[SOLVED] newer kernel versions only use one core

David the H. · 07-04-2010, 09:48 AM

I've been having this problem for a while on my second system, but only just now getting around to working on it. It seems that all of the recent Debian kernels can only access one of my two cpu cores.

Everything appeared to work just fine when I re-installed the debian system last year, which provided kernel 2.6.26. But every kernel update since then (up to the current 2.6.32-5) has only given me a single core. At first I thought it might be just a display problem with the system info widget, but I've since confirmed it's a kernel problem; with top, /proc/cpuinfo, and slower-than-expected performance during heavy processing confirming it.

I've looked around, but I can find nothing that matches my problem exactly on the web. I've tried what few suggestions I could find though with no results. I've updated my motherboard bios and tried the pci=nommconf boot option. And I've tried running just about all the kernels the debian repositories provide (everything I could find with smp support). About the only thing I haven't tried yet is compiling my own kernel, something I'd like to avoid until all other options are exhausted.

uname -a: Linux system2 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Jun 1 04:34:03 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The motherboard is a gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4, the cpu a 64bit dual-core Athlon XP 5000+. And here's the first part of my dmesg with the latest non-working kernel. I don't know if it will help. If you want to see anything else, just ask.

Code:

[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[    0.000000] Linux version 2.6.32-5-amd64 (Debian 2.6.32-15) (ben@decadent.org.uk) (gcc version 4.3.5 (Debian 4.3.5-1) ) #1 SMP Tue Jun 1 04:34:03 UTC 2010
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=4487acac-a10e-462a-b4af-7423c7a278f5 ro bootkbd=ja noapic nolapic quiet
[    0.000000] KERNEL supported cpus:
[    0.000000]   Intel GenuineIntel
[    0.000000]   AMD AuthenticAMD
[    0.000000]   Centaur CentaurHauls
[    0.000000] BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f800 (usable)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 000000000009f800 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007fff0000 (usable)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 000000007fff0000 - 000000007fff3000 (ACPI NVS)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 000000007fff3000 - 0000000080000000 (ACPI data)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 00000000c0000000 - 00000000d0000000 (reserved)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 00000000d8000000 - 00000000e0000000 (reserved)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
[    0.000000] DMI 2.3 present.
[    0.000000] last_pfn = 0x7fff0 max_arch_pfn = 0x400000000
[    0.000000] MTRR default type: uncachable
[    0.000000] MTRR fixed ranges enabled:
[    0.000000]   00000-9FFFF write-back
[    0.000000]   A0000-BFFFF uncachable
[    0.000000]   C0000-C7FFF write-protect
[    0.000000]   C8000-EFFFF uncachable
[    0.000000]   F0000-FFFFF write-through
[    0.000000] MTRR variable ranges enabled:
[    0.000000]   0 base 0000000000 mask FF80000000 write-back
[    0.000000]   1 disabled
[    0.000000]   2 disabled
[    0.000000]   3 disabled
[    0.000000]   4 disabled
[    0.000000]   5 disabled
[    0.000000]   6 disabled
[    0.000000]   7 disabled
[    0.000000] x86 PAT enabled: cpu 0, old 0x7040600070406, new 0x7010600070106
[    0.000000] initial memory mapped : 0 - 20000000
[    0.000000] init_memory_mapping: 0000000000000000-000000007fff0000
[    0.000000]  0000000000 - 007fe00000 page 2M
[    0.000000]  007fe00000 - 007fff0000 page 4k
[    0.000000] kernel direct mapping tables up to 7fff0000 @ 8000-c000
[    0.000000] RAMDISK: 3774f000 - 37fefb2e
[    0.000000] ACPI: RSDP 00000000000f64b0 00014 (v00 GBT   )
[    0.000000] ACPI: RSDT 000000007fff3000 00034 (v01 GBT    NVDAACPI 42302E31 NVDA 01010101)
[    0.000000] ACPI: FACP 000000007fff3040 00074 (v01 GBT    NVDAACPI 42302E31 NVDA 01010101)
[    0.000000] ACPI: DSDT 000000007fff30c0 04B34 (v01 GBT    NVDAACPI 00001000 MSFT 0100000C)
[    0.000000] ACPI: FACS 000000007fff0000 00040
[    0.000000] ACPI: SSDT 000000007fff7c80 0028A (v01 PTLTD  POWERNOW 00000001  LTP 00000001)
[    0.000000] ACPI: MCFG 000000007fff7f40 0003C (v01 GBT    NVDAACPI 42302E31 NVDA 01010101)
[    0.000000] ACPI: APIC 000000007fff7c00 0007C (v01 GBT    NVDAACPI 42302E31 NVDA 01010101)
[    0.000000] Scanning NUMA topology in Northbridge 24
[    0.000000] No NUMA configuration found
[    0.000000] Faking a node at 0000000000000000-000000007fff0000
[    0.000000] Bootmem setup node 0 0000000000000000-000000007fff0000
[    0.000000]   NODE_DATA [000000000000a000 - 0000000000011fff]
[    0.000000]   bootmap [0000000000012000 -  0000000000021fff] pages 10
[    0.000000] (7 early reservations) ==> bootmem [0000000000 - 007fff0000]
[    0.000000]   #0 [0000000000 - 0000001000]   BIOS data page ==> [0000000000 - 0000001000]
[    0.000000]   #1 [0000006000 - 0000008000]       TRAMPOLINE ==> [0000006000 - 0000008000]
[    0.000000]   #2 [0001000000 - 0001680314]    TEXT DATA BSS ==> [0001000000 - 0001680314]
[    0.000000]   #3 [003774f000 - 0037fefb2e]          RAMDISK ==> [003774f000 - 0037fefb2e]
[    0.000000]   #4 [000009f800 - 0000100000]    BIOS reserved ==> [000009f800 - 0000100000]
[    0.000000]   #5 [0001681000 - 00016810a6]              BRK ==> [0001681000 - 00016810a6]
[    0.000000]   #6 [0000008000 - 000000a000]          PGTABLE ==> [0000008000 - 000000a000]
[    0.000000] found SMP MP-table at [ffff8800000f4b60] f4b60
[    0.000000]  [ffffea0000000000-ffffea0001bfffff] PMD -> [ffff880001c00000-ffff8800037fffff] on node 0
[    0.000000] Zone PFN ranges:
[    0.000000]   DMA      0x00000000 -> 0x00001000
[    0.000000]   DMA32    0x00001000 -> 0x00100000
[    0.000000]   Normal   0x00100000 -> 0x00100000
[    0.000000] Movable zone start PFN for each node
[    0.000000] early_node_map[2] active PFN ranges
[    0.000000]     0: 0x00000000 -> 0x0000009f
[    0.000000]     0: 0x00000100 -> 0x0007fff0
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 524175
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 56 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 101 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 3842 pages, LIFO batch:0
[    0.000000]   DMA32 zone: 7112 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   DMA32 zone: 513064 pages, LIFO batch:31
[    0.000000] Nvidia board detected. Ignoring ACPI timer override.
[    0.000000] If you got timer trouble try acpi_use_timer_override
[    0.000000] Detected use of extended apic ids on hypertransport bus
[    0.000000] ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x1008
[    0.000000] Intel MultiProcessor Specification v1.4
[    0.000000] MPTABLE: OEM ID: OEM00000
[    0.000000] MPTABLE: Product ID: PROD00000000
[    0.000000] MPTABLE: APIC at: 0xFEE00000
[    0.000000] Processor #0 (Bootup-CPU)
[    0.000000] Processor #1
[    0.000000] I/O APIC #2 Version 17 at 0xFEC00000.
[    0.000000] Processors: 2
[    0.000000] SMP: Allowing 2 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
[    0.000000] nr_irqs_gsi: 24
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: 000000000009f000 - 00000000000a0000
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: 00000000000a0000 - 00000000000f0000
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000
[    0.000000] Allocating PCI resources starting at 80000000 (gap: 80000000:40000000)
[    0.000000] Booting paravirtualized kernel on bare hardware
[    0.000000] NR_CPUS:512 nr_cpumask_bits:512 nr_cpu_ids:2 nr_node_ids:1
[    0.000000] PERCPU: Embedded 29 pages/cpu @ffff880001800000 s90008 r8192 d20584 u1048576
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s90008 r8192 d20584 u1048576 alloc=1*2097152
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 1
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Node order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 516906
[    0.000000] Policy zone: DMA32
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=4487acac-a10e-462a-b4af-7423c7a278f5 ro bootkbd=ja noapic nolapic quiet
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.000000] Initializing CPU#0
[    0.000000] Checking aperture...
[    0.000000] No AGP bridge found
[    0.000000] Node 0: aperture @ 0 size 32 MB
[    0.000000] Memory: 2051968k/2097088k available (3060k kernel code, 388k absent, 44732k reserved, 1885k data, 584k init)
[    0.000000] SLUB: Genslabs=14, HWalign=64, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=2, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:4352 nr_irqs:424
[    0.000000] spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.
[    0.000000] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
[    0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[    0.000000] Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[    0.000000] Detected 2613.253 MHz processor.
[    0.008004] Calibrating delay loop (skipped), value calculated using timer frequency.. 5226.50 BogoMIPS (lpj=10453012)
[    0.008024] Security Framework initialized
[    0.008028] SELinux:  Disabled at boot.
[    0.008167] Dentry cache hash table entries: 262144 (order: 9, 2097152 bytes)
[    0.012833] Inode-cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes)
[    0.013317] Mount-cache hash table entries: 256
[    0.013451] Initializing cgroup subsys ns
[    0.013454] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuacct
[    0.013458] Initializing cgroup subsys devices
[    0.013460] Initializing cgroup subsys freezer
[    0.013463] Initializing cgroup subsys net_cls
[    0.013483] CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
[    0.013486] CPU: L2 Cache: 512K (64 bytes/line)
[    0.013488] CPU 0/0x0 -> Node 0
[    0.013490] tseg: 0000000000
[    0.013501] CPU: Physical Processor ID: 0
[    0.013503] CPU: Processor Core ID: 0
[    0.013506] mce: CPU supports 5 MCE banks
[    0.013517] using C1E aware idle routine
[    0.013518] Performance Events: AMD PMU driver.
[    0.013523] ... version:                0
[    0.013524] ... bit width:              48
[    0.013526] ... generic registers:      4
[    0.013528] ... value mask:             0000ffffffffffff
[    0.013529] ... max period:             00007fffffffffff
[    0.013531] ... fixed-purpose events:   0
[    0.013533] ... event mask:             000000000000000f
[    0.014107] ACPI: Core revision 20090903
[    0.019765] ACPI: setting ELCR to 0200 (from 8c20)
[    0.020059] Setting APIC routing to flat
[    0.020061] SMP disabled
[    0.020170] Brought up 1 CPUs
[    0.020172] Total of 1 processors activated (5226.50 BogoMIPS).
[    0.020349] CPU0 attaching NULL sched-domain.
[    0.020464] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.024428] regulator: core version 0.5
[    0.024474] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.024567] node 0 link 0: io port [1000, fffff]
[    0.024570] TOM: 0000000080000000 aka 2048M
[    0.024572] node 0 link 0: mmio [d8000000, dfffffff]
[    0.024575] node 0 link 0: mmio [a0000, bffff]
[    0.024578] node 0 link 0: mmio [80000000, ffb7ffff]
[    0.024580] bus: [00,ff] on node 0 link 0
[    0.024582] bus: 00 index 0 io port: [0, ffff]
[    0.024584] bus: 00 index 1 mmio: [80000000, fcffffffff]
[    0.024587] bus: 00 index 2 mmio: [a0000, bffff]
[    0.024592] ACPI: bus type pci registered

AlucardZero · 07-04-2010, 10:17 AM

Try not booting with "noapic nolapic".

David the H. · 07-05-2010, 01:36 AM

Gah, that was it! Doesn't it figure that the one thing I didn't try was the one thing I needed to do? It always seems to be something simple like that.

I remember needing those flags when I first ran the installer for this system just to get it to boot, so ever since then I've been including them pretty much automatically. But I guess whatever problem existed has gone away, because now it boots perfectly without them.

Thank you for helping me sort this out.