Real Time Clock driver hangs in 2.2.17

Real Time Clock driver hangs in 2.2.17

[s d]

I'm using an old Intel Pentium 90 mb -I think its "Plato". It's worked well 
as a gateway and file server for over two years.

When I boot 2.2.17, the machine always hangs at the Real Time Clock driver. 
Pressing any key gets it going, but this is a remote machine - which makes 
it a real pain.

Without a clue, I ve done the following:

I've put in a new cmos battery

I renamed /dev/rtc to dev/somethingelse ( a suggestion from a ng)

Same problem. Is there a way to fix this? rtc.txt doesn't say much. Can I do 
without it? If so, how do I compile the kernel without it?

thanks
jay
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