Bug#386226: linux-image-2.6.16-2-686-smp: Will not set clock and loses interrupts when rtc is used

[Norbert Warmuth <norbert.warmuth@topalis.com>]

Joshua Kugler <joshua@eeinternet.com> writes:
> Sep 2 06:25:13 <hostname> kernel: rtc: lost some interrupts at 512Hz. 
That's an understatement. My tests revealed that the kernel does not
generate any periodic RTC interrupts (btw. Documentation/rtc.txt
contains a short test program). 

Reason: The i386 kernels have been compiled with HPET support but
without RTC emulation support (CONFIG_HPET_EMULATE_RTC; HPET: High
Precision Event Timer, see Documentation/hpet.txt).

And at the moment CONFIG_HPET_EMULATE_RTC requires the rtc driver to
be compiled in:
Quoting arch/i386/Kconfig, arch/x86_64/Kconfig (linux-source-2.6.18):
:   config HPET_EMULATE_RTC
:      depends on HPET_TIMER && RTC=y

Workarounds (both tested successfully): 
1. boot with hpet=disable
2. build the kernel with CONFIG_RTC=y 

Regards,
Norbert