> > I strip -d'd the kernel and it booted no problem at all.
   ...
   > If this is the case, I would expect the hang not to occur until the bulky
   > symbol section gets loaded though..
   > 
   > I'll put some code into the boot program to test for giant kernels.
   
   Hmmm, I could be wrong here...  I just had a look at the kernel's involved:

i'm not so sure that it is the size of the kernel here that is
the problem -- it's the fact that there are debugging symbols in
the program, possible pushing some size lossage somewhere..

the hang *does* happen well before it should run out of memory
while loading (ie, used much less than 4 meg).

.mrg.