I am having what I think is the same problem with the latest kernel 2.6.15-26-386. Here is more information. It looks like similar hardware:
Everything was working well with my Ubuntu 6.06 computer until the upgrade containing the new 2.6.15-26-386 kernel was installed. The boot up starts normally until the login screen comes up. Normally there is a short drum sound when the login screen opens but now the drum sound keeps going and going and going. After that point the computer is unusably slow. If at the grub screen I load the 2.6.15-25-386 kernel everything is fine. Hardware: Motherboard Mach speed V4MDMP KM266 AMD Sempron 2200+ Processor 512 meg memory Spec Description ∗ Micro ATX form factor 4 layers PCB size: 24.4x22.0cm Design ∗ VIA KM400 Memory Graphic Host Chipset (V4MDM/V4MDM) Chipset ∗ VIA KM266Pro Memory Graphic Host Chipset (for V2MDMP) ∗ VIA VT8235 South Bridge ∗ Support 200/266/333MHz (100/133/166MHz) Front Side Bus Clock Generator Clock (CPU Bus clock) ∗ Support DDR200/266/333 system memory clock ∗ Support 33MHz PCI Bus clock ∗ Support AMD Athlon 600MHz∼1.4GHz processor CPU Socket ∗ Support AMD Athlon XP 1500+~3000+ processor ∗ Support AMD Duron 600MHz~1.3GHz processor ∗ Support 200/266/333MHz (100/133/166 MHz) CPU Bus clock ∗ Reserves support for future AMD Athlon/Duron processors ∗ 184-pin DDR DIMM socket x2 support Memory Socket DDR200/DDR266/DDR333 SDRAM ∗ Expandable to 2GB ∗ AGP slot x1 support AGP 3.0 & 8X mode (V4MDMP/V4MDM) Expansion Slot ∗ AGP slot x1 support AGP 2.0 & 4X mode (V2MDMP) ∗ 32-bit PCI slot x3 ∗ UniChrome graphic acceleration Integrate VGA ∗ VGA Memory share 16MB∼64MB from system memory ∗ 24-bit true-color RAMDAC up to 250MHz pixel rate ∗ Resolution up to 1920x1440 ∗ Two PCI IDE controllers support PCI Bus Mastering, ATA Integrate IDE PIO/DMA and the ULTRA DMA 66/100/133 functions that deliver the data transfer rate up to 133 MB/s ∗ VIA VT6103 LAN PHY support 10/100Mbps full duplex, half On board LAN duplex operation (V4MDM not support) ∗ AC’97 Digital Audio controller integrated Audio ∗ AC’97 Audio CODEC on board ∗ Audio driver and utility included ∗ Award 2MB Flash ROM BIOS ∗ PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors Multi I/O ∗ Parallel port x1 ∗ Serial port x2 (connector x1, Header x1) ∗ USB2.0 connector x2, USB2.0 headers x4 (cable option) ∗ Audio connector (Line-in, Line-out, MIC & Game Port) -- After installing the latest Linux kernel with Update Manager, Gnome start not normal. https://launchpad.net/bugs/52649 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs