(Sorry that the threading is broken, I was looking at this in the list
archive and don't still have the mails from earlier, which I probably
mass-deleted...)

This sounds suspiciously like an error loading firmware, which can
happen when you have a video adapter or WiFi adapter that needs
firmware, but doesn't have have the right one.

Are there any firmware-related messages in your dmesg?

	--- Mike

-- 
A man who reasons deliberately, manages it better after studying Logic
than he could before, if he is sincere about it and has common sense.
                                   --- Carveth Read, “Logic”