I am able to install Mandrake 9.2 without problems. An attempt to upgrade to 10.1 left me with a system that hangs at "Checking for new hardware". I am able to boot a Linx prompt and command line in failsafe mode, but with little knowledge of Linux I'm not sure what or how to configure from this point.
Looking at the listings in the /mnt directory I noticed a /mnt/cdrom3 which surprised me (I have two CDROM's) and I have seen this device listed in 'Failed' system diagnostic though I have no idea if it is infact the reason. I've been told not to upgrade my 9.2 system but start afresh, but I've tried that as well with the same result.
In fact I've tried so many combinations of installing 10.1 that the installation disks tell me that the partition table on one of my two hard drives is unreadable. Tried the repair option in the installation package and got the message: "raw_add: partition table already full". The installation is quite happy to auto assign partitions in my second hard drive, but the installation process is still unable to configure a network and an attempt at booting hangs at "Checking for new hardware."

Also, during the installation process, I am unable to configure a network. I get the following error message: "An unexpected error has happened: Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at /usr/bin/perl-install/network/modem.pm line 21".

Again, I am able to get a Linux command line booted and thought that some configuration might be done from there, if only I knew what and how to configure.

maybe you installation media was somehow corrupt, did you try installing with a new set of installation CD's or a new DVD?