Description of problem:The patch 2.6.9-acpi-reset-mechanism.patch erroneously writes over the FADT during startup causing the BIOS to reset itself on subsequent hard boot. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): kernel.2.6.9-42.0.2.EL How reproducible:On my dual boot pc I set the BIOS boot order to begin on the second hard drive. Steps to Reproduce: 1.Change BIOS to boot on second hard drive. Grub is installed on second drive. 2.Bootup on the kernel 9-42.0.2 and shutdown hard. (won't happen soft) 3.Try to start up again the same way. The BIOS program will self-correct a checksum error and not make it to Grub on the second drive. Actual results: The BIOS program self-corrects a checksum error and boots up on first hard drive. Expected results: The BIOS should take no action and bootup on second drive as originally set. Additional info: On the first boot with the BIOS changed to second drive, the program tbconvrt.c is throwing message "BIOS bug: Legacy-free FADT detected, but FADT size (129) is incorrect!"
Created attachment 147272 [details] dmesg
How did you come to the conclusion that the patch over-writes the ACPI FADT table? What machine is this specifically? Are you running the latest BIOS version?
I went looking for any file containing the text "BIOS bug: Legacy-free FADT detected, but FADT size (129) is incorrect!" and came up with the patch file. This message is the only difference I could see between when the issue happens and when it does not. Below is hardware info. dmesg is attached. >cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 15 model : 3 model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 3200.742 cache size : 1024 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 5 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pni monitor ds_cpl cid bogomips : 6403.91 The BIOS puts out a message "Default BIOS settings have been loaded due to BIOS update or checksum issue." This message is put up by an American Megatrends product (www.ami.com) Revision 3.21 (02/04/04). There is something about Core version 08.00.09 (AMIBIOS 8?). There was nothing available on their website that I could use to update BIOS. In their documentation they say the error message usually can be corrected by entering their setup program. (?). I'm willing to try most anything to help. The only time I get these messages and this behavior is when booting after booting the kernel I identified or later. No problems old kernel. No problems WinXP. Let me know what else I can provide. Thanks, I think you guys do great work.
Let me build you a test kernel without that patch for that specific version and see if the problem appear.
Try this kernel, pls: http://darnok.com/kernels/kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL_no_acpi_reset.i686.rpm or http://darnok.com/kernels/kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL_no_acpi_reset.x86_64.rpm
I tried the new kernel. At first it seemed to correct the problem. Then I tried a few more times with different way of powering off and now I can get the problem to happen on any kernel even Windows. (After powering off, I now press the power button on the pc chassis to discharge any capacitors.) I regret any of your time I may have wasted. Life is too short. It may be my motherboard battery...anyhow that's my problem... :-( Thank you for the trial kernel. Regards, Dave
Closing, not a bug.
Dave, No problem. Thanks for working on this and getting to the bottom of the problem.
Replacing the CMOS battery corrected the problem.