> It didn't fix the problem. what did you try? one first shot would be to lower CONFIG_NR_CPUS in config.alpha-smp or otherwise one could use a similar hack than the one proposed here: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=115507250028744&w=2 regards -- maks ps directed to andras question, initramfs gives a shell after a 300s default timeout tunable by the rootdelay bootparam.