I initally tryed the minimal install cd (build-ix86-1.0_rc6-r17.iso) but it would just hang my system at different points in the beginning of the install... I could prolong it (it seems) by constantly pressing keys on the keyboard (usually I pressed enter alot). I figured I'd try the i586 cd instead to see if it was a problem with the minimal cd (I did a checksum on the minimal and all was well so that was an issue), but the i586 hangs too. I couldn't find any other similar problems while on your site or by searching on google. I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 with 256M ram, a Sony DVD/CDRW drive, and a 3Com network card(built-in).
It's because we have APIC enabled in our kernel (your Inspiron doesn't like it). This will be fixed in the Gentoo 1.0 release, and is a known already-reported issue, so I'm marking it as "fixed" even though it isn't (yet).
i think this is still happening on 1.1a. on my system (athlon 600) it still hangs randomly. i can't install gentoo because of it! if i actually get to the bootstrap script, at some random point during the build the screen blanks out, and i can't get it to do anything. the machine still seems alive, i can ping it and it still does occasional HD reads (as if it's still building), but the monitor is forever blank. i tried booting the kernel on the CD with 'kernel noapic' but it didn't help. so i'm back to slackware until this gets fixed!
