lost interrupt - no loading

[nishtya]

Newbie here, pardon. HD install of 2-16-04 knoppix debian-style. Using lilo to dual boot with w98 on a separate harddrive. About every 3rd or so boot or restart I have a problem loading where the screen just scrolls, "lost interrupt" although this comes after the recognition of the harddrives. It seems it loses it after "configuring dependancies" and "setting speed 0x58" it goes too fast to really catch it. It requires a poweroff and restart to finally get in. a) is there a way to make it log the boot and loading so I can examine it or b) to slow it down it down to read it just where it fouls up? The drive linux is on is an old scavenged 6 gig maxtor of at least 5 years, not exactly prime stuff but when it ran windows I have to admit there was never any problem with it. Any diagnostic utilities on the linux side? I don't mind putting in a newer drive but would like to be fairly confident that is what the problem is.

[rickenbacherus]

All logs reside in /var/log/

dmesg|less

[pulsar]

What's your motherboard manufacturer (chipset producer)?

[Stephen]

Newbie here, pardon. HD install of 2-16-04 knoppix debian-style. Using lilo to dual boot with w98 on a separate harddrive. About every 3rd or so boot or restart I have a problem loading where the screen just scrolls, "lost interrupt" although this comes after the recognition of the harddrives. It seems it loses it after "configuring dependancies" and "setting speed 0x58" it goes too fast to really catch it. It requires a poweroff and restart to finally get in. a) is there a way to make it log the boot and loading so I can examine it or b) to slow it down it down to read it just where it fouls up? The drive linux is on is an old scavenged 6 gig maxtor of at least 5 years, not exactly prime stuff but when it ran windows I have to admit there was never any problem with it. Any diagnostic utilities on the linux side? I don't mind putting in a newer drive but would like to be fairly confident that is what the problem is.

Check in the /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh and near the bottom of the file put a # character in front of the line with hdparm ... and see if that solves the problem.

[nishtya]

ECS K7S5A that has been rock solid under windows. SIS chipset, 635 I believe. The problem occurs most often with a reboot rather than from a cold boot. I will try the hdparm commenting out (harddrive parameters?).

[Zhukov]

I had the same error msgs "lost interrupt". I could solve this issue typing at boot time the parameter noapic. I have had the lost interrupt error with knoppix and debian 3.0rc2, maybe it could help.

bye!

[Loper]

ECS K7S5A that has been rock solid under windows. SIS chipset, 635 I believe. The problem occurs most often with a reboot rather than from a cold boot. I will try the hdparm commenting out (hard drive parameters?).
There are issues with the ECS K7S5A boards in general, but don't get me wrong, I still like it. Some boards have a problem with excessive voltage to the SiS 735 chipset. This can exhibit itself in several ways, most of them intermittent. Also, you can upgrade the BIOS with one that has more control over the clocks and voltages. Here's a couple of links: a Google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22ECS+K7S5A%22+voltage&btnG=Google+Search) search. and more on the voltage (http://www.geocities.com/mrathlon2000/chipset.html) problem.

[pulsar]

Does your board uses the SiS 746FX/936L chipset like my Asrock K7S8X? I also have the problem that Knoppix won't boot (lost interrupt messages). This occurs btw by most Linux distributions I tried op my pc. The chipset does not support the linux OS (kernel)correctly I believe. A while ago I read something about this issue on the OCWorkbench website. It seems that a biosupgrade (betà) might help (www.ntcompatible.com/story26598.html).

[nishtya]

The chipset is 735, pardon the wrong info earlier - was a long while ago I built this machine. I have to say I have been very pleased with this board though I know many people have had problems. I have had the lost bios glitch a couple of times in two years and no problems whatsoever otherwise, a dream compared to the MSI with VIA chipset it replaced. It's revision 3.1 with the original BIOS, I haven't upgraded them as it is working fine for windows and I didn't want to push my luck :wink:

I did have the lost interrupt occur twice on another knoppix HD debian install on that MSI board with a different drive. I am beginning to wonder whether the problem is exacerbated in this install by slaving the very old slow Maxtor to a much faster new drive. Primary IDE channel is a 7200 ATA 100 Seagate with windows with this old ATA33 maxtor as slave. I haven't noticed any problem or slowdown of the seagate in windows (have to admit I haven't used it much since I installed Linux :D ) but it is something for more knowledable minds than mine to ponder, maybe.

currently bootmisc reads:

/sbin/hdparm -qd1 /dev/hda
/sbin/hdparm -qd1 /dev/hdb

I assume that DMA is enabled there and if I comment out the second line it will disable it? Or should I comment out both lines? Also, at what point to enter the no apic command? When Lilo loads I get it's dialog to choose which partition to boot. Under that dialog is a boot prompt, I am assuming this is what you mean? (remember, linux newb). Also, is there anyway to escape from the lost interrupt once it starts, other than the hard reset I have been using?

[pulsar]

Did you already tried typing noapic in the bootscreen?

[nishtya]

noapic does not work for me when I type it in at the only thing that comes up looking like a "boot prompt". Which I take to mean the "boot" prompt under the lilo dialog (I am dual booting with 98). I get "no such file or command". Please keep in mind that I am a linux newbie at the stage where I go "hey, it's installed on the hard drive", "weee, I am on the internet with Linux", and "oh wow, I just installed those debs in twenty-five steps or less" :lol: maybe sad but true. Commenting out in the bootmisc the hard drive parameters which I assumed were dma enabling has effected no change. I am still about 30% of the time getting the lost interrupt message but another boot and all better. Overall, I am thrilled with how much I am able to do with this install in particular and linux in general. I can live with the little bit of glitchiness and (I been windows for my lifetime, I know glitchiness) since I am happy with this system for now, served me for I guess two years. Just don't want to shell out money on storage I really don't need at all if it's the board which I will be upgrading soon anyway.