Need help tracking down serial problem on iBook G4

[Matthias Jordan <mjordan@code-fu.de>]

Hi, folks.

Since I've been running Ubuntu Breezy on my iBook G4 I kept having
problems booting the kernel - regardless of the kernel version. From
time to time the kernel just wouldn't start because it hung right
after the printk from the serial driver. The only solution to this
was to press the On/Off button for like 5 seconds to turn the
machine off the hard way. When the issue appeared, the kernel kept
hanging for a couple of tries to boot it but then again I often
could boot about 10 times without any problems.

Now I started to put some debug output into the driver files (mostly
8250.c) to see which function causes the problem. The funny thing is
that the problem hasn't showed up ever since. This is why I wonder
if it might be a timing problem.

I'd like to know two things from you:

a) Is anybody else experiencing this problem? (I'd like to see if
there is a problem that affects more people than just me and a friend.)
b) If so, would you like to try some modified kernel packages? (I'd
like to try out my attempts at a solution before I send in a patch.)

Currently, I'm using the 2.6.15 kernel. Together with the kernel
.deb I'd provide you with the most recent Broadcom and SoftMAC
driver modules.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and thanks to the Broadcom hackers: you are terrific!

Matthias