For fedora core 4, this strange trick worked for me on dual opteron
system: when you get to the boot: prompt type "linux mediacheck"
without the quotes. The install then proceeds normally.
Cheers

Caveat Emptor wrote:
Trying to install a Linux OS on my new system:

AMD Opteron 144
Asus A8R-MVP
Corsair Value RAM 512x2 MB
Htachi 160 GB PATA drive

Tried Fedora Core 4 for AMD 64, starts to boot, and it hangs after a
few messages, with a "Kernel Panic" and some gibberish messages

Tried the Ubuntu live and install CDs, and it hung after starting to
boot.

Any clues? I've flashed to the latest BIOS too.

Regards