installation problem with initramfs-tools

[Charles Blair <c-blair@uiuc.edu>]

   I am trying to install the etch version of Debian on a
recently purchased HP Pavillion machine (it has a hard disk
that the sarge installer doesn't recognize).

   I downloaded the first CD image and booted the installer.
The partitioning and other steps seemed to be all right.  During
the base install:

(1) I was asked to pick a kernel, and chose the default
     linux-image-2.6-486

(2) Various successful install messages were displayed
until it said there was a problem with initramfs-tools.
I was referred to console #4, which displayed in part:

>         Errors were encountered while processing:
>                console-tools
>                console-common
>
>        subprocess /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code ()

   I hope there's a quick fix.  I could not get the installer to
continue past this error message.