Bad EIP Value?

Ok-- so I've tried tirelessly to install 3 different distributions of linux- gentoo, ubuntu, tinysofa. And each time, I get the same error:

"unable to handle kernel null pointer deference at virtual address 00000011" (or something like that)
...
...
"Bad EIP value"- followed by a stack and call trace- and then at the end:

Kernel Panic: Fatal Exception
In idle tast - not syncing /dev/hda (* infinity\n)

I've done memtest86 on the RAM and it appears to fine. I've also tried installing with pnp both enabled and disabled. Its hooked up to a great power source too. The machine is a 750mhz AMD Duron k7 with 384mb RAM. I ran slackware on it for a year before deciding to try something new.

Any ideas on what the problem could be?

-thanks in advance for any help

I used to get the "Bad EIP Value" message if my joystick was plugged into the USB port while trying to install Slackware.........
I unplug the joystick and the disk booted up and all was well.......

Thanks for the reply.

The only things plugged in are the mouse, keyboard, ethernet cord and monitor.

Any ideas what bios settings would play a role for bad eip value? I'm leaning more towards a bios issue the more I see..

I've turned off all pci enhancing features including 'require pci pipelining' 'dynamic bursting' and 'p2c/c2p' (concurrency between cpu and pci) which seems to have helped a little, though I'm still getting the same error.

flamesrock: try disabling PNP (in your bios, or using "nobiospnp" as a kernel command line flag)

tried both, its a little more stable now after appending the option in lilo, I'm happy to report. unfortunately, its still not completely stable for a server.

One thing is that on startup, it displays something like 'serial port irq_with_many_serial_ports' or something like that. Is that normal?

Failure happens seems to happen when it checks 'module dependancies'. Another thing, if its any help, is that freeBSD returns a 'page fault' under similar conditions. A few people with similar motherboards have reported the same error..so maybe this is an incompatibility that can't be overcome...

Originally Posted by flamesrock Ok-- so I've tried tirelessly to install 3 different distributions of linux- gentoo, ubuntu, tinysofa. And each time, I get the same error: "unable to handle kernel null pointer deference at virtual address 00000011" (or something like that) ... ... "Bad EIP value"- followed by a stack and call trace- and then at the end: Kernel Panic: Fatal Exception In idle tast - not syncing /dev/hda (* infinity\n) I've done memtest86 on the RAM and it appears to fine. I've also tried installing with pnp both enabled and disabled. Its hooked up to a great power source too. The machine is a 750mhz AMD Duron k7 with 384mb RAM. I ran slackware on it for a year before deciding to try something new. Any ideas on what the problem could be? -thanks in advance for any help

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hey Have u solved yr problem with fatal exception and EIP value ?
I hv similar problem with my FC3 (2.6.9 xx) My problem always stopped at
'initialising network " area. I suspect its my onbod RTL8139too dev.
Sometimes I managed to boot successfully- only 10% of time, other time I keep on
rebooting and rebooting till my hairs drop off!.My linux box is P4-1.5G.
I changed my MB from P3 to P4 recently. It was working ok in my P3 MB before.
any feedbak from U will be apreciated.