PCI hardware problem/booting large compiled kernels from a..

rondfaux · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 4

Hello group,

I am unable to install / boot FC (or any other distribution) on my
laptop - it hangs during PCI probing with messages about IRQ sharing.
I know the problem is related to PCI because when I boot the kernel
with PCI=off option, but if I do that, I do not have the PCI subsystem
anymore. My goal is to troubleshoot this one particular device which I
think is causing a problem and then patch the PCI driver (perhaps even
disable the erring device altogether in the driver itself).

In order to troubleshoot this, I compiled a custom kernel with PCI
debug options enabled. I want to boot it off a bootable CD and look at
the PCI debug messages. The problem is that the bzImage file is rather
big ~ 4MB (this is already compressed, as you understand), so it won't
fit a boot image on a CDROM.

I did quite a bit of googling today trying to figure out what to put on
the CD-ROM's boot image with grub so that I can boot my custom kernel
from a regular CDROM file system (I think it is ISO9660). Alas, I found
no simple answers.

Any thoughts about solving either problem are highly appreciated.

Thanks.

J.O. Aho · External Since: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 2216

rondfaux DeleteThis @hotmail.com wrote:
> Hello group,
>
> I am unable to install / boot FC (or any other distribution) on my
> laptop - it hangs during PCI probing with messages about IRQ sharing.
> I know the problem is related to PCI because when I boot the kernel
> with PCI=off option, but if I do that, I do not have the PCI subsystem
> anymore. My goal is to troubleshoot this one particular device which I
> think is causing a problem and then patch the PCI driver (perhaps even
> disable the erring device altogether in the driver itself).

Are you really sure it's a pci device? Laptops don't have much of that kind. I
would suggest you tried with 'noapic' and you can also try 'noprobe', you
should be able to enable things after bootup.

If you are using a Compaq or one with Radeon IGP chipset, you may need to use
the option 'nomce'

> In order to troubleshoot this, I compiled a custom kernel with PCI
> debug options enabled. I want to boot it off a bootable CD and look at
> the PCI debug messages. The problem is that the bzImage file is rather
> big ~ 4MB (this is already compressed, as you understand), so it won't
> fit a boot image on a CDROM.

Why not remove everything you don't need from the kernel, I have a lot smaller
ones even if I have included almost everything that I need for my hardware
into the kernel.

> I did quite a bit of googling today trying to figure out what to put on
> the CD-ROM's boot image with grub so that I can boot my custom kernel
> from a regular CDROM file system (I think it is ISO9660). Alas, I found
> no simple answers.

Check your /boot/grub and see which stage1_5 files you have, for cdrom support
you need iso9660_stage1_5, you will need to add your cdrom to the
/boot/grub/device.map and give it an grub device name, then after that edit
your grub.conf, adding the lines for booting of the CD, just use the device
name you gave it instead of the hd0 you see on the default kernel.

--

//Aho

rondfaux · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 4

Thanks for you reply!!!

J.O. Aho wrote:
> rondfaux DeleteThis @hotmail.com wrote:
> > Hello group,
> >
> > I am unable to install / boot FC (or any other distribution) on my
> > laptop - it hangs during PCI probing with messages about IRQ sharing.
> > I know the problem is related to PCI because when I boot the kernel
> > with PCI=off option, but if I do that, I do not have the PCI subsystem
> > anymore. My goal is to troubleshoot this one particular device which I
> > think is causing a problem and then patch the PCI driver (perhaps even
> > disable the erring device altogether in the driver itself).
>
> Are you really sure it's a pci device? Laptops don't have much of that kind. I
> would suggest you tried with 'noapic' and you can also try 'noprobe', you
> should be able to enable things after bootup.
>
Devices use PCI bus to communicate with CPU(s); it does not matter
whether it is a laptop or a desktop. Some PCI devices on a desktop are
some sort of external card that you plug into a PCI slot; others are
built into a motherboard, but they are still PCI devices.

I tried all these options suggested by you (noprobe, noapic, acpi=off,
etc.), but the boot process hangs when -- I believe -- the resources
are assigned to a PCI device. The last message that I see in a log
states "PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 0000:00:xx.x ... Sharing IRQ with
devices... " The most probable suspect is the docking station, which is
usually a PCI bridge. I can live without it, but I cannot disable it in
BIOS setup, so I was thinking along the lines of patching a PCI kernel
driver.

> If you are using a Compaq or one with Radeon IGP chipset, you may need to use
> the option 'nomce'
>
Yes, tried that, unsuccessfully. The laptop is actually an old gateway,
but I forgot what model it is. I am wondering if it is worth the effort
Smile

>
> > In order to troubleshoot this, I compiled a custom kernel with PCI
> > debug options enabled. I want to boot it off a bootable CD and look at
> > the PCI debug messages. The problem is that the bzImage file is rather
> > big ~ 4MB (this is already compressed, as you understand), so it won't
> > fit a boot image on a CDROM.
>
> Why not remove everything you don't need from the kernel, I have a lot smaller
> ones even if I have included almost everything that I need for my hardware
> into the kernel.
>
Actually, I built the kernel (it is 2.6.1 Cool

with a debug option on and
everything else I knew I didn't need off. The debug option is what
makes the kernel so big; the other kernels that I use (debug = off) are
tiny.

>
> > I did quite a bit of googling today trying to figure out what to put on
> > the CD-ROM's boot image with grub so that I can boot my custom kernel
> > from a regular CDROM file system (I think it is ISO9660). Alas, I found
> > no simple answers.
>
> Check your /boot/grub and see which stage1_5 files you have, for cdrom support
> you need iso9660_stage1_5, you will need to add your cdrom to the
> /boot/grub/device.map and give it an grub device name, then after that edit
> your grub.conf, adding the lines for booting of the CD, just use the device
> name you gave it instead of the hd0 you see on the default kernel.
>
Thanks a lot for this! It makes sense; I will give it a try.

~Rondfaux
>
>
> --
>
> //Aho

rondfaux · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 4

Update:

Was able to use the CD ROM support by iso9660_stage1_5 and boot the
compiled kernel. The messages produced by the debug kernel helped to
narrow down the problem to a function call in PCI.C. However, I have no
time for this right now.

For now, I yanked the Xircom ethernet adapter from the mini-PCI bus,
and the laptop booted. Instead, I am using a PCMCIA ethernet adapter
which works fine.

~Rondfaux

rondfaux DeleteThis @hotmail.com wrote:
> Thanks for you reply!!!
>
> J.O. Aho wrote:
> > rondfaux DeleteThis @hotmail.com wrote:
> > > Hello group,
> > >
> > > I am unable to install / boot FC (or any other distribution) on my
> > > laptop - it hangs during PCI probing with messages about IRQ sharing.
> > > I know the problem is related to PCI because when I boot the kernel
> > > with PCI=off option, but if I do that, I do not have the PCI subsystem
> > > anymore. My goal is to troubleshoot this one particular device which I
> > > think is causing a problem and then patch the PCI driver (perhaps even
> > > disable the erring device altogether in the driver itself).
> >
> > Are you really sure it's a pci device? Laptops don't have much of that kind. I
> > would suggest you tried with 'noapic' and you can also try 'noprobe', you
> > should be able to enable things after bootup.
> >
> Devices use PCI bus to communicate with CPU(s); it does not matter
> whether it is a laptop or a desktop. Some PCI devices on a desktop are
> some sort of external card that you plug into a PCI slot; others are
> built into a motherboard, but they are still PCI devices.
>
> I tried all these options suggested by you (noprobe, noapic, acpi=off,
> etc.), but the boot process hangs when -- I believe -- the resources
> are assigned to a PCI device. The last message that I see in a log
> states "PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 0000:00:xx.x ... Sharing IRQ with
> devices... " The most probable suspect is the docking station, which is
> usually a PCI bridge. I can live without it, but I cannot disable it in
> BIOS setup, so I was thinking along the lines of patching a PCI kernel
> driver.
>
> > If you are using a Compaq or one with Radeon IGP chipset, you may need to use
> > the option 'nomce'
> >
> Yes, tried that, unsuccessfully. The laptop is actually an old gateway,
> but I forgot what model it is. I am wondering if it is worth the effort
> Smile

>
> >
> > > In order to troubleshoot this, I compiled a custom kernel with PCI
> > > debug options enabled. I want to boot it off a bootable CD and look at
> > > the PCI debug messages. The problem is that the bzImage file is rather
> > > big ~ 4MB (this is already compressed, as you understand), so it won't
> > > fit a boot image on a CDROM.
> >
> > Why not remove everything you don't need from the kernel, I have a lot smaller
> > ones even if I have included almost everything that I need for my hardware
> > into the kernel.
> >
> Actually, I built the kernel (it is 2.6.1 Cool

with a debug option on and
> everything else I knew I didn't need off. The debug option is what
> makes the kernel so big; the other kernels that I use (debug = off) are
> tiny.
>
> >
> > > I did quite a bit of googling today trying to figure out what to put on
> > > the CD-ROM's boot image with grub so that I can boot my custom kernel
> > > from a regular CDROM file system (I think it is ISO9660). Alas, I found
> > > no simple answers.
> >
> > Check your /boot/grub and see which stage1_5 files you have, for cdrom support
> > you need iso9660_stage1_5, you will need to add your cdrom to the
> > /boot/grub/device.map and give it an grub device name, then after that edit
> > your grub.conf, adding the lines for booting of the CD, just use the device
> > name you gave it instead of the hd0 you see on the default kernel.
> >
> Thanks a lot for this! It makes sense; I will give it a try.
>
> ~Rondfaux
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > //Aho