Another data point.  

I put the cyrix cpu on a more modern motherboard and it boots fine.  That
blows my theory that the problem is with the cyrix and 2.4 kernel.  I was
thinking maybe some cyrix specific workarounds needed to be set in the
compile.

My new theory is there is a problem with the new kernel, (.config flags?)
and the motherboard chipset.  I am attempting to switch processors to see
if the problem goes away.

Any ideas?  Other suggestions?

If I bugzilla this problem what categories should I use?

Chuck Moss


On Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 01:02:06PM -0400, Chuck Moss wrote:
> I have a machine that I can't get to install or run redhat 7.1.
> 
> It is an old box with a cyrix 686 150Mhz processor.
> 
> When I attempt to install via cdrom or floppy the system reboots shortly
> after it says something about a compressed ramdisk.
> Before starting anaconda.
> I think a few more messages flash on the screen when I booted with defaults
> but when I booted with "export text noprobe ide=nodma" I think that was the
> last message.
> 
> This motherboard and CPU was running linux before (IDE). I think it was RH
> 6.2.
> 
> Vitals:
> 
> 64 MB ram
> adaptec 2940 SCSI v1.23 firmware
> 4 gb scsi drive
> scsi cdrom
> 2 mb s3 video
> chipset says something about TXpro
> 1997 BIOS.
> 
> Testing:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Memory, swapped out single 128MB dimm that failed memtest86.
> current memory passed 2+hours of testing.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> system - boots fine with linuxcare's Bootable Business Card 2.2.x kernel
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> moved scsi adapter and drive to another machine.  (500Mhz celery)
> install works fine.  system runs and boots cleanly.  
> move drives back to cyrix box and boot hangs after 
> "VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem)"
> I did this to boot on the cyrix box once or twice but can not recreate.
> It was intermittent when it worked.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> I appended ide=nodma in lilo.  still no go.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> installed latest i386 kernel from updates. doesn't work either.
> installed i386 2.4.5-10 from rawhide.  hangs very early in boot from either
> boot floppy or hard drive.
>  
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> video - swapped cards with another low end pci card.  Don't remember the
> chipset.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I think I even did one test with only ide cdrom, and video card in the box
> to isolate problem to adaptec.  Still just rebooted on install.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> CDs are good.  I have installed RH 7.1 20+ times with same CDs.  It worked
> on another box.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I was piecing this system together for a friend as his first linux box.
> 
> I hate to give up on the hardware that I know works.  It has already
> consumed more time than the hardware is worth but where would we be if all
> the linux developers gave up when in that situation. ;-)
> 
> 
> Any ideas what the problem is or possible solutions?
> 
> I was thinking dma on the ide cdrom but removed cdrom and disabled ide
> interfaces in bios showed no improvement.
> 
> Are the adaptec problems tied to the card/firmware or could it work in one
> system but not another?
> 
> Any known problems with old Cyrix processors?  
> 
> I searched bugzilla but did not find anything that seemed like a match.
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance for any ideas.
> 
> Chuck Moss
> 
> 
> 
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