I searched the mailing list and didn't see this issue, so maybe I can help someone by posting here.
On my 785/C3700 I tried with three different CDs, including the netinst and the business card CD images. They all do the same thing, crash horribly after trying to load the RAMDISK image. It looks like the default RAMDISK size is not big enough, as evidenced by the trace below. I fixed the issue by answering 'y'es to interact with the IPL, and then I increased the ramdisk_size= option from 16384 to 65536. I am now currently installing Debian so we'll see how things go from here, but I think that solved the issue. Here's the trace in case anybody tries searching for the error messages. I snipped the first half of the boot sequence for brevity, but I can post it on request. RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 RAMDISK: incomplete write (-28 != 32768) 16777216 VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly. Freeing unused kernel memory: 316k freed Setting up filesystem, please wait ... attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40650, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40650, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=32772, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=32772, limit=32768 cp: Read error: Inpuattempt to access beyond end of device t/output error ram0: rw=0, want=33388, limit=32768 cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=33420, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device cp: Read error: ram0: rw=0, want=33704, limit=32768 Input/output errattempt to access beyond end of device or cp: Read errram0: rw=0, want=33756, limit=32768 or: Input/outputattempt to access beyond end of device error cp: Readram0: rw=0, want=33790, limit=32768 error: Input/ouattempt to access beyond end of device tput error cp: ram0: rw=0, want=33798, limit=32768 Read error: Inpuattempt to access beyond end of device t/output error ram0: rw=0, want=33846, limit=32768 cp: Read error: attempt to access beyond end of device Input/output errram0: rw=0, want=33864, limit=32768 or cp: Read errattempt to access beyond end of device or: Input/outputram0: rw=0, want=33930, limit=32768 error cp: Readattempt to access beyond end of device error: Input/ouram0: rw=0, want=33954, limit=32768 tput error cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=33986, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device cp: Read error: ram0: rw=0, want=34066, limit=32768 Input/output errattempt to access beyond end of device or cp: Read errram0: rw=0, want=34084, limit=32768 or: Input/outputattempt to access beyond end of device error cp: Readram0: rw=0, want=34518, limit=32768 error: Input/ouattempt to access beyond end of device tput error cp: ram0: rw=0, want=34542, limit=32768 Read error: Inpuattempt to access beyond end of device t/output error ram0: rw=0, want=34676, limit=32768 cp: Read error: attempt to access beyond end of device Input/output errram0: rw=0, want=34696, limit=32768 or cp: Read errattempt to access beyond end of device or: Input/outputram0: rw=0, want=34738, limit=32768 error cp: Readattempt to access beyond end of device error: Input/ouram0: rw=0, want=34944, limit=32768 tput error cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=34944, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device cp: Read error: ram0: rw=0, want=34946, limit=32768 Input/output errattempt to access beyond end of device or ram0: rw=0, want=34946, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=34954, limit=32768 cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=35108, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device cp: Read error: ram0: rw=0, want=35344, limit=32768 Input/output errattempt to access beyond end of device or ram0: rw=0, want=35344, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35346, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35346, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35590, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35590, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35592, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35592, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35596, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=35596, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40300, limit=32768 cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=40302, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40302, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40316, limit=32768 cp: attempt to access beyond end of device Read error: Inpuram0: rw=0, want=40408, limit=32768 t/output error attempt to access beyond end of device cp: Read error: ram0: rw=0, want=40410, limit=32768 Input/output errattempt to access beyond end of device or ram0: rw=0, want=40410, limit=32768 attempt to access beyond end of device ram0: rw=0, want=40418, limit=32768 cp: Read error: Inpuattempt to access beyond end of device t/output error ram0: rw=0, want=40426, limit=32768 cp: Read error: Input/output error request_module: runaway loop modprobe net-pf-1 modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory modprobe: FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-32/kernel/net/unix/unix.ko': No such file or directory (etc over and over again forever)
