[syslinux] Loading linux.. [hangs]

[Ed Skinner]

     Booting from floppy (with syslinux), I see the Syslinux banner, then
Loading linux..
     and it hangs "forever" at that point. (FWIW: There are exactly two 
periods in the above output.) Using the same floppy on a different (and much 
more recent) machine, "linux" loads and runs without problem. "linux" is a 
bzImage file, by the way.
     The failing machine is an old notebook, Epson Action Note 4000, with an 
486SLC processor, 8Mb RAM and no co-processor. This is a 2.4.22 Linux kernel, 
configured as small as I think is possible. Perhaps the kernel image is still 
too big, or maybe the code is linked for a non-existent physical address in 
this tiny machine?
     Here's the content of syslinux.cfg from the floppy:
------------------------- begin -----------------------
TIMEOUT 50
DEFAULT linux
LABEL linux
KERNEL linux
APPEND root=/dev/ram0 initrd=fs.gz
------------------------- end -------------------------
       I'd love to have this machine working with Linux for sitting around the 
coffee house blog-work.
       Suggestions sincerely appreciated.

-- 
Ed Skinner, ed at flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/