Thanks Hugh, I'll have a play and see what happens :-)
jeremyb.
> From: Hugh McColl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: 2002/06/11 Tue PM 09:06:10 GMT+12:00
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: aic7xxx & SMP Kernels
>
> Hi Jeremy,
>
> Just on the off chance your problem is similar. I encountered a problem
> with my dual p133 were NICs stopped working with SMP kernels when I
> first upgraded from SGI-RH7.1 ( 2.4.3 kernel) to SGI-RH7.2 (2.4.9
> kernel) - whereas they worked when I booted up a UP kernel.
> I even tried 3 or 4 different types of NIC and drivers and none of them
> worked with smp kernels. Just after it became available in NZ, I tried a
> clean install of the standard RH7.3 release to a separate partition (to
> eliminate SGI xfs dependencies) and encountered the same NO GO results
> with the 2.4.18 smp kernel (2.4.18 up kernel worked).
>
> I eventually diagnosed the problem to an issue when the on board APIC
> was inuse. My current workaround is to disable use of the APIC using
> append="noapic" in lilo.conf , which allows my box to run SMP kernels
> again . There is a BIOS parameter that I noticed later: 'PCI IRQ
> Activated By' Level .versus. Edge. I might try toggling this next time
> I take my server down for maintenance to see if I can get the APIC back
> online with the other variation.
>
> I got onto this by comparing boot messages between booting an smp
> versus up kernel. This lead me to do a 'cat /proc/interrupts' where I
> noticed that NO interrupts were being generated/seen on for the NICs (ok
> for other adapters/drivers) and also the use of the APIC for interrupt
> sharing between CPUs .
>
> The only explanation I have as to why earlier kernel versions worked
> (without requiring the explicit "noapic" option) is that they weren't
> actually using the APIC for some other reason.
>
> So just as a long shot, if your smp kernel is attempting to use an APIC,
> you could try disabling it to see if it resolves your problem.
>
> cheers
> Hugh Mc
>
>
> Jeremy Bertenshaw wrote:
>
> >Hi All,
> >
> >anyone managed to get this to work? just installing
> >an old digital smp box with RH7.3 and it appears the
> >driver is not happy at all, boots fine with a single
> >processor kernel.
> >
> >jeremyb
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
