kernel unable to boot -- can't install

[cburrows@zero.math.upenn.edu (Christopher Burrows)]

hi,

i recently got a motherboard, and i am unable to boot linux on it. this is
very frustrating, and i am looking for someone to help me, if at all possible,
diagnose what is going wrong.

here is what happens: i am trying to boot off the slink rescue disk (1.44),
and initially the "welcome screen" appears. i hit enter to boot. then i see
the "loading....." business for the usual amount of time. once this is through,
the kernel begins to boot and report its status -- but it gets no more than
a screen-length into that process when the machine reboots. i am unable to
tell what the last step is _before_ the machine reboots, because it happens
very very quickly.

this appears to be happening with redhat's 5.2 boot disk as well.

i have tried the "safe" and "tecra" versions of the rescue disk. no luck.

i have fiddled with various bios settings, especially anything mentioned in
the installation faq (ie, the shadow rom business), and no matter what i do
the same thing appears to happen.

i know sufficiently little about the kernel itself, that i am not sure what
information i might need to give people to help me out. i am willing to copy
down every detail of the bios setup and give out all the specifications on
the motherboard, but i would prefer to do so only after someone tells me what
is relevent and what isn't. 

i ought to mention that i had hamm working on this machine just fine using an
older motherboard. every other component in the system remains unchanged.

please help! if the content of this message is not appropriate for this list,
feel free to point me to a better place.

thanks,
frustrated in philadelphia,
- chris