old computer : kernel hang with Etch 2.6.18 fixed
Old computers with VBE 1.2 compliant graphics cards might not boot the new
Etch installer or distribution, which is based on a 2.6.18 kernel.
The machine will hang right before uncompressing the kernel. A laptop that
suffers from this is the first series of the Vobis Lebook (Mitac 5024)
laptop.
The reason is a particular patch introduced in kernels >2.6.17.14.
This post is just to document possible fixes:
a) Compile your own 2.6.18 Debian kernel. Just make to set this kernel
configuration:
CONFIG_FIRMWARE_EDID=N
b) In kernel >= 2.6.21 a fix has been incorporated, which does not require
the above change in the .config
More information can be found here:
http://bugme.osdl.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1458
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