[ltp] GPF installing 8.1 on a T21

[Ben Burns]

Hi again,

Well, I should reply to my earlier message so that anyone searching the
archives in the future can see what this type of problem indicates.

The Problem:
The laptop I had obtained was given a memory boost from 256Mb to 512Mb.
However, while putting the memory in, something broke.  It turns out that
there was a memory error.  Whenever it would get to a certain stage in the
install it would run into the bad memory and fall over, with the error
below.

The Solution:
The first thing I did was decide that instead of expecting everything to
work the first time, I realised that I had to assume a minimal installation.
This meant that instead of giving it the full 12Gig of Hard Drive I would
only use 4Gig, instead of 512Meg of Ram, I only let it use 128Meg.  So,
after the install screen came up, instead of pressing enter I typed:
  linux mem=128MB <enter>
This causes linux to only use the first 128MB, luckily the memory problem
wasn't in the first 128MB, I guess if it was, I could have used 64MB, or
even 32MB, depending upon how much the installation requires.

Although, in the end, there wasn't a disk problem, I chose custom
partitioning, cleared the partitions and chose auto allocate (This is
Mandrake 8.0), and then deleted the /home partition.  This meant there was
only one, 4 Gig, partition, minimizing the chance of disk errors affecting
the install.

Once installed and in console mode, I installed memtest86.  This comes as an
RPM and installs itself in LILO, such that a memory test is available in the
boot menu.  I used:
  urpmi --auto memtest
to install the rpm, using the urpmi packaging tool.  Its good at hunting
down dependencies.  Rebooting and selecting memtest86 from the lilo menu
showed the memory errors quite clearly.

I have now replaced the memory and everything works fine.

Thanks,
Ben

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-linux-thinkpad@bm-soft.com
[mailto:owner-linux-thinkpad@bm-soft.com]On Behalf Of Ben Burns
Sent: 10 August 2001 12:31
To: Linux Thinkpad
Subject: [ltp] GPF installing 8.1 on a T21


Hi people,

I have an IBM Thinkpad T21 and am trying to run a network install of
Mandrake cooker.  I also get this problem with 8.0 from a CD.  I run the
recommended install, and choose, erase entire disk at the disk partitioning
section.  It always fails formatting /dev/hda6 - this is the default /home
partition.  Just before it does this, I swap to the progress screen and this
is the output I get.

---------- Start Output ---------------
* callling mount(/dev/hda1, /mnt, ext2, -1058209792, )
* formatting device hda6 (type Linux native)
* runnning: mke2fs /dev/hda6
general protection fault: 0000
CPU:    0
@IP:    0010:[<c0223064>]
EFLAGS: 00010282
eax: c0223054   ebx: df4d2d50   ecx: c0223054   edx: c022305c
esi: c0223064   edi: 000000f7   ebp: 00000046   esp: dc73fc54
ds: 0018   es: 0018   ss: 0018
Process mke2fs (pid: 77, stackpage=dc73f000)
Stack: c011825f df4d2d50 00000000 00000000 c0221b10 00000046 20000001
c01151e0
       c011510f 00000000 c0221da0 00000001 fffffffe c0114f2d c0221da0
c01e8b54
       c0211900 00000000 dc73fcb0 c010823a c165fb48 d7ff8e70 00000001
00000400
Call Trace: [<c011825f>] [<c01151e0>] [<pc011510f>] [<c0114f2d>]
[<c010823a>]
   [<c010a26e>] [<c012efaa>] [<c012d090>] [<c012d496>] [<c0131d90>]
[<c013f52e>]
   [<c014a13c>] [<c014a386>] [<c014a869>] [<c0127058>] [<c0127003>]
[<c011dc4f>]
   [<c011e281>] [<c012e685>] [<c0122721>] [<c01227ae>] [<c012b86b>]
[<c012b9cc>]
   [<c0106eab>]

Code: 64 30 22 c0 64 20 11 c0 0c 31 1f c0 50 2d 4d df 74 30 22 c0
 <0>Kernel panic: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!
In interrupt handler - not syncing
---------- End Output ---------------

I don't know how much of this is useful, but i thought I'd send it all
incase any of it was useful.

I've successfully installed the same version on an IBM T20, with pretty much
identical hardware and bios setup.  I've disabled the PCI Power management
in the BIOS, and tried it with a new HDD, incase HDD errors were causing
this problem.  Anyone else seen behaviour like this? It is entirely
repeatable.

Regards,
Ben


Ben Burns



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