Serial port problems with kernel 2.0.36 SMP

[Dan Hugo]

Greetings--

I recently upraded my motherboard and installed Slink where I was using
Hamm before, so a number of things changed at once.  But:

I am attempting to run pilot-link stuff, as well as connect my UPS again
(best power fortress).  Both of these things worked with my old
motherboard (A Tyan PPro board) and kernel 2.0.34.

With 2.0.36 and this Asus P2B-D M/B, I do see the serial ports getting
init'ed at boot

bash$ dmesg
...
Serial driver version 4.13 with no serial options enabled
tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
tty01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
...

and the associated /dev/ttyS* files are also enumerated.  However,
attempting to run, for example

pilot-xfer /dev/ttyS0 -L

results in nothing happening, and attempting to connect to the UPS
results in a seg fault, followed by extremely chopping performance and
an error message printed into the ring buffer about kmalloc operations
and how an idle process that is running can't sleep (this is slightly
painful, but I can do this again and be more precise if this is
interesting, which I imagine it is...).

Anyway, I recall that setserial had problems with multiprocessor
machines, but I don't know if this is still true.  I also wonder if this
is unusual:

bash$ cat /proc/ioports
-001f : dma1
0020-003f : pic1
0040-005f : timer
0060-006f : keyboard
0070-007f : rtc
0080-008f : dma page reg
00a0-00bf : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : npu
0170-0177 : ide1
01f0-01f7 : ide0
0220-022f : sound blaster
0376-0376 : ide1
03c0-03df : vga+
03f0-03f5 : floppy
03f6-03f6 : ide0
03f7-03f7 : floppy DIR
d000-d01f : 3c905 Boomerang 100baseTx
d800-d807 : IDE DMA
d808-d80f : IDE DMA

No Serial ports!  I ran setserial manually to configure /dev/ttyS0 and
it appeared at 03F8 with a line like serial (set) above...
h.

Is this a configuration error on my part?  I do have serial port support
in the kernel (not a module), I read the serial HOWTO, but I am afraid I
am stuck.

Any info?

Thanks
Dan Hugo

ps this is the segfault info when I abort the connection attempt in
pilot-xfer /dev/ttyS0:

Code: 1Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address
c4025d98
current-tss.cr3 = 0333d000, %cr3 = 0333d000
*pde = 3067
*pte = 
Oops: 
CPU:1
EIP:0010:[0010b78c]
EFLAGS: 00010202
eax: 0010   ebx: 002b   ecx: 04025d98   edx: 034dba04
esi:    edi: 007ee000   ebp: 007edf68   esp: 007edf04
ds: 0018   es: 0018   fs: 0010   gs: 002b   ss: 0018
Process pilot-xfer (pid: 269, process nr: 14, stackpage=007ed000)
Stack: 001b002b 007edf68 00025000   047f 0480
0400 
   0018 0011682b 001bcdd0 007edf68  001164dc fff0
0010 
   001ffd10 008f292c 0246 00a17498 0048bc0c 001164dc 0010b309
007edf68 
Call Trace: [001b002b] [047f] [0480] [0400]
[0011682b] [001164dc] [001164dc] 
   [0010b309] [04025d98] [04025d98] [0011ee67] [0010aeab] 
Code: 64 8a 04 0e 0f a1 88 c2 81 e2 ff 00 00 00 89 54 24 10 52 68 
Aiee, killing interrupt handler

Re: Serial port problems with kernel 2.0.36 SMP

[mcclosk]

| I recently upraded my motherboard and installed Slink where I was
| using Hamm before, so a number of things changed at once.  But:
|
| I am attempting to run pilot-link stuff, as well as connect my UPS
| again (best power fortress).  Both of these things worked with my
| old motherboard (A Tyan PPro board) and kernel 2.0.34.
|
| With 2.0.36 and this Asus P2B-D M/B, I do see the serial ports
| getting init'ed at boot
|
| bash$ dmesg
| ...
| Serial driver version 4.13 with no serial options enabled
| tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
| tty01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
| ...
|
| and the associated /dev/ttyS* files are also enumerated.  However,
| attempting to run, for example
|
| pilot-xfer /dev/ttyS0 -L
|
| results in nothing happening, and attempting to connect to the UPS
| results in a seg fault, followed by extremely chopping performance
| and an error message printed into the ring buffer about kmalloc
| operations and how an idle process that is running can't sleep
| (this is slightly painful, but I can do this again and be more
| precise if this is interesting, which I imagine it is...).

I've had an identical problem with Slink and the 2.0.36 kernel on a
laptop trying to use a PCMCIA Fax/Modem card---identical
(non)-behaviour and identical error messages. I assumed it was a
problem with PCMCIA services and posted a request for help here and on
the PCMCIA message-list. No-one was able to diagnose the
problem. Judging by your message, though, it is not a PCMCIA problem
at all but something more general having to do with the handling of
serial ports. Weirder and weirder ...

If you get any advice or information, I'd appreciate your sharing it
with me,

Jim McCloskey