Latest working kernel version: none Earliest failing kernel version: 2.6.25.4-2 Distribution: openSUSE Hardware Environment: AMD ATI SB600 chipset on main board Software Environment: openSUSE 11.0 x64_86 or i386 Problem Description: system goes into black screen - no movement mode somewhen during the boot process. When booting with "nohz=off" everything works just fine. This holds true for x86_64 as well as for i386 kernels on x86_64 hardware and also for i386 kernels on i386 hardware. It is however not distribution dependent, one will run into the same problem using 2.6.24 or later kernels on e.g. ubuntu. Steps to reproduce: reboot the system without "nohz=off", it will get into a hanging state every time
I reassigned this to x86_64 - it's unclear why it was directed at serial ata. So nohz has never worked on that machine?
No, never worked, but if you google around you'll see there are plenty of issues around the AMD ATI SB600 chipset support in the current linux kernel. Just most users do not even know what their chipset is. From looking at their product name and description one can then from the vendor site deduct the common denominator: SB600. BTW I am getting vibes and waves that SB700 is not much better supported but I have no system myself for testing it on. The reason, why I directed it at serial ata is because I didn't find a better category (like my first wild guess). What happens before the system comes to a standstill are extremely! slow accesses both on IDE (CD-ROM) side and the serial ata side (hard disk) und this from the very beginning of the boot process.
But you could assign the bug to i386 as well, it's the same situation there.
(In reply to comment #2) > No, never worked, but if you google around you'll see there are plenty of > issues around the AMD ATI SB600 chipset support in the current linux kernel. >... Kernels <= 2.6.24 contained several bad bugs on SB600 and Google will likely find many people running into them, but 2.6.25 is much better. Please attach the output of "dmesg -s 1000000" when booting with nohz=off.
Created attachment 16260 [details] output of dmesg -s 1000000, gzipped as requested
Note, this was originally posted in Novell's bugzilla at https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=388583 I'll track this here for now until there is a resolution.
I don't see any obvious problem in the dmesg of the working kernel. Thomas, can you look at this bug?
Michael, can you please disable CONFIG_CPUIDLE in the kernel config ? Thanks, tglx
Don't take me for rude but my time schedule does not allow for making kernels. I did not even make the vanilla kernel we are talking about here. What I can offer (as I got virtually unlimited WAN bandwith in my office) is to download any kernel you would like me to test from whatever URL you provide me with. What also can do (within reason) try other boot parameters and report the effect. Sorry!
Just for completeness: download a kernel means either an RPM for opensuse 11.0 or a deb for ubuntu 8.04. Maybe Greg can let the Novell people build a CONFIG_CPUIDLE=n vanilla kernel, which I am going to test?
No, I can't provide such a kernel rpm package at the moment, due to travel and conferences right now. Can you just rebuild your kernel by hand?
I'm pretty sure this is no longer relevant, because I have seen at least 5 different mainboards with SB600 running lastest distributions without problems, and there was no need to disable anything.