Hi all,
>
> any idea what a message like this means, this is just when the
> kernel is loaded from floppy, uncompresses and the below message
> comes repeated in screenfull.
>
> Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address
> 00000000
>
> the machine is a 486 with 40MB ram, 4.3GB HDD. (dos/windows too are
> unable to start up apart from the initial messages.)
> just curious typically which part of hardware could have gone
> wrong?
4.3GB?? afaik these machines cant detect a harddisk > 2gb.
Check the bios setup. Insert maximum wait states to slow down ram
access. Replace the ram if you can find some of those ancient pieces.
Or try a floppy distro. since these use very little ram it might
just work.
rgds
jtd