AC 3 install failures - AlphaStation 400 4/233 (Avanti); PWS500au

[Ken Raeburn <raeburn raeburn org>]

AC3 came out just in time for me to be reinstalling a couple of the  
test machines at work.

Unlike the Debian (3.1r2) install CD, which seems to stop at starting  
the kernel (though I don't have a serial line connected), the AC3  
install CD actually booted up on an old AlphaStation 400 and put  
stuff on the screen.  However, it's not quite what I was hoping to  
see... after booting up, loading drivers, and letting it check CD 1  
and find it okay (or, in another attempt, skipping that step), I got:

Running anaconda, the Alpha Core system installer - please wait...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 892, in ?
    forceVesa=forcevesa)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rhpxl/xserver.py", line 79,  
in probeHW
    forceVesa=forceVesa)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rhpxl/videocard.py", line  
288, in __init__
    xdrv_parts = string.split(card.xdriver, "#")
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/string.py", line 292, in split
    return s.split(sep, maxsplit)
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'split'
install exited abnormally
sending termination signals...done
[etc]

Without digging out the code, I'm guessing this means:
 - The video card (labeled PBXGA, which I assume is whatever DEC  
shipped with these things) isn't recognized for some reason.
 - The script doesn't cope with not recognizing the video card.

Booting up in text mode (aboot option 2 instead of 0) doesn't make  
any difference.  I haven't tried using a serial console.

On another machine (PWS500au, only 128M RAM) it started up okay, but  
when it got to "Installation Starting" ("Starting install process.   
This may take several minutes..."), it crunched for a while,  
displayed "install exited abnormally", and went through the same  
shutdown sequence.  No messages were displayed about why it exited,  
and root/install.log is empty.

Any suggestions?

Ken