Re: VIA bug?

[George Georgalis <george@galis.org>]

On Sat, Jan 18, 2003 at 01:20:35AM +1300, Richard Hector wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>After a fresh install on a newish PC, I get an error like this:
>
>probable hardware bug: clock timer configuration lost - probably a
>VIA686a
>probable hardware bug: restoring chip configuration
>
>This machine also had problems such as the mouse freezing, and sound
>playback (and recording) was slow, under WinXP - that's part of the
>reason for switching, but I'm not sure if it's relevant.
>
>Anyway, I've discovered that that message does not exist in the 2.4.18
>kernel source - does that mean that kernel avoids the problem, and
>therefore all my problems will be over once I upgrade?
>

If it's what I think, yes. If you try to boot RedHat 6.0 (?) you'll see
another incarnation (the installer kernel works but the distro kernel
crashes hard). I thought it had something to do with asking an AMD cpu
for a Pentium cpu id, some kernel boot parameter "with nr_ in it" fixed
the problem, I couldn't find that parameter looking just now, but I did
come across this:

append="noapic"

(or when compiling) 
Use kernel 2.4.18 and choose "Athlon/Duron/K7 processor family"; disable
"Use local APIC on single processors".

but I expect using a bf2.4 install (or upgrade if you can) will solve
the problem.

don't know if the mouse/sound problems are hardware related, does the pc
say 'made for XP' if not, my bet is on driver software?

// George


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