which stage of the boot process would this message be seen?

Answers: B
_ Hardware initialization and setup.
Explanation:
Note: On the original Lord’s .VCE, answer was D) Kernel Loading. After doing some research, I find it was wrong. Correct answer is B.
You can use the BIOS to enable and disable key hardware components, but once Linux is booted, you may need to manage this hardware using Linux utilities. Key components managed by the BIOS (and, once it’s booted, Linux) include interrupts, I/O addresses, DMA addresses, the real-time clock, and Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) hard disk interfaces. (Sybex Linux+ Complete study guide, CH 3, Page 106, Configuring the BIOS and Core Hardware)
The following are the 6 high level states of a typical Linux boot process
BIOS – Basic Input/Output System executes MBR
MBR – Master Boot Record executes GRUB
GRUB – Grand Unified Bootloader executes Kernel
Kernel – Kernel executes /sbin/init
Init – Init executes runlevel programs
Runlevel – Runlevel programs are executed from /etc/rc.d/rc*.d/