I've gone through multiple installations of the debian-sarge testing release, and never encountered anything like this before.

Note that I am installing with the 2.6 kernel.

When I get to the stage of selecting the repository I would like to get the initial packages from, no matter what I choose, the install crashes. It starts logging in and connecting, errors out, and my computer restarts. Just like that. Boom.

My first thought was that the repository I tried was down...so I tried another...and then another...and another...and went through all the big-name ones (kernel.org, debian.org, etc).

I then decided to edit the apt-sources list myself, entered some repositories I knew for a fact worked, and gave it a whirl.

Well, it starts getting the package list...freezes up at some point, and then won't resume. I have to control-C kill the operation - and after doing this, no matter what I do, I cannot attempt again. It cannot even connect to any other repository after failing the first time.

I've tried multiple burns of the net install, the rc2 installer, and the daily build. I'm out of ideas. This has always worked...why would it suddenly decide that it will no longer work?

System specs:

Gigabyte Ethernet card
AMD 64 3400+
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9700

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated...I'm dying to get Debian up and running again...and this is driving me nuts.

Well I discovered the problem, and am actually typing this in Debian now-

Apparently, my PCMIA wireless adapter was the cause of the problems...

Interesting - but I hope this information helps someone else.