Bad EIP value installing Mandrake 9.2, Red Hat 9 or Slackware 9.1
 

Hello everyone -

I have attempted in the past week to install three different up-to-date distros of Linux on this old x86 machine but to no avail. I would like some advice as to how to proceed with this install (as it has now become a massive time-waster - maybe Linux installs should look at M$, which has not failed me so badly as this has).

The process is this -
I have ran the installation(s) with these BIOS configurations, but to no avail:
-CD-ROM boot first (to install Linux from CDs)
-Floppy boot first (to install Linux from floppies)
-PnP BIOS enabled (as per the Mandrake Manual, in the case of the Mandrake installation)

I am encountering "BAD EIP value" error when installing Linux, and subsequently So far, I have attempted to install three different distros:

Mandrake Linux 9.2
Red Hat 9.2
Slackware 9.1

And have gotten no further than just past their respective welcome screens where is says "simply press enter to start the installation, or press one of the F keys for further options (paraphrased)". I have attempted installations of these distros with various parameters (mem=128M, text only, vgalo, noprobe) and have even removed most of my cards except the video card and network card but get the same error.

My system is as follows:
Motherboard: MSI (Microstar International) MS-5130 Socket 7 with
-Pentium 1 MMX @ 200 mHz
-128 Megs RAM (tested with memtest)

I have a 6.4 Gig IBM Drive and 2.1 Quantum Fireball Drive as Primary and Secondary on the First IDE, then a Matshita 585 CD/DVD ROM as Master on the second IDE; each have been tested without issue, and installation attempts (and failures) have been done with the CD-ROM as the slave in the first IDE.

I originally had a Creative 64 AWE card (ISA), a Kouwell USB 1.1 card (PCI) and an Adaptec 2940-AU SCSI card on it, but removed them in order to reduce the chance of error that may be caused by these cards. So the only cards left in the system were a D-Link 530-PT ISA Network card and the ATI All-In-Wonder 8 Meg card.

The BIOS on this system is the most recent for this computer (AWARD, 4.51, Oct. 97) and was configured to boot from CD-ROM during several installation attempts (failed), and also configured boot from floppy during others (also failed) all with the same errors.

Below is a complete listing of the error message produced from the Mandrake 9.2 install attempts.

Both Slackware and Red Hat produced similar results (with slightly different hex values, but the result was still BAD EIP value).

---Begin Screenshot---
Linux 2.4.22-10mdkBOOT

[Mandrake Linux Logo]

SIS5513: IDE Controller at PCI Slot 00:01.1
SIS5513: chipset revision 9
SIS5513: not 100% native mode: will probe IRQs later
SIS5513: SIS5596 ATA 16 Controller
ide0:BM-DMA at 0x4000-0x4007, BIOS SETTINGS: hda: pio, hdb:pio
SIS5513: simplex device: DMA disabled
ide1: SIS5513 Bus-Master DMA disabled (BIOS)

hda: IBM-DTTA-350640 ATA Disk Drive
hdb: Quantum Fireball SE 2.1A, ATA Disk Drive
hdc: Matshita CR-585, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM Drive

Unable to handle kernel NULL Pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000
printint eip:
00000000

Oops: 0000

CPU: 0

EIP: 0010:[<00000000>] not tainted
EFLAGS: 00010286

eax:00000006 ebx:c013c704 ecx:80000944 edx:00000003
esi:c013c704 edi:c013c654 ebp:0000000f esp:c7cbff28

Stack: c01ee618 c013c704 00b400f0 00000001 0b13c704 00000003 c013c704 00000000
0000000f c01ecc8d c013c704 0000000b 0313c654 c013c704 c013c654 c01fbddf
c013c704 000000ff 00000246 00000001 c013c654 c0248000 0004e000 c01fc6bb

call trace: [<c01ee618>] [<c01ecc8d>] [<c01fbddf>] [<c01fcbbb>] [<c0164235>] [<c0105f8f>] [<c016422c>]

code: BAD EIP value
<0> Kernel panic: Attempted to kill init!
---end screen shot---

This system used to house Windows 98, but got bored of it. It runs Windows 98 just fine. I have also tried to dual boot (the setup for dual boot went fine, but Linux still won't install due to this EIP error). So Linux users - convince me- If Linux is so good, why will it not install on this system, when every Windows installation I have installed from x386 machines upwards has had little (if any) difficulty. I have also done a number of google searches (and use a tool called Copernic Agent to search the other search engines) for any related threads, but have not come up with anything. I would appreciate any advice offered, otherwise I will slap a sticker on this PC that says "optimized to only work with windows".


regards

djeddiej

Just following up -

No answers yet from any linux experts?

I couldn't help you about the EIP error, but PnP OS should be switched to "OFF" in the Bios. Other than that it must be a hardware issue.

It kind of sounds like you have the windows personality type though.

Hi -

I wasn't aware that there was a windows personality trait (lol) - if there are personality traits, then perhaps I should be slightly schizophrenic (multi-os).

Anyhoo, yes, I did turn off PnP OS in a test install with Mandrake, and got the same results. But I am sure I read in the Mandrake manual that it should be turned on in order for Mandrake to "detect devices properly" (perhaps taking a cue from m$).

I also considered that the ISOs I downloaded were bad, until I tried the other distros with the same results (it could not be coincidence that all the three distros got the same error). I did a checksum check on the distros too, to make sure I was not losing my mind (or perhaps I have...)

Anyone know of any good site that shows you how to interpret this EIP error? or better yet, a fix?

thanks again

tried Morphix distro - same result
 

Ok, so I tried the Morphix distro (not as well known as others I suppose), and I got the exact same error msg. Anybody know of any good ways to test the mobo's fitness to see if it is ok to run Linux? Once I get started something its hard to stop, and I am determined to make this box work with Linux...

advice is appreciated (see first msg again in this thread to see the error that results when installing the distros on this troublesome machine)

here is a link i found that may provide some help.

http://osr5doc.ca.sco.com:457/cgi-bi...OK/get_ip.html

i'll keep looking around,
good luck.

You ever figure this out? I have the same issue on an old 486 here. The problem from what I've read is the new IDE support in the kernels 2.4.22+. One work around is to disable that and use the old IDE drivers. I've also read that you can disable the primary controller, and place up to 2 drives on the secondary controller to get it working with the new IDE drivers.

a late but never late enough follow-up
 

Hi -

Unfortunately, I have not tried it again - I actually got Mandrake 10 on an old Compaq Pentium 2 running.

I am going to re-approach this machine later on in the month, and post my findings here again.

cheers

Bad EIP Value - Fix
 

Maybe this will help. Just had a simular problem loading Linux on an HP 8000 workstation. The way we go past the load was to disable the Legacy UPS in bios. This did the trick. Hope it gives you some insite.