I'v been having a beeyaach of a time getting my sound to work, I tried everything I could find and nothing worked. If what I am about to tell you is common knowedge don't set me on fire I am a neo as you were at one time. this is for the newbies and I have not seen it before.
First boot your knoppix cd and copy your alsa-autoconfig file from /etc/init.d to a floppy disk
then remove the cd and reboot the box open kwrite or your favorite editor and open /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh, and copy from your floppy. alsa-autoconfig to an open spot and save. then reboot.