5.0.4-i386 freezes at boot

[Sakari Aaltonen <sakari.aaltonen@tkk.fi>]

I'm trying to install Debian 5.0.4-i386 on a Fujitsu Esprimo P1500  
desktop computer with the netinst disk. However, the install stops  
almost immediately with the message

      MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
      Kernel panic - not syncing: IO-APIC + timer doesn't work!
      Boot with apic=debug and send a report. Then try booting with  
the 'noapic' option

When I try 'apic=debug', the result is the same. There is no further output.

When I try 'noapic', the install seemingly succeeds, but when I try to  
boot from the hard disk, the machine freezes during the start-up  
sequence and I end up with a blank (black) screen.

The machine's BIOS is the most recent version available (October 2009.)


Sakari Aaltonen