will not load completely, while knoppix WILL load but only WITHOUT the USB persistent image. the persistant image causes a hang at the graphical load interface at different stages on successive loads!!! I have mentioned this persistent image load problem on a separate thread on a completely different computer previously, but it is the first time on the computers at this internet cafe!
so, now I have no idea as to the random nature of possible Linux loads.