RH8----Complete system lockup

I have a Compaq 1.4 gig, 128ram--dual harddrive...trying to run rh8..fresh install onto a 15gig hd. Once the install is done all I've been able to do is change background color and clock readout. The system locks up completely with the cap and scoll lock buttons blinking. The only thing I can do to get out of this lockup is to hardboot the system. No matter what desktop I come into..cause I thought maybe that was the problem. KDE seems to last or be more stable than gnome but they both still do the same thing. I'm a real linux/unix newbie but I really want to learn this because this is where the future lies. Could someone please help?!?!?!? Thx....

Laptop, desktop? What is the video card? Do you have plug-n-play turned off in the bios? Do you have power management turned off in the bios?

A few more details, if there are any, would be helpful. Are you booting from grub?

Cheers--
Charles

Sorry..it's a desktop..generic video card...SIS chipset..ag315p 64meg sdram..i was still on so I'm not sure about plug and play or power management. I have windows running on another hard drive also so wouldn't I need all that on or should it be off for linux?

Hello??!?!?!?!?!?!? Anyone??!?!?!?!

Try turning the plug and play and APM off to see what it does. To avoid windows trying to reconfigure and possibly become hosed (The curse of old Billy) don't boot windows in this system state until you are sure it's going to make a difference.

Do you have any ISA cards in the machine?

Those blinking lights are from the kernel calling for help. At one time, it was Morse code, but I wouldn't recommend trying to write it all down. =-}
Basically, your kernel is going in to a panic. This usually means; 1) bad hardware, 2) bad drivers, 3) bad hardware/driver combo, or 4) development kernel.

Since your posts seem to indicate that all you've done is install and then the machine locks up, I would rule out 4). My first guess is always bad hardware, but it could be any of 1), 2), or 3). To test this, the first thing to do is, during boot, disable everything you don't need (I assume RH still allows interactive boots?), including sound, etc., then, if it doesn't lock up you can reenable one at a time (this will take several reboots if you don't want to edit the startup scripts). Disable Kudzu especially, I hear it causes a lot of problems.

You wouldn't happen to be using a KVM switch connecting 2 computers to 1 monitor/keyboard/mouse would you?

You stated that you "have windows running on another hard drive also", do you mean on a second machine (Dell, Compaq, HP, etc..) or a little 3.5" HD (Fujitsu, Seagate, Maxtor, etc...)?

If this is 2 separate computers (Dell, HP, etc...) connected via a KVM switch, then I would check if there is a problem with the KVM switch. I have had that problem before, and the symptom was that the numlock, caplock, and scroll-lock lights would begin flashing.