Hanging at network device

Everytime I try to boot up it hangs at

"Network device eth0 detected, DHCP broadcasting for IP"

1) Why does it do this and how do I get around it?

I think my laptop at onetime WAS able to boot up with Knoppix 3.6, but I don't know why it won't now.

2) How do I get Knoppix in resue mode (single user)?

At the boot prompt I enter : Linux rescue
and have no luck.