Re: 2.4 kernel hangs on 486 machine at boot

[Brian Gerst]

Pavel Machek wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> 
> > > > Problem: Linux kernel 2.4 consistently hangs at boot on 486 machine
> > > >
> > > > Shortly after lilo starts the kernel it hangs at the following message:
> > > > Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode...
> > > > <blinking cursor>
> > >
> > > Does this happen on 2.4.3-ac kernel trees ? I thought i had it zapped
> >
> > Yes, that fix in -ac should take care of it.  As to why only the 486
> > showed the problem, most 386's will not fault on the write protected
> > page (the whole reason for this test) and pentiums and later don't run
> > the test at all (assumed good).
> 
> We should not "assume good" -- to catch bugs like this one.

Well, in this case we cannot do the test if we enabled PSE (we would
mark the whole 4MB page read-only).  The test would have to use a
different page.

--
						Brian Gerst