Re: [Xen-users] Ubuntu 12.10 out of the box with Xen 4.1

[Russ Pavlicek <russell.pavlicek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, this is one of the few times I've found that upgrading a
laptop's BIOS made things seriously worse.  :(

The new BIOS introduces a new problem: it makes Linux think that the
system is overheating, resulting in the processor moving at a snail's
pace.  And, to make things even better, once you've upgraded the BIOS,
you can't downgrade.  Just lovely.

This problem has prompted folks to come up with patches like this:

http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-acpi/msg40108.html

However, I don't know that any form of this patch has made its way
into the stable tree and onto an actual distribution.  So I have a
laptop which is sluggish under Windows and useless under Linux.  Guess
I need to find a patched kernel somewhere and see what I can do.  So
much for trying to capture the "out of box" experience, I guess.

Thanks all,

Russ

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 3:32 AM, Ian Campbell <Ian.Campbell@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm not 100% sure what this option is needed for. The first thing I
> would try is a check for a newer BIOS for the system, especially if it
> is a bit older and doubly so since it is a laptop.
>
> The reason is that I think the error relates to a dodgy set of ACPI
> tables describing the interrupts which Linus is somehow able to work
> around but Xen isn't. You might find that even though Linux is working
> it is complaining in dmesg during boot and e.g. only using the legacy
> IRQs.
>
> Ian.
>
> On Sat, 2013-08-03 at 22:46 -0400, Russ Pavlicek wrote:
>> Ian,
>>
>> Thanks for the tips and the command line reference.
>>
>> After much observation and experimentation, I determined that using
>> "acpi=noirq" in the Xen command line makes it all work.  The remaining
>> question is "Why?".  The linux boot without Xen doesn't need it, but
>> it is essential when booting up with Xen.  The doc says this is rare
>> and the machine should be blacklisted.  But I still have no idea why
>> it is needed under Xen and not under straight Linux.
>>
>> The laptop is a Compaq/HP 6715b with AMD Turion 64 X2 processor.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Russ
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Ian Campbell <Ian.Campbell@xxxxxxxxxx> 
>> wrote:
>> > On Sat, 2013-08-03 at 11:06 -0400, Russ Pavlicek wrote:
>> >> So I spent most of the night trying to assemble a new (to me; used)
>> >> travel laptop using Ubuntu 12.10 LTS and Xen.  I decided to get the
>> >> user experience of installing Xen as described in one of the Ubuntu
>> >> docs.
>> >>
>> >> Well I got it installed, but it doesn't run.  The Dom0 kernel panics
>> >> (e.g., kernel panic -not syncing: Attempted to kill init),
>> >
>> > This usually indicates that your init process has exited for some
>> > reason, often a userspace (perhaps initrd related) reason.
>> >
>> > I assume it boots with the non-Xen option just fine?
>> >
>> >>  and most of
>> >> the useful information is gone from the screen by the time it dies
>> >> (there is part of a stackdump above it, but no sign of what actually
>> >> caused the dump).  This laptop has no serial port to capture the log
>> >> and it is too early in the boot to try a network console.  I'm at the
>> >> point where I am thinking of trashing this altogether and trying
>> >> Fedora.
>> >>
>> >> Is there anything I can do to capture the log so I can pinpoint a
>> >> cause for this?
>> >
>> > If you add "noreboot" to the hypervisor command line then it won't
>> > automatically reboot when dom0 crashes and you may get some additional
>> > info.
>> >
>> > You could also try using the vga=ask option (also hypervisor cmdline) to
>> > select an increased resolution which includes more lines.
>> >
>> > A digital photo of whatever you manage to get might be enough to ring a
>> > bell with someone.
>> >
>> > Command line reference is at
>> > http://xenbits.xen.org/docs/unstable/misc/xen-command-line.html
>> >
>> > Ian.
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >>
>> >> Russ
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Xen-users mailing list
>> >> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
>> >
>> >
>
>

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