]

Hi,
I sent this to the linux-kernel list, but forgot to CC you on it - so
here it is.

Dave
----- Forwarded message from "Dr. David Alan Gilbert" <[email protected]> -----

Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 15:21:56 +0000
To: [email protected]
User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.24i
From: "Dr. David Alan Gilbert" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Dual athlon XP 1800 problems

Quoted 9 lines · On Mon, Dec 31, 2001 at 06:12:16PM -0800, [email protected] wrote:

I am having problems with dual athlons and more than 512M RAM. I have compiled several kernels with either ATHLON, 1386, i686 support with the same affect, I get a kernel that will fail to boot properly. Sometimes I get a kernel panic that outs to kdb, sometimes I get a freeze, and sometimes I get failed to mount root partition, but never has this kernel successfully come up. I am quite certain it is not the memory or the system ( I can get windblows 2k to run successfully with upto 3.5G RAM).

Quoted 6 lines

Here is the configuration:

Tyan S2460
Dual Athlon XP 1800
512M DDR DIMMS (also used 128, 256, and 1G)
Western Digital 20G Drive

I have a similar system running fine. It has a Tyan S2460, a pair of Athlon MP 1800s, 512M (2x256) and a pair of IBM 60G drives.

I haven't seen any signs of kernel instability. However:

1) When I first got it I had the BIOS do some very odd things; at one point the CMOS got cleared and then everything worked from there on in. So a good CMOS clean could be in order. I had to use the Debian safe boot set prior to this.

2) Are you saying the problem only affects greater than 512M ? I only have the 512M so don't know - but it is probably worth booting with mem=512M as an option with more RAM in and see if it is stable.

3) The guys who put the machine together had lots of problems getting it stable; the type of RAM they used was critical; it was stable enough for them to boot NT and get it through a lot of tests before they hit problems.

4) COOL IT - these things generate tons of heat (mine run at 75degC normal operation). I have it in a big Supermicro 760 case with damn big fans on.

5) I bought Athlon MPs because I didn't want the hastle of knowing whether XPs would work or not. Now sure, it could be AMD just trying to squeeze some more money out of us; but it is entirely possible that
a) the chips could be different, b) that the critical timing path in
the device could be in the cache snooping/consistency stuff (that stuff is probably pretty hairy!). I mean there must be a reason why it took them a month and a half longer to release the Athlon MP 1.9GHz than the XP 1.9GHz.

6) I'm currently on 2.4.17 and have used most of the later 2.4.1x's on it.

Dave
---------------- Have a happy GNU millennium! ----------------------

/ Dr. David Alan Gilbert    | Running GNU/Linux on Alpha,68K| Happy  \
\ gro.gilbert @ treblig.org | MIPS,x86,ARM, SPARC and HP-PA | In Hex /
 \ _________________________|_____ http://www.treblig.org   |_______/

----- End forwarded message -----
---------------- Have a happy GNU millennium! ----------------------

/ Dr. David Alan Gilbert    | Running GNU/Linux on Alpha,68K| Happy  \
\ gro.gilbert @ treblig.org | MIPS,x86,ARM, SPARC and HP-PA | In Hex /
 \ _________________________|_____ http://www.treblig.org   |_______/