What command do you use to "manually start"?

You can try changing your script to see what is happening:
Code:
/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start >> /var/log/nfsstate-watchdog.log 2>&1
or for more debugging try:
Code:
/bin/sh -x /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start >> /var/log/nfsstate-watchdog.log 2>&1