Hangs on Boot on 2.6.17-1.2174 and ASUS M2NPV-VM Motherboard

[Khoa Ton]

Robert L Cochran wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-09-04 at 00:41 -0400, Robert L Cochran wrote:
>> On Sun, 2006-09-03 at 21:22 -0700, Khoa Ton wrote:
>>> Thanks for the corrections, Bob.
>>>
>>> Yes, the kernel is 2.6.17-1.2174.  Here are the last lines on the
>>> console at the hang (typed in manually):
>>>
>>> Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
>>> VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
>>> Dquot-cache hash table entries: 512 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
>>> SELinux:  Registering netfilter hooks
>>> Initializing Cryptographic API
>>> Loading keyring
>>> - Added public key D4AD441F6DB3F282
>>> - User ID: Red Hat, Inc. (Kernel Module GPG key)
>>> io scheduler noop registered
>>> io scheduler anticipatory registered
>>> io scheduler deadline registered
>>> io scheduler cfq registered (default)
>>> _
>>>
>>> The last "_" represents the blinking cursor
>>>
>>
>> I don't know what your problem is, and I'm not a real kernel expert --
>> others here are better than me. With that understanding, I checked my
>> own corresponding messages and ACPI processing appears after the
>> ioscheduler messages. Here are my kernel messages. In my case I have an
>> Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 motherboard which is using an Athlon 64 X2 4800+
>> processor. Here we are:
>>
>> Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
>> VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
>> Dquot-cache hash table entries: 512 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
>> SELinux:  Registering netfilter hooks
>> Initializing Cryptographic API
>> ksign: Installing public key data
>> Loading keyring
>> - Added public key D4AD441F6DB3F282
>> - User ID: Red Hat, Inc. (Kernel Module GPG key)
>> io scheduler noop registered
>> io scheduler anticipatory registered
>> io scheduler deadline registered
>> io scheduler cfq registered (default)
>> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:01.0[A] -> GSI 29 (level, low) -> IRQ 169
>> PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:01.0 to 64
>> assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
>> Allocate Port Service[0000:00:01.0:pcie00]
>> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:03.0[A] -> GSI 39 (level, low) -> IRQ 177
>> PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:03.0 to 64
>> assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
>> Allocate Port Service[0000:00:03.0:pcie00]
>> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:06.0[A] -> GSI 50 (level, low) -> IRQ 185
>> PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:06.0 to 64
>> assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
>> Allocate Port Service[0000:00:06.0:pcie00]
>> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:07.0[A] -> GSI 55 (level, low) -> IRQ 193
>> PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:07.0 to 64
>> assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
>> Allocate Port Service[0000:00:07.0:pcie00]
>> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> GSI 60 (level, low) -> IRQ 201
>> PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:08.0 to 64
>> assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
>> Allocate Port Service[0000:00:08.0:pcie00]
>> pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
>> Real Time Clock Driver v1.12ac
>> Non-volatile memory driver v1.2
>> Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
>> Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
>> ....
>> ....
>>
>> So my guess is, you have an ACPI issue of some sort, but don't take my
>> word for it. 
>>
> 
> 
> I had another thought. Are you using the very latest BIOS update for
> this motherboard? My new Asrock motherboard came with the 1.00 BIOS, and
> I immediately updated it to the 1.40 BIOS before even trying to boot
> Fedora Core 4 which was already installed on the hard drive I put in
> this system. 
> 
> I also have an earlier Asrock motherboard, the Dual939-SATA2, which came
> with the 1.20 BIOS and it didn't recognize my Athlon 64 X2 4400+ on that
> board until I updated it to the 1.4 or 1.5 BIOS. This board is updated
> to the 2.20 BIOS now.
> 
> If Asus has put an updated BIOS out on its web site, I suggest you
> update to it.
> 
> Also, did you check your motherboard manual carefully to see what the
> default settings for ACPI are? 

You hit the nail on the head, Bob.  The hang was due to some
ACPI related interaction and the new 2.6.17-1.2174 kernel.  I ran with:
	pci=noacpi
and the system booted! Based on Stanton Finley's writeup at:
	http://stanton-finley.net/kernel-parameters.txt
the above option instructs the kernel not to use ACPI for
IRQ routing or for PCI scanning.

I don't know what the ramifications of setting this kernel parameter
are, aside from bypassing the hang...

And yes, I did update to the latest BIOS from ASUS to no avail.  It
seems that this motherboard/chipset is not quite supported by FC5 yet.

I'm updating the Bugzilla report for this problem with this workaround:
	https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=205090

Thanks again for your valuable help.

Khoa Ton