Ok, i am new to this, i recently installed mandrake 9.2 on my system and on the first boot i got a kernel panic.

This is the message, there is more to it, if it helps...


code: 8b 04 18 85 c0 79 e9 b8 01 00 00 8bd 74 26 00 8b 75 08 56
<0> kernel panic: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!
in interrupt handler - not syncing

system specs

gigabyte ga-7n400 pro 2
athlon xp 1800+
384mb ram

Some things to try-

If you can, turn off the on-board ethernet controller (in the bios)
Unplug any usb devices
boot noapic (At the boot screen, hit F1 and type "linux noapic")

I am just guessing, but I think the issue here is the nvidia chipset. You should go to the nvidia sight and get their linux drivers. I am trying to have the chipset initialize as little as possible, in the hopes of getting a boot. This is a known problem that crops up

turned off my on-board ethernet and i got in fine. (cant believe that was all it took) I found the drivers on the nvida site, however they were made for mandrake 9.1, would i have a problem using them?

Best approach would be:
1) Make sure you have the kernel-sources installed
2) Download the nforce sources rpm at the bottom of the page
3) su to root, and type "rpmbuild rebuild NVIDIA_nforce-1.0-0261.src.rpm"
4) If there are no errors reported, type "urpmi /usr/src/RPM/RPMS/i586/*.rpm"
5) I think I would reboot after that.