Came across this bug in the APIC implementation while installing Ubuntu 8.04 on the office machine,
Here is the fix,
a. While installing Ubuntu, if you come across this bug, after selecting the Language > Select F6. This should present you with a command line with a few options specified to the kernel such as ‘quiet’ ’splash’. Keeping a space after the parameter ’splash’ and put ‘noapic’ ( without the quotes ).
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=6974a440-4cdd-4486-b50a-9e2624757a79 ro quiet splash noapic
This will boot Ubuntu from the Live CD. After installation, you could face the same problem.
In order to permanently fix it you will have to add the ‘noapic’ parameter to /boot/grub/menu.lst
swapneel@eth1:~$ sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=6974a440-4cdd-4486-b50a-9e2624757a79 ro quiet splash noapic
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet
The ‘noapic’ parameter is passed to the kernel. Save the file, reboot the machine and she should be ready to rock and roll ! 