As someone in this list pointed out the troubles to boot either a 2.4.20 or 2.4.18 kernel with my digital alpha 500 is due to the core_cia.c module (included in the kernel), which fails to recognize the hardware causing a kernel panic failure. I've downloaded the debian 2.4.18. source original and diff tarballs and have had a go at compiling the unchanged original 2.4.18 kernel but the result has been the same, a kernel panic failure! Please help Ciao Vittorio