[NTLUG:Discuss] Dell Latitude Boot Problems

Sat Mar 6 23:59:26 CST 2004

On Saturday 06 March 2004 11:23 pm, kbrannen at gte.net wrote:
> Melody & Andrew Dennis wrote:
> > Hello Everyone,
> > I've been "lurking" on this list for quite a while, and finally decided
> > to join in.
> >
> > Here's my problem:
> > I have two Dell Latitude CPI Laptops, one 366MHz PII and one 400MHz PII,
> > other than the CPU speeds & hard drive sizes, they are configured with
> > exactly the same hardware.  My problem is that after installation of
> > Slack 9.2 with the default kernel, no special configs or anything else,
> > both computers boot just fine the first time.  After that, when I reboot
> > for one reason or another, they just freeze at exactly the same point. 
> > If this was an incompatibility problem, I can see neither computer
> > booting at all, but it only occurs after I have installed, rebooted,
> > worked a little bit, and then attempted to boot again.........
> >
> > I believe the problem lies with the NeoMagic 256 Video cards (kernel
> > message output is as follows)
> >
> > PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 01:00.
> > nm256: Found card signature in video RAM: 0x3fec00
> > nm256: Mapping port 1 from 0x3f09a0 - 0x3fec00
> >
> > At this point, boot progresses no further.  If I start the install
> > process all over, everything is fine until that magical second reboot. 
> > I've reflashed both bios's to the latest available, yet the problem still
> > remains, although some sound config problems I had are now gone.......
>
> Welcome!
>
> For problems like this on laptops, I like to blame ACPI, :-) especially on
> older laptops.  So try putting "acpi=off" on the boot line.  You might also
> try "apm=off" if the first doesn't help.
>
> I'm willing to bet one or both of those is the problem, as many installs
> turn them both off for maximum compatibility, but since you didn't tell it
> to keep them off, it turned 1 or both back on for successive boots, hence
> the behavior you're seeing.
>
> Also, be sure to check the Linux Laptops page, you may find that and other
> info that will be very helpful.  See http://www.linux-laptop.net/
>
> HTH,
> Kevin
>
> _______________________________________________
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Much thanks, will try both..........
Andrew