My Dell 400SC was acting somewhat flaky this evening, one symptom was
not being able to start k3b. Messages like "check dcop server is
running". After trying to learn more about dcop, I decided to just
reboot. Then the real problems started.
Background: this is a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, with hyperthreading. I have
been running smp kernels since the machine was new, a couple of years
ago. First Fedora Core 2, now Core 3.
Now I can not boot any smp kernel, not even into single-user mode.
The system just flaps about and returns to the BIOS boot and then to
grub. Booting the uni-processor kernel seems to work OK, but I don't
get the interesting effect of having two somewhat independent CPUs.
Also I observe that my computationally intensive prime number search
now takes 100% of a single CPU rather than being divided 50-50 between
two CPUs. But it doesn't run any faster.
What, I wonder, has broken. I have not yet tried running the Dell
diagnostic software.
Somehow I don't think that upgrading to a newer version of the OS will help.
carl
--
carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
