F16-X86_64-Live-KDE won't boot on XPS 17

[linux guy]

I have a new Dell XPS17 laptop.  (i7, 16 GB RAM, nvidia 555 video
device, Windows 7 installed)

I am trying to run F16-x86_64-Live-KDE on it via a USB flash device.

It find the USB device. grub(2) runs.  I can select the kernel.  It
starts the boot process.

It hangs with the following message:

udevd[166]: /sbin/modprobe -bv pci: <snip> [168] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)
dracut: starting plymouth daemon

The same OS on the same USB flash device runs fine on my i5 server.

Any ideas ?