Friday, March 24, 2006

Fedora Core 5 Install Failures

I made several attempts to install FC5 on my main linux system, with no luck. I kept getting the same error:
  BUG: spinlock bad magic on CPU#0, anaconda/466 (Not tainted)
  lock: c040d32c, .magic: 00000000, .owner: /-1, .owner_cpu:0

The machine (Gateway E3200, PIII 550mhz) was running FC4, so I was surprised it wouldn't run FC5. I've had problems with memory on this machine before, so I swapped chips, swapped the order of the chips, tried the chips one at a time, but still no go. Another factor is the fact that this one is a dual head system, so I pulled the second video card. Even the old standby failed:
  linux text
  linux noprobe

All generated the same error. I finally found a messages where someone was having trouble with FC5 under VMware. Their solution was to disable acpi and usb at install time:
  linux acpi=off nousb
I figured what the heck... And it worked! Turns out it was the acpi=off option that made it work. That makes sense, as FC4 always tossed up an error about ACPI: BIOS age (1999) fails cutoff date (2001).

So.. I guess I can put off buying another computer until spring 2007. Maybe Vista will be ready by then.

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