Then maybe you could try with an earlier 1.4
I remember having some trouble with the 1.4rc2 on a Dual PIII-800
The problem was SMP related but 1.4rc1 worked.
As you know it does not matter which version you boot from because you'll bring your system up to date anyway during emerge.
Actually you could also boot from a tombsrtbt boot disk instead of from the CD and process from there following the
alternative install guide at http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml
It worked for me on an old P100 without any bootable cd-rom
Maybe the kernel you boot from on the CD has problems with your hardware.

HTH
Xavier

[T.L.G.] Stormtrooper wrote:
> Hi Xavier,
>
> I just tried and dl'ed a new ISO (from another mirror), stuffed it on a
> CD-RW, same problem....
>
> "Xavier" <gentoo@xavierneys.com> wrote in message
> news:3f048a97$0$49104$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
>
>>[T.L.G.] Stormtrooper wrote:
>>
>>>Have been running Gentoo before on my older system, but now I wanna
>
> install
>
>>>using the gentoo-basic-x86-1.4_rc4 ISO on the following system:
>>>
>>>Gigabyte 6VXDC7 mainboard
>>>Dual Intel PIII 1Ghz
>>>3x256Mb PC133 DIMM
>>>Creative Geforce 256 Pro 32Mb.
>>>3Com 3C905C-TX-M
>>>Samsung 32speed ATA CD-Rom
>>>Maxtor 13Gb ATA HDD
>>>
>>>nothing really special, but I cannot run the installation routine.
>
> Constant
>
>>>Kernel Panics.
>>>
>>>After having detected most of the hardware, I get the following (parts
>
> of
>
>>>the screen):
>>>
>>>Using /modules/cloop.o
>>>---- Copying and symlinking files from CD to populate /
>>>cp: etc: Input/output error
>>>---- Switching to tmpfs root filesystem
>>>cloop: error -3 uncompressing block 1382 65536/65527/26705/0
>>>22051689-22078394
>>>end_request: I/O error, dev f0:00 (cloop), sector 176998
>>>
>>>The last 2 lines repeat about 3 times with other values. Then the
>
> following:
>
>>>exec: chroot: No such file or directory
>>>Kernel Panic: attempted to kill init!
>>>
>>>And then it all stops...
>>>
>>>What should I do?
>>>
>>
>>Check the MD5SUM of your iso image file and your CD
>>
>>c02beb8f4ac6a71621921156301bb7ca gentoo-basic-x86-1.4_rc4.iso
>>
>>It looks like either your downloaded file is corrupted or you burnt a
>
> coaster.
>
>>
>>HTH,
>>Xavier
>>
>
>
>