Debian on IBM NetVista Type 6578-RAU

[PETER EASTHOPE <peasthope@shaw.ca>]

Folk,

I have a pair of IBM NetVistas, Types 6578-RAU and RBU.

Debian Woody installed on S/N 78-T1XMN and ran 
for about a year with no difficulty.  Then it started to 
reboot spontaneously.  The operational intervals 
became shorter until it was unusable.  When it is 
fired up now, the display is OK initially and before 
the login prompt appears, degenerates to what 
might be called flak.  With an AGP video card installed, 
bootup hangs at a kernel panic with a complaint 
about an interrupt exception.

The Woody installer CD works on S/N 78-T1XFV until 
Checking 'hlt' instruction...  
There it hangs.  The installation process on the other 
machine didn't have this problem.  Also, this machine 
does not respond to the power switch on the front 
panel.  According to the ohmeter, the switch is OK.

I've reinstalled the BIOS code and reset the "boot 
block" on each machine to no avail.

Does anyone have experience with similar NetVistas?
Do these machines have marginal power supplies or some 
other design fault which causes problems?   
Any other ideas?

Thanks,           ... Peter E.

 http://carnot.yi.org/