Mac Pro (Intel 5000x chipset) - Can't boot imaging - Zen 7 SP1

I've got a Mac Pro which is using the Intel 5000x chipset.
Dual 2.66 GHx Dual-Core Xeons (Xeon 5150 series)
Intel ESB2 AHCI SATA controller
Intel gigabit Ethernet embedded in chipset.

Anyway, If I boot the system using a Zen 7Sp1 bootcd.iso, select "manual
mode" imaging, it will start but never get past the splash screen.

If I change the boot from "silent" to "Native" or "Verbose" the boot gets
to:
Starting hardware detection...
> block.5: get sysfs block dev data

That's it. Doesn't do anything more.

My other Intel-based Macs are working fine with Zen 7 Sp1, just not these
new Mac Pro's.

Is this simply a case of the Zen 7 SP1 kernel not supporting this new
chipset? Are there boot options I can try?

If I open up an incident on this, will Novell even support and provide an
update to support this hardware? Is there already a HotPatch that supports
this chipset?

best,
Jeff