Redhat 9 install crashes immediately

[mrbusy]

Im trying to install Redhat Linux 9 on my laptop (HP Compaq NX9010) which is also running XPP. I recently used Partition Magic to resize the NTFS partiton to make some space for Linux. When I try to boot off the Linux installer CD my system crashes for some reason. I get the loader part where I have the choice of graphical or text install. Regardless of which I choose the screen scrolls past with information at the end of which is \sbin\loader (or something similar). I then move into a blue text screen and for an instant a window pops up in the middle saying something about a driver, but its gone so quickly I cant read it. The system then crashes and can only be restarted by a complete power off and on. Nothing works, not even the caps lock key, which makes me think its a hardware related thing with whatever driver is being loaded.
As far as I know the laptop is fine. Certainly XPP seems to run quite happily so it appears to be an issue with Redhat. Has anyone seen this happen before or have any idea how I resolve it?

 

[sleipnir214]

Then RedHat installs, it uses an app called anaconda to probe for hardware. anaconda is known to have issues with some hardware.

I've had a situation similar to yours with a Compaq server. The server had a NIC built onto the motherboard and when anaconda probed for the NIC, it locked up the install.

When I disabled the NIC in BIOS, the install went fine. In my case, the machine had another NIC that I could use. I never reactivated the builtin NIC.

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