dell poweredge 6650 won't boot the linux-2.4.18-bf kernel

[Walter Tautz <wtautz@math.uwaterloo.ca>]

it gets a certain point and then complains about some kind of BIOS
bugi at least if I give the kernel the additional quiet option,
if I just boot bf24 it hangs. I have the impression that some kind of
IRQ conflict has occurred?.
Anyone see this. the compact image does boot. HOwever the
network card bmc5700 driver won't install for the 2.2.20 kernel even
though the system will boot.

For a dell poweredge 2650 I was able to boot the 2.4.18-bf
kernel and compile the requisite NIC module and install it
successfully.

Suggestions?
-walter