linux-kernel - Re: Problem activating multiple cores ONLY if I press any key before kernel is loaded

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Date:	Thu, 29 May 2008 21:33:29 -0700
From:	"S K" <nospamnoham@...il.com>
To:	"Robert Hancock" <hancockr@...w.ca>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Problem activating multiple cores ONLY if I press any key before kernel is loaded

Linus Walleij, Yes, I know there are config files in the kernel
source/rpm! What I don't know is, whethere it's only one config file?
What is/are the name(s) of the config file(s)? I want also to make
sure I don't edit any auto generated config file.

Robert, Yes, it's a USB keyboard. You could be right. I want to pin
point the cause though.

Thanks,
SK


On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Robert Hancock <hancockr@...w.ca> wrote:
> S K wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> This is 100% reproducible. I'm using a Shuttle SG33G5, Q9300 (45nm)
>> and Fedora 9 with kernel 2.6.25.3-18.fc9.i686.
>>
>> When the PC boots up, if I don't press any key till I see "Redhat nash
>> version..." everything works fine (well, good enough).
>>
>> But if I press a key during the boot and end up inside GRUB boot menu
>> and choose Linux (Linux is the default), the boot hangs after the line
>> "Booting the kernel." and before "Redhat nash..." is displayed.
>>
>> So I went into GRUB and removed the "quiet" kernel option to see
>> what's happening. I saw some errors (posted at end of email) and I
>> waited for a while (1-2 mins?) and the boot continued. But only one
>> core was activated. I saw several such thread on many websites and
>> most suggested "noapic" and "nolapic" and some also suggested
>> "acpi=off".
>>
>> If I added "noapic nolapic acpi=off" using the GRUB menu, the boots
>> succeeds 1 out of may be 5 times with all cores active.
>>
>> Just using "acpi=off" or just "noapic nolapic" didn't help -- it could
>> have been intermittent, but I didn't try these many times.
>>
>> I'm mailing LKML because the "fix" given in other websites is
>> intermittent and not always working.
>>
>> This is a new PC and I have my old one which is my primary PC till I
>> get the new one working fine. So I'm willing to do any kind of tests
>> on my new PC. This might be a good test oppurtunity for kernel
>> programmers.
>>
>> Please let me know if there is a known fix that work all the time or
>> if you are interested having your fix/patch tested on my PC.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> SK
>> P.S: Relevant output of dmesg follows.
>>
>> I see this in dmesg:
>> CPU 1 irqstacks, hard=c07ba000 soft=c079a000
>> Not responding.
>> Inquiring remote APIC #1...
>> .. APIC #1 ID: failed
>> .. APIC #1 VERSION: failed
>> .. APIC #1 SPIV: failed
>> CPU #1 not responding - cannot use it.
>
> Is this a USB keyboard? Might be that pressing keys before the kernel does
> the USB handoff from BIOS/SMI causes the BIOS to do something that screws
> things up..
>
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