Perplexing Installation Problem

[ixnayus]

Hi,

I'm attempting to install Fedora from CD onto an older (...okay, *old*) Dell XPS Pro200n (Pentium Pro 200MHz, 128mb RAM). The problem is that the installer consistently freezes in the same spot no matter what I try.

Things I've tried:
1) Unplugging the 2nd hard drive...no effect
2) Disabling the floppy drive...no dice.
3) turning off the serial & parallel ports in the bios (this is a much older American Megatrends bios vA06, and thus, I don't have any advanced options to enable/disable DMA, etc., just turning on and off various peripherals & ports)--basically I've tried every combination and systematically disabled every option...no dice.
4) Swapping the stock Matrox video card with a vanilla ATI 32mb PCI card...no dice.
5) Swapping card slots
6) Removing the wireless network card
7) Removing one set of paired memory sticks; reinstalling & removing the other set of paired memory sticks...no effect.
8) Installing in text mode
9) Installing with no hardware probing
10) Running a memory check
11) Let it sit overnight in the hope that it's just taking a *really* long time
12) searched this user forum for answers--none seem apply to this specific problem

Basically, the box is as stripped down as it can be. Regardless of what I try, the installer dies in exactly the same spot every single time.

Note that WinXP boots just fine on this box. I can also boot Knoppix just fine, albeit slowly. So, I can deduce that the hardware is in good shape and that at least one variant of Linux runs on it.

Specifically, when I try to install Fedora, it will boot and load up to the line /sbin/loader/, where the screen blinks, and then runs through a bunch of lines that appear to initialize and check the hardware and end with (I'm transcribing here):

=========================
[<c0105a88>] do_IRQ+0x58/0x90
[<c0103c4a>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20
[<c0101038>] default_idle+0x0/0x30
[<c0101057>] default_idle+0x27/0x30
[<c01010ae>] cpu_idle+0xe/0x50
[<c041677c>] start_kernel+0x15c/0x1b0

Note that it does this check/initialization sequence twice (the line numbers on the left may be different the first run-through). The first time, it pauses on the "start_kernel" line for about 5 seconds, then a bunch of lines blast by and it dies on the code typed above.

Any advice would be most appreciated. I'm at my wits end.

[tbl]

did you try to type : nopcmcia, or nosound, or acpi=off ?
To what is going wrong, you may switch to an other screen (e.g. : alt+F2) and see where the problem is (not sure you can ...)

[Crux]

I hate to sound biased, however the P-Pro was a dog of a processor. a HUGE IC though, so it skipped across the pond pretty good.

Still though, it should still run FC4.. hhhmmmm... If the above does not help try turning off syste/video/bios caching in CMOS...

just a thought is all.
GL!!!

[ixnayus]

@tbl: Thanks for trying. nopcmcia, or nosound, or acpi=off all did not work.

@Crux: I'm not sure what you mean by "turning off syste/video/bios caching in CMOS." I have no caching options in my antiquated, 2-page bios.