Description of Problem: After I install redhat 7.2, there will be kernel panics every time I try to boot into linux. These kernel panics will happen at random times during the boot process Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 2.4.9 How Reproducible: Every time after install Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install redhat 7.2 2. Boot into linux after install 3. Actual Results: Kernel Panic Expected Results: Normal boot into linux Additional Information:
Is this an athlon machine ?
Yes, this is an Athlon XP processor.
This looks like the athlon bios bug from 55040 then... could you look at that bug and see if the workaround ("noathlon") fixes your problem ?
Do I just type linux noathlon at lilo prompt? Also, I need to boot into console mode (runlevel 3), so should I just type linux 3 noathlon?
Yes. If that works I recommend upgrading to the 2.4.9-31 erratum kernel which has a workaround for the bios bug included.
Thanks a lot... the noathlon option seemed to work perfectly. I am going to upgrade to kernel 2.4.18. Do I still need the noathlon option, and if so what should I put in the lilo.conf file to make it permanent?
2.4.18 should have the same workaround; if not add append = "noathlon" in lilo.conf
Thanks, everything seems to be working now. What exactly is the athlon bug?
Some bioses leave the chipset in debug mode, and the chipset then "crashes" if there's too much load on the memory bus. "noathlon" disables the kernel's fast memcpy() implementation and therefore reducing the load the kernel puts on the memory bus.