Beginner question

Hi apologies if this is primitive,   I've just installed Debian 3.0 and lilo successfully using woody, but when the system is booting it goes through all the configurations then it suddenly freezes at /etc/console/boottime.kmap.gz. I have also noticed it stalls when it aligns its system cloc

Where do I start?

I would like to build my own Linux flavour. Where would be good places to start?   Cheers Dave