Stupid Mandrake 10...

I just did a completely fresh install of Mandrake 10 and it already has issues. It will freeze up whenever I try to configure hardware even though my system is not at all oced. Since I probably will have to do a fresh install I am going to go for Gentoo. Any help would be great.

That's what we're here for. Gentoo is tricky; just read all the docs and don't give up.

About how long would you say it takes to do a stage 1 Gentoo install?

A couple hours for the base install if you have no trouble. Plus a day or two of configuring and compiling for your GUI, sound, and programs. Odds are it will actually take more like a week or even several to get it all perfect.....