Jaunty will not boot on Dell Optiplex 760 unless hpet=disable
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux |
New
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
linux (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
MIT is switching its standard recommended desktop configuration from the Dell Optiplex 755 which has
reached end of life to the new Dell Optiplex 760.
Unfortunately there seems to be a nasty kernel bug around HPET.
Repeat by:
Boot today's Jaunty Live CD. (I used 3/24/09 and also as another test 1/13/09)
Select your language
Choose "Try Ubuntu..."
Actual results:
Blank screen
Expected results:
Working Jaunty.
Work-around:
Select option ACPI=off
----
We know from other bug reports for example,
http://
that there is a problem with HPET. That debian bug requests incorporation of a one-line kernel change
that changes an oops message from displaying on every clock tick to one that only appears once.
It does not, however get HPET working.
This problem manifests under Intrepid with much spewage of kernel oops messages and/or terribly slow operation.
Again the work-around of of turning off ACPI seems to help.
The hardware has ICH10 motherboard chips. How new are they?
Also I see a report that the PNP-BIOS is not working, but I do not know if this is relevant.
Changed in dell: | |
status: | New → Fix Released |
Changed in linux (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → Invalid |
Changed in somerville: | |
status: | New → Fix Released |
no longer affects: | dell |
I have done more testing and learned much.
Setting kernel option
hpet=disable
works around the problem.
Also, if you hit the power switch to create an interrupt, oh say about 40 times, you can get the bootstrap to the point where it sees the keyboard. At that point you can generate interrupts with the keyboard to the point where gdm starts, and sees the mouse.
After that, unless YOU create interrupts, the system sees no clock interrupts, and
does nothing. It's fun to type "ls<enter>" and have it produce no output till you move the mouse, or hit the ctrl key.