I'm relatively new to Linux. I've used it before, but I don't remember much. I just decided to create a dual-boot system (XP Pro and Linux). I have tried Fedora Core 4 and SuSE 10 (both 64-bit) and both have what I think is the same problem. They both install fine, but then they both freeze at boot.

Fedora froze whenever it would say it was starting Firewall. If I disable firewall, it would lock at IP Tables, and so on. Basically it would always lock at that point.

I got a little farther with SuSE. If i boot into regular Gnome it will get a few coloured dots at the top and then stop with nothing but a blue screen. If I boot into failsafe it will stop loading when it says PCI: Probing PCI Hardware (Bus00). I can't ctrl-alt-F1 to the console. If i press F3 at the GRUB screen it lets me boot into init 3 (by typing '3') and at that point it gets to the text login, the cursor blinks about 3 times and then it stops and locks up again.

Since it happens in 2 different distros I'm pretty sure it's my fault or a Hardware issue. I tried to find min reqs for both but I couldn't find them. I'm sure I'm just missing them though, they have to be posted somewhere. Also, all 6 discs (SuSE and FC) had the correct MD5 and passed the Linux install media check thing). I would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks in advance

System
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (O.C.ed to 2.1 GHz, but I tried it at 2GHz (default) too and that didn't help)
Shuttle AN50r
1.5 gigs Mushkin DDR400 PC3200
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
HDD
Hitatchi HDS72251 (SATA) - Windows Drive 160 GB

/dev/sda1 - C:\ NTFS 160 GB

Maxtor 6 L2050S0 (SATA) - Linux/misc Drive 250 GB

/dev/sdb1 - /boot ext3 100 MB

/dev/sdb2 - swap 1.5 GB

/dev/sdb3 - / ext3 10 GB

Are both distros using the same /boot partition? Or did you use them separately? I see only one set of partitions.
Try using a live cd such as Knoppix or KANOTIX. If you don't already have one, Knoppix is good for general use, and KANOTIX is handy for rescue, since it includes GRUB. If that doesn't work, you could try running memtest, just in case.
A similar thing happened to me. First Windows stopped working. It always froze at the same spot. The weird thing was it would work occasionally. Then Puppy Linux (installed on the same partition) also failed. Then Vector Linux (full install on a separate HD) would only run with a 2.6 kernel and not its default 2.4 kernel. It kept freezing at different spots.
I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so I'm getting a new computer. But if yours is 64-bit, it must be pretty new.

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and wasn't quite clear enough. I don't have both distros installed at the same time. FC stopped working so I reformatted the second HDD that it was on and put SuSE on instead. So there's only one set of partitions since I only have 1 distro installed at a time. My comp is about 1.5 years old, but it's definitely 64-bit so I would assume the 64bit versions would work.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I have 2 monitors on my Radeon. One is an NEC LCD (primary) and the other is a VeiwSonic CRT. SuSE keeps scanning my hardware and coming up with the ViewSonic, but the NEC isn't in it's list. I set it up to use a generic LCD with 1280x1024x60Hz. But that didn't work. Is it possible the OS and vid card are conflicting due to my settings?

I tried with a SLAX LiveCD (not 64-bit though) and it worked fine, so I know my computer can at least handle some form of Linux. Though I think it uses the 2.4 Kernel also.

I also tried with the 32-bit SuSE LiveDVD and that gave me the same problem. I tried reinstalling with nofb and that allowed me to boot into it once, but never again since then. It was also really, really slow. Like almost 10 min before I could start using it. And at that point, my keyboard didn't work so I couldn't really do much. Every time I've tried to use it since then it doesn't work. Even if I use nofb when I boot.