ACPI Problems

[Ryan D'Baisse <ryan.dbaisse@gmail.com>]

I guess, at this point, I am not entirely sure where to begin.  I am
looking for guidance with ACPI.

I am currently running FC2 with kernel 2.6.5-1.358 and cannot go past
it on either FC3 or, apparently, anything else.  I have tried updating
the kernel on FC2 to 2.6.9-1.6_FC2 and have to disable ACPI to get it
to boot.  I have also tried running the live CD of Knoppix v3.6 adn
v3.7 and have to disable ACPI to get it to boot.  I have not yet
attempted "sarge" because I am not at a point where I can blow away my
box.  My goal, however, is to be running Debian (I'm somewhat sick of
the Fedora pace.)

My machine:

     Toshiba 5005-S507 (Laptop)
     512MB / 40GB / DVD-CDRW
     Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA NIC

At this point, I am not sure where to go next.  Should I check for
certain errors somewhere?  Is there some way to find out what my
current kernel is loading?  I've read about ACPI and compiling
kernels, but I do not think I'm ready for that yet.  If I were to
start downloading source, or compiling kernels, I am not sure what I
would be doing.

So, in short, could someone please start me off in the right direction
to figure out exactly what the problem is so I am not guessing
entirely?

Thanx,
Ryan