OS Fails to Load

[Brad Tilley]

Hello,

50% of the time when I boot RH Linux 9 (2.4.20-18.9) the OS fails to load. The
failure usually occurs during a period of intense disk activity such as
'finding module dependencies' or 'mounting local filesystems'. I can reproduce
this error with the most recent RH kernel and the kernel that the distro
originally shipped with and 2.4.21 from Kernel.org built using RH's config
files. Usually after 4-5 power cycles, the OS loads OK and the machine runs
fine once it gets going.

It's a HP xw4100 with these specs:

P4 Processor 3.00GHz/800 FSB
1.5GB DDR/400 ECC (2x512, 2x256)
NVIDIA Quadro4 200NVS 64MB AGP
Ultra320 SCSI Controller
18GB Ultra 320 SCSI 15,000rpm Hard Drive (sda)
146GB Ultra 320 SCSI 10,000rpm Hard Drive (sdb)
48X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
48X CD-RW Drive
Broadcom Gbit 10/100/1000

Can someone help me troubleshoot this? I'm at the end of my rope. I have the
most recent BIOS from HP.

Thanks,
Brad