[NTLUG:Discuss] ubuntu 6.10 start up question

[C.Wesbrooks]

I am somewhat new to Ubuntu and I have an issue that I can not seem to
Google an answer. First, it does not seem to affect me running Ubuntu
6.10 on my IBM A31 Laptop that I just got (used). When I am watching the
start up screen and the line " Loading Hardware Drivers... " comes up it
says Failed. I have had no problems other than some times it seems to
lock up when browsing with Firefox. I think that has to do with the fact
that it only has 256MB of ram, and have ordered 512MB for it. (update:
got it and installed it.)

Is there some thing that I can do while it is starting up, with Grub, to
see what has failed? Is there some way to pull a file and look at the
Grub default kernel, (this is a second question) it is loading the i386
kernel and I have and wish to use the i686 kernel.

Thanks in Advance for any help or websites that will explain more.
Carlos