I've just tried installing the latest official release of Knoppix, Mandrake 10, and SuSE 9.1. All the installations run perfectly until we get to the XFree86 Configuration part.

Knoppix refuses to boot X b/c it can't find a working server for it and drops me back into the command prompt after even trying the VESA server.

Mandrake 10, installs the packages perfectly, and when I get to the final configuration screen, shows "Graphics not configured" in red font. So I press the button to configure it, and the system freezes. My USB kb/mouse both freeze within 3-4 seconds, and this error is consistently reproducible. I've tried using "linux apci nolapci" to no avail.

In SuSE 9.1, after I get to the install, and finish configuring my X stuff with SaX, LCD Screen 1280x1024, 60 Hz, 1280x1024x16bit desktop, the test system refuses to initialize despite any settings I use. I decide to tell it to save the settings anyways, and finish the installation. Everything is fine except for I can't boot up X/KDE.

My hardware:
Athlon 2200+ XP
512 MB PC2700 RAM
Leadtek GeForce Ti4600 (stock clock settings)
ABIT AT7 Motherboard
120 GB WD HD
MS IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 USB
Generic 10 dollar keyboard USB
17.4" Planar LCD screen
Leadtek TV2000XP TV Card

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

You got the spelling wrong on your kernel parameters. It should be:

linux noapic nolapic

so you can try that.

You shouldn't be having problems with that card so I suspect a monitor config problem. See what error messages you get in mandrake when you run:

$ startx

that should give some clue as to what's going on. You can rerun the graphics config in mandrake by running:

$ su
<enter root jpassword>
# XFdrake

Given that you have the same problem in all three and you have an lcd monitor, I also suspect you are running the monitor in dvi mode. That's always a problem in linux. Try reconnecting your monitor with a standard cable instead of dvi and see if that helps.