System freeze with kernels after 2.6.12

I've been running Sarge, then Etch on this system for a couple years.
It has been happily running 2.6.12-1 for a while but any attempt to use
newer kernels has resulted in the system freezing - requiring a hardware
reset. Keyboard is nonfunctional except numlock will turn off (but not
back on). System becomes inaccessible via the network. Sometimes the
hard drive light is on solid.

I've tried 2.6.15-1, 2.6.16-2 and 2.6.17-2. All cause the system to
freeze at some point - usually within 5 minutes of X starting but
sometimes before it even reaches that point. I normally use the K7
kernel but have tried 486 as well with no change in symptoms.

I tried a fresh install, thinking the original install just had some bad
combination somewhere but that's a no-go as well. Etch beta 3 installer
freezes during "Installing core packages..." at 32-34% completion (it
varies).

There is no useful (to me) info in messages, syslog, nor dmesg.

System details:
Abit KT7 motherboard (Via KT133 chipset)
Athlon 1GHz (Model 4 Stepping 2)
512 MB RAM
Audio=SoundBlaster Live MP3+ (driver=emu10K1_audigy)
Video=GeForce4 Ti4200-8x (NV28) (driver=nv)
eth0=Netgear FA310Tx 10/100 (driver=tulip)
hda=Samsung SP1614N 160GB ATA100
hdc=Plextor PX-320A CDRW
misc =Syba SD-V2-5U USB 2 adapter

Does anyone have a clue what could be happening or any advice how to
diagnose this further?

--
Harry


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