Linux install hangs hard on kernel load

Attempting to load Linux on a friend's AMD K5 box... pretty much every
distro we tried (Mandrake 8.1, 8.0, 7.1, Redhat 7.0, 6.0 -- okay we didn't
try Debian or SuSe)... you get the screen (F1 for help or Enter to load),
press Enter and it says, "Loading cdrom.img" or "loading boot.img" ...
prints three dots and hangs, even pressing NumLock doens't blink the
light.

The only one that would load was an ancient icky version of Storm Linux.

Any suggestions?

\\/