Thanks for the advice. I have determined that the problem was initrd.
Using vanilla-sources, I have compiled a initrd-free 2.4.32-r4 kernel
using a gentoo tftpboot image (4hrs compile time, 2MB unzipped). This
kernel works excellent with debian/unstable and runs really nice on my
Quad CPUs.
I have tried to start with woody and slowly 'evolve' my distro with no
success. Woody -> sarge, sid or etch; sarge (by itself); ect.. process
of elimination =) I have tried all of the available tftpboot and floppy
boot images found at http.us.debian.org looking for a solution.