Problems with Debian Sarge 3.1 Stable (2.6 Kernel mainly...)

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PaulW
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Problems with Debian Sarge 3.1 Stable (2.6 Kernel mainly...)

Post by PaulW »

I actually think its purely down to nast nasty cap issues...

I currently have running Debian Sarge 3.1 Stable with kernel 2.4.27-3-686 (non-SMP) even though I have dual Cel 500's in there (the SMP kernel is only 2.4.27-2-686, and has much less support for hardware even compared to 2.4.27-2-686 non-SMP)

This kernel runs fine, no real issues, but the problems begin when I swith to 2.6 kernel (both SMP and non-SMP)

It seems to go CRAZY with the system timers, I try to log in, I type in the username, but as soon as I do, and I enter the password, it comes up saying logged out due to inactivity.. WTF??

The screen also keeps blanking out (screensaver) every second nearly, even less at times! alot of devices time out, and the system eventually comes to a halt... In this time, the system has GAINED many many hours of time over a short period (something like 1 hour to every 20 seconds...)

This problem also happened with ANY release of Fedora from rev2 upwards, anything using 2.6 kernal infact... 2.4 kernels all seem to work fine, no time issues to report...

Using the RV Bios with 1.30B Firmware (http://www.bp6.com/board/dload.php?acti ... file_id=52)

Only thing I can really think is sending the board to Abit for repair/replacement as looking on badcaps.net they dont take boards from the UK :(

Any other ideas? Maybe try a new BIOS perhaps?
purrkur
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Re: Problems with Debian Sarge 3.1 Stable (2.6 Kernel mainly

Post by purrkur »

PaulW wrote:I actually think its purely down to nast nasty cap issues...
It is hard to say...
PaulW wrote:I currently have running Debian Sarge 3.1 Stable with kernel 2.4.27-3-686 (non-SMP) even though I have dual Cel 500's in there (the SMP kernel is only 2.4.27-2-686, and has much less support for hardware even compared to 2.4.27-2-686 non-SMP)
You new to Linux? Care to elaborate on this issue with hardware support being less in 2.6 compared to 2.4? What hardware are you talking about? The only thing I know about that 2.6. might not have that 2.4 has is driver support for very old hardware which may have been removed from the 2.6 kernel due to the fact that they were not being maintained or used. However, since you are making this statement then it means that you have done your research on it so please share that with us.
PaulW wrote:It seems to go CRAZY with the system timers, I try to log in, I type in the username, but as soon as I do, and I enter the password, it comes up saying logged out due to inactivity.. WTF??

The screen also keeps blanking out (screensaver) every second nearly, even less at times! alot of devices time out, and the system eventually comes to a halt... In this time, the system has GAINED many many hours of time over a short period (something like 1 hour to every 20 seconds...)
It sounds like something strange is going on but from your description it sounds like you haven't really made up your mind if it is a hardware issue or software issue. If everything works with a non-SMP 2.4 kernel then I would lean towards the latter.
PaulW wrote:This problem also happened with ANY release of Fedora from rev2 upwards, anything using 2.6 kernal infact... 2.4 kernels all seem to work fine, no time issues to report...
Wait, what are you talking about here? When you make such sweeping generalizations then I would like to see some data on it. You are basically saying that all Fedora releases from Core 2 upwards have a bug that render the system useless if they are using a 2.6 kernel? As you may understand, I am having a very hard time swallowing this, but if you are making this comment then you have probably done some research on it so lets see your sources. They might also throw some light on your problem.
PaulW wrote:Only thing I can really think is sending the board to Abit for repair/replacement as looking on badcaps.net they dont take boards from the UK :(

Any other ideas? Maybe try a new BIOS perhaps?
Is your board unstable at all? Have you actually checked your caps?

FWIW, I have Debian 3.1 stable with 2.6. kernel running on my BP6 as a server and it has never given me any issues like the ones you are describing. In fact, in my 9+ years of running Linux I have never seen such a problem before. I have been running Debian on my BP6 for a few years, different versions and different kernels as well and I have never had problems with the kernel nor with driver support. And yes, I do run Fedora as well where this problem has never appeared for me at least.

So if you want to get help for your issues then please supply us with some real data like system logs or webpages you have found that discuss the problem you are having.
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
640MB PC100 memory
Realtek RTL-8139 NIC
Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB hdd
Debian Linux stable with 2.4.8 kernel
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