Fun with LOADLIN
If a Linux kernel gets to be just slightly too large for LOADLIN.EXE to load (like, oh, if you're using the 2.4.21 + R*dh*t + MyCorporateMaster patched kernel), LOADLIN appears to cheerfully load it without complaint, only to leave you with a machine that locks up at decompression (or, possibly, one that crashes or locks up later on in the boot process.)
It only took me about 3 days (and about 9 cds) to figure this one out, and it will probably take me another day or so to figure out how to properly pass command lines to the LOADLIN replacement program I'm using (LINLD, which, regrettably, is somewhat lacking in the documentation department. But at least I've got the source, so after making my eyes bleed reading someone else's assembly language I may be able to construct command lines for boot with vga console vs. boot with serial console.)
Ugh. That's 24 hours of my life sacrificed to the bootstrap gods.