[LinuxBIOS] Kernel crash output

[Russell Whitaker]

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006, Eric Poulsen wrote:

> Peter Stuge wrote:
>> On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 09:02:12AM -0700, Eric Poulsen wrote:
>>
>>> As usual, flipping to the factory BIOS, seeing the "corrupt CMOS"
>>> message, and re-writing the CMOS fixed the issue.
>>>
>>
>> Are you sure this is actually the case, as opposed to "after
>> rebooting with the factory BIOS the system does not crash immediately
>> on the next boot with LinuxBIOS" - they are quite different.
>>
> I'm not sure I fully understand your definition / distinction.  Here are
> some options:
>
> 1) Use factory BIOS, re-save CMOS, Boot OS, Reboot later using LB
> 2) Use factory BIOS, NOT re-save CMOS, Boot OS, Reboot later using LB
> 3) Use factory BIOS, re-save CMOS, powerdown, boot use LB
> 4) Use factory BIOS, NOT re-save CMOS, powerdown, boot use LB
> 5) Other ?
>
> "re-save CMOS" means entering BIOS menu and choosing "save changes and exit"
>
> When I have the crash problem, I have been using option #3.  I'm not
> sure if that answers your question =)
>
> If the "using defaults" message from the Factory BIOS does NOT re-write
> the CMOS, I suspect that #2 and #4 WON'T fix the problem.  I'm fairly
> certain that #1 fixes the issue.
>
> Actually booting the OS after the CMOS reset doesn't seem to be necessary.
>
>>
>>> I immediately flipped back to LB, and it worked as expected.
>>>
>>
>> Worked reliably or did not crash while you were looking?
>>
> The crash _always_ occurs during initial kernel execution, before 'init'
> starts.  It never crashes once it fully boots.  I'm not sure what
> "reliably" vs "while looking" means.  Once it goes into 'crash mode', it
> never fully boots.
>> Can you reliably reproduce the crash? If not there's no way to tell
>> if the problem has been fixed or merely isn't manifesting itself at
>> that particular point in time.
>>
>> Does just rebooting with LinuxBIOS produce different results than
>> factory(resetCMOS)->LinuxBIOS?
>>
> Rebooting with LB crashes every time, until I reset the CMOS with the
> Factory BIOS.  This is why I think it might be a CMOS issue -- the
> crashing seems stateful.
>> I second Richard on running memtest86, RAM problems can cause all
>> sorts of funny things.
>>
> I'll hit the ram test ASAP.  I've had other weird issues, such as the
> kernel taking a REALLY LONG time to initialize stuff.  This is new RAM,
> so hopefully still under warranty.
>>
[..]
You might try replacing the CMOS battery. If its voltage is a little low
it would cause the CMOS to loose a bit or two over time.

   Russ