I've solved the problem.
We are using CISCO switches and FastHUBs. Some of our switches have
default configuration. With this default configuration a CISCO switch
takes a long time to negotiate speed and whatever else they have to
handshake about. When the module (in my case e1000) is loaded the switch
starts to re-negotiate, it takes about 30sec. Before the Knoopix client
can accuire an ip-address a timeout occurs and i was dropped in to a
limited shell.
I guess the time-out is hardcoded, it should be longer for lousy
sysadmins like me who deploy there cisco switches with default set-up
:-) Anyway, you can set solve the problem on the cisco side by setting
all your interfaces to 'portfast' mode so they don't take too long to
negociate. Typing 'spanning-tree portfast default' in config mode should
do.
I'm happy now. bye.
Wouter.