FC6 doesn't boot on VIA C3

[Phil Meyer]

Hans-Jürgen Koch wrote:
> Am Freitag 09 März 2007 18:37 schrieb James Wilkinson:
>   
>> Hans-Jürgen Koch wrote:
>>     
>>> I'm trying to boot FC6 on an IPC with a VIA C3 (Samuel 2). The kernel
>>> comes up without error messages. As soon as a binary from the root
>>> file system should be started, the boot process stops without further
>>> messages. Keyboard and screen are still working!  Not that the root
>>> file system was already successfully mounted by the kernel, and no
>>> errors or warnings where displayed on the console.
>>>
>>> Are there any known limitations of FC6 regarding VIA processors? Any
>>> other hints?
>>>       
>> Did you install on this PC? Or did you install on another PC and are
>> moving the disks to this one? 
>>     
>
> I installed FC6 on a different PC and copied the root file system to a CF 
> card, from which the VIA C3 IPC boots.
>
>   
>> As I understand it, gcc thinks that i686 
>> processors support the CMOV instruction and will use it (when compiling
>> for i686 processors) without explicitly testing for it. Via C3s of that
>> era didn't, and so gcc-generated i686 code will crash on it.
>>     
>
> Yes, that seems to be the reason. Problem is that I need glibc 2.5. If I 
> replace the Fedora glibc with the binaries from Debian Experimental, I get a 
> little farther in my boot process. It boots, but I can't login. So probably 
> all Fedora binaries can contain this illegal instruction.
>
>   
>> As an added complication, you may be using an i586 kernel with an i686
>> glibc, due to a well-known FC6 install bug.
>>
>> If you install on this PC, Fedora should choose the right RPMs
>> automatically. 
>>     
>
> Good idea, unfortunately, the Fedora installer doesn't work on this machine...
>
>   
>> Alternatively, you could do something like 
>> rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME}.%{ARCH}\n" | grep i686
>> to find all the i686 packages on the machine, download i586 equivalents,
>> and use
>> rpm -F --oldpackage *.i586*.rpm
>> to replace the i686 packages with i586 versions.
>>     
>
> Thanks for that hint.
>
>   
>> There shouldn't be much more than the kernel, glibc, and openssl to
>> replace.
>>     
>
> I'll find out :-)
>
> Thanks,
> Hans
>
>   

Hmmm... I install on these types of systems, sometimes many a day.

What is happening that prevents an install directly to the system in 
question?

I routinely install FC6 to CF cards on this type of hardware.  The 
previous poster is correct in saying that it needs the i586 kernel.  I 
was surprised by that at first, and was concerned that it was the FC6 
anaconda bug, but it wasn't.

I install from USB pen drives, USB CDROMS, and network to these types of 
systems with no issues.