Adding "acpi=off", as in
Code:
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8-1-386 root=/dev/sda4 ro acpi=off
Did the trick!
As I recall - during setup (I was reinstalling as I was taking the opportunity to remove the defunct Windows partitions), booting with the 2.6 kernel, left ACPI on initially, the hardware detection hung during finding the CD-ROM drives (loading a SCSI layer module, it seems). Turning it off did the trick.
Simple? Yes. Obvious? Not necessarily. In fact, it was listed as an example option in the Debian bootloader help - and that made it click in my mind. Perhaps this option should be set automatically in the bootloader?