All attempts at booting this system hangs after the line

        biomask ef45 netmask ef65 ttymask ffe7

This is becoming a classic. I've seen it myself on A7V boards in
january-february and the fix (as has been reported by several people)
was to comment out

#options PCIBIOS

Now, however, I'm seeing this on an A7V-E and to my great frustration
(loud swearing has been heard) I've not able to get past this point.

However, if I boot the kernel from a pair of 1.5V install floppies it
works (I end up in sysinst). But if I try an INSTALL kernel from disk
(yes, I know it is a special kernel, but right now I'm just trying to
get any further at all) I hang after the biomask line again.

Grr.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Johan