Looks like memory corruption. These cases _tend_ to be due to APM: I'd
suggest people seeing this try to disable all APM features (both from the
BIOS setups and from Linux itself). I suspect that there are APM BIOS'es
out there that scribble over memory that Linux is using (they probably
"know" that the machine is running DOS/Windows and it uses the "standard"
DOS/Windows memory layout).
Note that you really need to check the BIOS too - even with the kernel
compiled without APM support you may have BIOS accesses through the so-called
"system management mode" on Pentium chips, which Linux doesn't even know
about.
Oh, btw, I haven't gone through all reports very carefully: I've been
reading mail for several hours, and I'm still only a third way through my
mailfolder that has accumulated during my trip to Argentina. As you may
guess, this means that most mails I have are not read very carefully.
Don't expect me to be up to full speed until next week..
Linus