Kernel 2.4 hangs in 1st stage install

[john payne <j.f.b.payne@tesco.net>]

Hello,

I have a DVD of the Debian Woody release.  I can install this
successfully if I take the default (2.2) kernel.  However, if I try to
install the 2.4 kernel the install proceeds most of the way (swap
partition initialise, root partition initialise, scan for packages)
but part way through the package installation, it hangs, with the
keyboard locked out (Ctrl-Alt-Del does not reboot).

If I switch to console 4 (before the hang) the final messages are

sysvinit: creating /dev/initctl
init: timeout opening/writing control channel /dev/initctl
sysvinit: creating /dev/initctl
init: timeout opening/writing control channel /dev/initctl

In themselves, these messages don't seem to be the problem (the kernel
2.2 gives the same messages, but then goes on to run debconf).
Adding "debug" at boot time doesn't seem to give any extra relevant
information (the last "debug:" message is long before the hang
occurs).

The hardware is an AMD K6-2 400, on a Chaintech CT-5SSV motherboard
(SiS 530/5595 chipset), with 160Mb of memory.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

John Payne