Hi all

I'm using an old ASUS P55TVP4 with the intel 430VX chipset for Gentoo Linux with the 2.4 kernel. I've got a 1gb Quantum Fireball HDD with Gentoo loaded up on it and working (verified that in a different machine). The HDD itself works with the system in question (verified that before loading Linux), BUT when I stick the HDD into the old 430VX sys, here's what happens:
Normal BIOS screens
LILO appears
(I select the Linux boot option)
Loading Linux ...................................................................
Some words that come up too fast to read


REBOOT

How do I get my 430VX based mobo to be supported in Linux? Kernel patch, kernel module, BIOS flash?

Put that HD into the other machine.
Boot.
Go into your /var/log/messages file and track down the boot messages for the vx board. You should see where the 'problem' is.

There is probably an easier way.

You could also use a 'emergency boot disk', http://www.toms.net/rb/ and mount the HD and read the same file to check out what's happening when you boot the vx430. It will probably be under /mnt/...something/var/log/messages.

You should have some knowledge of your HD partitions, if any are on the 1GB drive


If someone has an easier way, jump right in, as I'm not good at feeding GRUB/LILO boot time changes.

Alright, I've checked into /var/log and I don't have a file named messages - although I did install a system logger and it _should_ be running (did an rc-update add logger default). The only files there were lastlog (empty) and wtmp, which was either a binary file or horribly corrupted ASCII file. So the log isn't revealing anything atm - anybody care to step in with some lines to feed LILO (the bootloader of the moment for this box)?

How did you read the HD?

I'm using a 2.4.20 FD boot disk to look through the HDD - ofc, the ironic thing is the older kernel that fits on a floppy is booting up on that box while the HDD kernel (2.4.22 I think, using openMosix sources) isn't

Now, that should tell you something and I'm going to let you make the next logical leap...

Which would be that the openMosix sources aren't compatible with my hardware. But that doesn't make any sense, because the openMosix sources are just pre-patched vanilla sources - I could patch to openMosix from vanilla sources, this way it just happens first (or so I'm lead to believe). I'll try redoing that HDD by compiling a new kernel that's straight vanilla (which I wanted to avoid though *sigh*) or maybe gentoo sources as those _shouldn't_ decrease the compatibility range for hardware support. Scratch that, need vanilla to patch to openMosix. Dumb thing is that i've had the kernel on that HDD work in my modern AthlonXP machine - so I know there's a properly compiled working kernel on the drive. Oh well, i'll see what a few hours of computer guts and compile screens will bring up for me.

I'm gonna guess that you compiled a kernel for a higher CPU than what you got, or something along those lines. Not that your sources are 'bad' or anything, just that as configured, you can't use them on your P133 (if that's what it is). When configuring the kernel, Ya probably said yes to something, when ya shoulda said no.
Press on and recompile, I'm sure it'll work. I believe everything should be safe with i386 type packages.

Regardless of my guess, see
http://howto.ipng.be/openMosixWiki/index.php/FAQ
and specifically:
"
I want to install openMosix but I am afraid my machines are too weak for this:

A machine is never too weak: I have three P200s (64MB each) and two P166s (one with 48MB and one with 192MB). Two of them are on 10Base-T and the other three on 100Base-T. Even with these antiquated machines and "heterogenous" network, I get perfect load balancing to run simulation programs that I write in Perl. (See ProgramToTestACluster http://howto.ipng.be/openMosixWiki/i...ToTestACluster . Don't be held back by the fact your machines are old. To me this is a nice feature of openMosix: you can add newer machines to an existing cluster as they become available. And you do not need to have all identical machines. That's fantastic!

Actually, the kernel was compiled with mcpu (not march) set to i586 in my make.conf - in theory my kernel is optimized for an i586 class processor but should run on anything. A recompile really seems to be my only option now though, so I guess I'll just do that and see what happens - and switch over to using GRUB again while I'm at it(never really liked LILO that much anyways). Although it would be frustrating to do the whole Gentoo stage 1 install if I don't optimize for the chip .... well, I'll see what the vanilla sources and some straight i386 compatibility does for me.

Please see:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/README
quote
- compiling the kernel with "Processor type" set higher than 386
will result in a kernel that does NOT work on a 386. The kernel will detect this on bootup, and give up.
unquote
meaning that unless you really do have a i586 or better, don't make it like that. A 586 will run a 386 kernel, but not the other way around.

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/quick_steps.html
quote
VERY IMPORTANT !!! : Select proper CPU type - Pentium 3, AMD K6, Cyrix, Pentium 4, Intel 386, DEC Alpha, PowerPC otherwise kernel compile will fail and even if it compiles, it will not boot!!
unquote

and
http://howto.ipng.be/openMosix-HOWTO/
Have fun with Mosix, I haven't used it yet, but a buddy has and says it's great!!!

The thing is that the chip in there is a Pentium 133-S, which is in the i586 processor class, right? Is the P1 an i486?? (I'd always thought they were the 586)

You're right, I'm pretty sure that it is a P5. Maybe your configured something else that wasn't so good for the process like MMX or something that the chip doesn't have. No problem though, you'll learn more about configuring that kernel. And that's a good thing to know.

Scratch all that, as I don't know for sure.
For some clues, I looked at this page:
http://alag3.mfa.kfki.hu/dcsabas/hardware/x86.htm

there's lots of stuff in kernels that can make a computer do that. it
can take forever to figure it out. there's just something compiled into
that kernel that messes up that computer.
my old method was the binary sort with the kernel options.
i would disable all the stuff in the kernel that wasn't necessary for booting.
if that would boot, i would add half the stuff back, if that worked then add
the other half back. when one wouldn't boot, i would take back out half of
the stuff that i had just add back and try that. thats about the fastest way
to narrow down what it is, except for just trying a different version of linux,
or kernel.