knoppix will install but Gentoo and Fedora will not?
 

I've got a new system I'm trying to install linux on. This is not my first system that I installed linux on, but at the same time I wouldn't call myself and expert by any means either. When putting it together, I made sure that the hardware is compatible with linux. I've tried 3 different distrobutions (knoppix v3.6, Gentoo, FC4), but only the old knoppix boot CD will work. When knoppix is used, it seems to work flawlessly. When I downloaded the CD/DVD images(amd64 versions), I verified integrity by comparing the checksums. I also verified the data after burning the CD/DVD.

When attempting to install Gentoo, the following happens:
: Activating udev
: making tmpfs for /newroot
: attempting to mount cd: (looks in many different areas for device)
...
: could not find CD to boot, something else is needed
: Determining root device
: The root block devices is unspecified or not detected
...

When attemping to install FC4 on CD or DVD, there is a kernel panic and the last legible text line says "VFS: Unable to mount root fs on block [3,2]," and then a bunch of garble scrolls down the screen.

I thought that it may be the DVD drive that I'm using, so I attempted it with 2 other drives--both have been verified to work by using them in previous systems. One drive was a Pioneer slot load DVD drive, and the other was an old hp 9700 cdrw. I also thought that it may be the hard drive that I had so I tried it with another that has been used in another system. Still no dice.

I noticed that when knoppix booted from the cd, it was loaded from /dev/scd0. So, I attempted the same thing by typing /dev/scd0 in Gentoo after it fails and asks for device to boot from. Still no dice.

In FC4, I attmepted to boot into linux rescue. For some reason I was able to boot into it once. But after thinking everything was good again, attempted a reboot, then the same kernel panic. Trying to boot into linux rescue now just results in a kernel panic. I also attempted to boot with some options. Some of the options included where ide=nodma, acpi=off, apm=off, and nofb.

The hardware that I'm using are:
Supermicro H8DAE dual opteron server motherboard
AMD Opteron 240EE x2
OCZ 1024 MB reg. ECC memory x4
NEC ND-6650A DVD/RW
Seagate PATA 40 GB hard drive
Floppy drive
PC Power & Cooling 510xe power supply

This system is going to be used as a storage server. This is only currently a proof of concept to verify that the hardware works together. After which I'm planning on adding 3ware 9500s sata raid cards and some more hard drives. No point in investing more into hardware if this doesn't work.

Some help would be much appreciated, and any response in welcomed.

Well, I figured it out. In Gentoo, I had to type "gentoo-nofb noapic ide=nodma nodetect" and it booted from the disk. All of the boot options were needed. Anyways, looks like Gentoo will be going on to the system, not that I'll be complaining. :rolleyes: