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Problem with k7 optimizations in 2.4.x?

DISCUSSION Moses Mcknight 3 participants 6 messages Apr 13, 2001 – Apr 15, 2001

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#0 lore raw

Hi,

I don't know if this is a problem with my hardware setup or config
settings or what, but whenever I try to run a 2.4.x kernel on my machine with k7 optimizations the computer will never fully boot and seems to give random errors about being "unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address xxxxxxxx" and other errors.
This has happened with the debian 2.4.2 package and my own
compilings of 2.4.3, 2.4.3-ac4, and 2.4.3-ac5. If I compile it with 586 optimizations it works fine.
My hardware is as follows: Athlon/Thunderbird 850 Mhz CPU,
Iwill KK266 Mobo. (uses VIA kt133a chipset and 686b southbridge) with the latest BIOS update from fullon3d.com which is supposed to fix the data corruption problem, 256 MB SDRAM and IBM DTLA-307060 HD.

Thanks for any info/help.
Moses

#1 lore raw

Several of us on the list had the same/similar problems. AFAIK the only fix at this point is to run w/ no more than K6 optimizations.

Check the archives for
-> Only 10 MB/sec with via 82c686b (towards the end of the thread) -> thunderbird 1.2G + kk266 + 2.4.x oops

It seems to be something wierd with the way memory is handled on the iwill board.

On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Moses Mcknight did have cause to say:

Quoted 15 lines

Hi,

I don't know if this is a problem with my hardware setup or config
settings or what, but whenever I try to run a 2.4.x kernel on my machine with k7 optimizations the computer will never fully boot and seems to give random errors about being "unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address xxxxxxxx" and other errors.
This has happened with the debian 2.4.2 package and my own
compilings of 2.4.3, 2.4.3-ac4, and 2.4.3-ac5. If I compile it with 586 optimizations it works fine.
My hardware is as follows: Athlon/Thunderbird 850 Mhz CPU,
Iwill KK266 Mobo. (uses VIA kt133a chipset and 686b southbridge) with the latest BIOS update from fullon3d.com which is supposed to fix the data corruption problem, 256 MB SDRAM and IBM DTLA-307060 HD.

Quoted 8 lines

Thanks for any info/help.
Moses

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#2 lore raw
In reply to Moses Mcknight
Quoted 4 lines

settings or what, but whenever I try to run a 2.4.x kernel on my machine with k7 optimizations the computer will never fully boot and seems to give random errors about being "unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address xxxxxxxx" and other errors.

I run the K7 optimisations in 2.4.x-ac built with gcc 2.96-69 or later with no problems. I've not tested them with egcs-1.1.2. The earlier 2.4.* had problems on later Athlons which have both fxsave and movntq/sfence. That was fixed a while back tho

#3 lore raw
In reply to Moses Mcknight

On the iwill mobo? (I haven't heard of this problem on other motherboards.)

I'll grab the latest -ac today and give it a try this evening.

(Just for reference, the system is the Iwill kk266, 1.2G tbird, 512M pc133, ata66 drive - everything has AMD-approved stickers and nothing is overclocked.)

On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Alan Cox did have cause to say:

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 4 lines

settings or what, but whenever I try to run a 2.4.x kernel on my machine with k7 optimizations the computer will never fully boot and seems to give random errors about being "unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address xxxxxxxx" and other errors.

I run the K7 optimisations in 2.4.x-ac built with gcc 2.96-69 or later with no problems. I've not tested them with egcs-1.1.2. The earlier 2.4.* had problems on later Athlons which have both fxsave and movntq/sfence. That was fixed a while back tho

Quoted 5 lines

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|     [email protected]    | And Remember...
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-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1 [www.ebb.org/ungeek]
GIT/CC/CM/AT d--(-)@ s+:-- a-->? C++++$ ULBS*++++$ P+>+++ L++++>+++++ E--- W+++ N+@ o+>$ K? w--->+++++ O- M V-- PS+() PE Y+@ PGP++() t 5--- X-- R tv+@ b++++>$ DI++++ D++(+++) G++ e* h(-)* r++ y++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

#4 lore raw
Quoted 2 lines

On the iwill mobo? (I haven't heard of this problem on other motherboards.)

Im not using an Iwill board. I'm using an AMD751/756 based board and an old 'Uncle Fester' reference board.

#5 lore raw
In reply to Disconnect

Blew sky high. Booted stock 2.4.3-ac3, K7 optimizations, init=/bin/sh. First time it went fine for quite some time (10-15 mins, find / -print, etc) and then locked up hard on "open". Second time, it oops'd before hardlocking (which I copied out by hand.) The oops and decode are attached.

On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Alan Cox did have cause to say:

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 2 lines

On the iwill mobo? (I haven't heard of this problem on other motherboards.)

Im not using an Iwill board. I'm using an AMD751/756 based board and an old 'Uncle Fester' reference board.

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_.-=<Disconnect>=-._

|     [email protected]    | And Remember...
\  [email protected]  / He who controls Purple controls the Universe..
 PGP Key given on Request  Or at least the Purple parts!

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1 [www.ebb.org/ungeek]
GIT/CC/CM/AT d--(-)@ s+:-- a-->? C++++$ ULBS*++++$ P+>+++ L++++>+++++ E--- W+++ N+@ o+>$ K? w--->+++++ O- M V-- PS+() PE Y+@ PGP++() t 5--- X-- R tv+@ b++++>$ DI++++ D++(+++) G++ e* h(-)* r++ y++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

ksymoops 2.3.7 on i686 2.4.3. Options used
-v vmlinux (specified)
-K (specified)
-L (specified)
-O (specified)
-m System.map (specified)
-1

EIP: c023873a

Call Trace: [<c0238847>] [<c0121295>] [<c0121a3b>] [<c0110d18>] [<c0110bc0>] [<c011be74>] [<c011ce4a>] [<c011d1f5>] [<c010714c>]
Code: 0f 6f 03 0f e7 06 0f 6f 4b 08 0f e7 4e 08 0f 6f 53 10 0f e7

Using defaults from ksymoops -t elf32-i386 -a i386

Trace; c0238847 <mmx_copy_page+37/40>
Trace; c0121295 <do_wp_page+1c5/230>
Trace; c0121a3b <handle_mm_fault+9b/d0>
Trace; c0110d18 <do_page_fault+158/440>
Trace; c0110bc0 <do_page_fault+0/440>
Trace; c011be74 <rm_sig_from_queue+14/20>
Trace; c011ce4a <do_sigaction+ba/120>
Trace; c011d1f5 <sys_rt_sigaction+75/d0>
Trace; c010714c <error_code+34/3c>
Code; 00000000 Before first symbol
00000000 <_EIP>:
Code; 00000000 Before first symbol
0: 0f 6f 03 movq (%ebx),%mm0
Code; 00000003 Before first symbol
3: 0f e7 06 movntq %mm0,(%esi)
Code; 00000006 Before first symbol
6: 0f 6f 4b 08 movq 0x8(%ebx),%mm1
Code; 0000000a Before first symbol
a: 0f e7 4e 08 movntq %mm1,0x8(%esi)
Code; 0000000e Before first symbol
e: 0f 6f 53 10 movq 0x10(%ebx),%mm2
Code; 00000012 Before first symbol
12: 0f e7 00 movntq %mm0,(%eax)

null pointer defref 00000000
EIP: c023873a
pgd entry d9040000 - 00000000
pmd entry d9040000 - 00000000
pmd not present!

Call Trace: [<c0238847>] [<c0121295>] [<c0121a3b>] [<c0110d18>] [<c0110bc0>] [<c011be74>] [<c011ce4a>] [<c011d1f5>] [<c010714c>]
Code: 0f 6f 03 0f e7 06 0f 6f 4b 08 0f e7 4e 08 0f 6f 53 10 0f e7