I`d like to know the same thing.
On my Toshiba Sattelite 1110 all Debian CD`s/kernel versions i tried crash when booting.
The only thing that works just all fine is the Knoppix CD in "expert mode".
The "copy to hd" script,copies succesfully but obviously doesnt use the same kernel/kernel options like the CD version,since it crashes again.
When i try to find the option it really uses in expert mode in lilo.conf i cant find anything.Seems strange since there is the boot option in lilo menu. So where is the mysterious,wonderful kernel that recognizes all hardware for everybody..and why can it only run from CD??
thanks in advance,it seems my only chance to get Debian on my notebook..