linux-kernel - Re: 2.6.31: booting on a PIII Celeron?

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Date:	Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:34:08 +0400
From:	Michael Tokarev <mjt@....msk.ru>
To:	Pavel Machek <pavel@....cz>
CC:	Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: 2.6.31: booting on a PIII Celeron?

Pavel Machek wrote:
>> Michael Tokarev wrote:
>>> Hello.
>>> I've a problem here with 2.6.31.  kernel is
>>> compiled for PIII:
>>>
>>> CONFIG_MPENTIUMIII=y
>>> CONFIG_X86_GENERIC=y
>>>
>>> This kernel works on real PIII machine - like this:
>>>
>>> vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
>>> cpu family    : 6
>>> model        : 8
>>> model name    : Pentium III (Coppermine)
>>> stepping    : 10
>>> cpu MHz        : 997.580
>>>
>>> But it fails on a Celeron:
>>>
>>> vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
>>> cpu family    : 6
>>> model        : 8
>>> model name    : Celeron (Coppermine)
>>> stepping    : 6
>>> cpu MHz        : 797.481
>>>
>> There's one more difference between the two:
>>
>> PIII, working:
>> flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 
>> mmx fxsr sse up
>> Celeron, !working:
>> flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 mmx 
>> fxsr sse up
>>
>> So the celeron machine lacks "apic" flag.  And in my
>> kernel config, apic is enabled:
>>  CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=y
>>  CONFIG_X86_IO_APIC=y
>> (but not on the command line like apic=force)
> try 'noapic nolapic' to see if it helps?

Neither (nor both) changes anything.  It just reboots
instantly right after "Loading initrd..." message from
the bootloader.

Ok, one more thing to mention.  2.6.31 introduced a
somewhat annoying feature, -- the screen (console)
blinks at the very start of the boot process (I mean
text mode, no any framebuffers or the like).  Here,
the screen blinks as usual for .31, I can see everything
back including that "Loading initrd" line, and only
after this the system reboots.  No more messages
gets printed, including "kernel command line:",
"Initializing cgroup subsys" or "Linux version ...".
I switched CPU clock to 200MHz (minimum clock rate
this motherboard supports using jumpers) and I can
see the whole thing like in slow motion.

Config is attached.  As mentioned before, it's a
config which I use for quite some time, basically
unchanged since 2.6.18 or so (except for the new
or changed options).  It worked with every kernel
release so far, -- this is my office work machine
and I use it to test all new kernels before using
them anywhere else.

Thanks!

/mjt

View attachment "config-2.6.31-i686" of type "text/plain" (77435 bytes)