RE: Can't boot RH 7.2 or 9 SMP kernel on Netfinity 5500

["Gregg Brickner" <rgb rgb seanet com>]

Rick,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I tried 'noapic' and the boot still failed.  So
I checked and found a BIOS setting "Virtual Wire Mode" with choices "IOAPIC
Mode" (default) and "PIC Mode".  (I'm just assuming that has something to do
with this :-]) I tried all four combinations of those BIOS settings with
"kernel ..." and "kernel ... noapic".  Just for good measure, I tried all
these four combinations with the 586 RPM kernel as well as the 686 RPM
kernel.  No luck.

All the boots without "noapic" seemed to give the same error as below.

Other boots gave some variation of a kernel panic with traceback, or an
endlessly repeating "APIC error on CPU 0 something".

I'm beginning to wonder if it's even possible to get this working.  I did
find instructions on IBM's Web site about installing Redhat 6.2 with SMP
kernel on a Netfinity 5500, though.  Those instructions said to reset BIOS
to all default values.

Thanks again,

Gregg

-----Original Message-----
From: redhat-install-list-admin redhat com
[mailto:redhat-install-list-admin redhat com]On Behalf Of Rick Stevens
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 6:09 PM
To: redhat-install-list redhat com
Subject: Re: Can't boot RH 7.2 or 9 SMP kernel on Netfinity 5500


Gregg Brickner wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm at wits end.  I have an IBM Netfinity 5500 (8660-71X) with dual
> PIII/550s, 1 GB RAM, and a single 18.2 GB disk on the ServerRAID adapter.
I
> can boot the uniprocessor kernel for Redhat 7.2 and 9.0 just fine, however
I
> can't boot any SMP kernel I've tried so far.  The error ends with
something
> like
>
>   Kernel Panic
>   VFS:  Cannot open root device LABEL=/ or 00:00
>   Please append a correct root= boot option
>
> I've tried installing 7.2 with the kernel on the distribution CDs.  I've
> tried the same for RH 9.  I've upgraded the kernel RPM to 2.4.20-13.9, and
> tried both the 586 and 686 RPM.  I've tried putting "root=/dev/sda2" (or
> whatever, depending on the install) into grub.conf.  I've tried moving the
> disk around in the box and changing the ServerRAID configuration.  All
> attempts give the same error as above.
>
> The Netfinity BIOS is current with the version on IBM's Web site.  There
> *are* two processors installed :-)  Both PIIIs are enabled and pass the
> onboard diagnostics.  Any ideas?

Try adding "noapic" to the boot command.  If you're using grub, when
the menu shows up, hit "e" and use the arrow keys to scroll down to the
"kernel" line.  Hit "e" again and add "noapic" to the end of the line.
Hit "ENTER" and "b" to boot.  If the system comes up, then edit the
/boot/grub/grub.conf file and add the "noapic" to the end of the
"kernel" line and save the file.  The next boot will automatically add
the command.

If using lilo, just put "linux noapic" at the "boot:" prompt.  If it
works, edit the /etc/lilo.conf file and add a line:

	append="noapic"

to the stanza for the kernel you're booting.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens vitalstream com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-  Jimmie crack corn and I don't care...what kind of lousy attitude  -
-                 is THAT to have, huh?   -- Dennis Miller           -
----------------------------------------------------------------------


_______________________________________________
Redhat-install-list mailing list
Redhat-install-list redhat com
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-install-list
To Unsubscribe Go To ABOVE URL or send a message to:
redhat-install-list-request redhat com
Subject: unsubscribe