I'm getting something simliar under Knoppix 3.8.2 with a persistent image of about 1 GB. The error happens when I try to install software using the math package R. However, I'm running on a desktop: AMD Athlon 2400+, 128 MB RAM. This is the message from the end of a dmesg listing:
Code:
ASSERTION FAILED: rdstate->uds_cookie < MAXRDCOOKIE at /usr/src/modules/unionfs-1.0.11/unionfs.h:256 (verify_rdstate_offset)
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000
 printing eip:
c8716d32
*pde = 00000000
Oops: 0002 [#1]
PREEMPT SMP
Modules linked in: md5 ipv6 snd_mixer_oss snd autofs4 af_packet via82cxxx_audio uart401 sound soundcore ac97_codec 8139too mii via_agp agpgart i2c_viapro i2c_core parport_pc parport 8250 serial_core usbhid pcmcia yenta_socket rsrc_nonstatic pcmcia_core video thermal processor fan container button battery ac rtc unionfs cloop loop ntfs ext3 jbd reiserfs sbp2 ohci1394 ieee1394 usb_storage ub ohci_hcd uhci_hcd ehci_hcd usbcore
CPU:    0
EIP:    0060:[<c8716d32>]    Not tainted VLI

EFLAGS: 00210286   (2.6.11)
EIP is at unionfs_filldir+0x16e/0x224 [unionfs]
eax: 00000080   ebx: c2771008   ecx: c68b9e8c   edx: c87ad5e0
esi: c0992c00   edi: c87b159a   ebp: c68b9f3c   esp: c68b9e9c
ds: 007b   es: 007b   ss: 0068
Process R (pid: 7073, threadinfo=c68b8000 task=c6e1a040)
Stack: 00000000 00000000 c2771000 c2771000 c104ee20 00000000 c018ab6a c68b9f3c
       c2771008 00000001 00000000 00000000 000001b7 00000004 00000059 c2771ff4
       00000000 c032e0e0 fffff000 00000001 00000000 c5222a00 c22776a8 c4218e20
Call Trace:
 [<c018ab6a>] ext2_readdir+0x1b2/0x2a8
 [<c0163285>] vfs_readdir+0x71/0x8c
 [<c8716bc4>] unionfs_filldir+0x0/0x224 [unionfs]
 [<c8716f1b>] unionfs_readdir+0x133/0x46c [unionfs]
 [<c8716bc4>] unionfs_filldir+0x0/0x224 [unionfs]
 [<c01635dc>] filldir64+0x0/0x144
 [<c0163285>] vfs_readdir+0x71/0x8c
 [<c01635dc>] filldir64+0x0/0x144
 [<c016378b>] sys_getdents64+0x6b/0xc0
 [<c01635dc>] filldir64+0x0/0x144
 [<c01629c4>] sys_fcntl64+0x6c/0x80
 [<c010342b>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
Code: 85 c0 0f 84 68 ff ff ff eb 8c 68 d9 b8 7a c8 68 00 01 00 00 68 80 d4 7a c8 68 e0 d8 7a c8 68 e0 d5 7a c8 e8 0d 46 a0 f7 83 c4 14 <c6> 05 00 00 00 00 00 eb c8 68 d9 b8 7a c8 68 ff 00 00 00 68 80
Boot command:
Code:
boot: knoppix dma bootfrom=/dev/hda1/knx.iso
I have not been able to reliably reproduce the error. My notes so far can be found here:

http://www.cwelug.org/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi?BioConductor

What other information could I provide to pinpoint the problem and find a solution?

Regards,
- Robert