Gentoo Kernel Does not work for me.

[niben_s]

Hi,

I have AMD k6 533MHz system. I just successfully installed Gentoo from Stage-1 compliling from scratch. I used Gentoo-sources Kernel and have also successfully installed GRUB loader.

When I rebooted I can see GRUB splash screen but while booting to Gentoo the screen just goes blank and does nothing.

Does that mean I have a bad kernel?

Please enlighten me.

NMS

[AveryTorn]

What does your grub.conf look like?

This should also probably be in Installing Gentoo or Other Things Gentoo.

[niben_s]

What does your grub.conf look like?

This should also probably be in Installing Gentoo or Other Things Gentoo.

I tried both lilo and grub and none of them worked. When i tried to boot Gentoo it reboots and brings grub menu again.

Right now, I have grub and it looks like:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage =(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=gentoo
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3

I have also tried

kernel /bzImage root=/dev/hda3

My /etc/fstab file looks like:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs noauto 0 1
/dev/hda1 none swap 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

[masseya]

Moved from Documentation, Tips, and Tricks.

[AveryTorn]

I guess I misread the problem. Sounds like your grub is fine.

My /etc/fstab file looks like:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs noauto 0 1
/dev/hda1 none swap 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

I assume that you have swap on /dev/hda2 and not /dev/hda1. Change that and see what happens.

[jonaswhale]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

[niben_s]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

AveryTorn:
I'm sorry I mistyped. I do have swap in /dev/hda2

Jonaswhale:
Could you please tell me how do i set the setup for amd k-6 from menuconfig. I looked into and I just see "processor family and setting " which does not say much about amd processors.

Please reply back...

nms

[Deathwing00]

If you see a blank screen, it might be because you didn't compile correctly the kernel. In frame buffer devices, disable all except SVGA console. That will do.

[Deathwing00]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

AveryTorn:
I'm sorry I mistyped. I do have swap in /dev/hda2

Jonaswhale:
Could you please tell me how do i set the setup for amd k-6 from menuconfig. I looked into and I just see "processor family and setting " which does not say much about amd processors.

Please reply back...

nms

Edit /etc/make.conf and set HOST from i686 to i586 and CPU FLAGS from pentium to i586 (K&-specific are a little buggy if not used with -mcpu instead of -march).

[Sir Al]

When you're in the kernel config (after you typed 'make menuconfig'), go to the processor settings. In there you can choose which processor type you have. Simply press enter at that option and pick the processor you have. Sorry I can't give you exact directions as I'm not on my gentoo box at this time, but it's pretty straight forward, hope it helps.

Also, I had the same problem, the screen went blank. My problem was with the framebuffer mode, I added a vga=792 option to the kernel boot, but forgot to select the VESA framebuffer support in the kernel, thinking it could work with the SiS framebuffer driver.

One thing you could try is changing:

Code: Select all

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3

to

Code: Select all

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3 vga=ask

I doubt this will fix the problem as you do not have a vga= option there, but sometimes weird stuff happens to me unless I do specify such an option

[niben_s]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

AveryTorn:
I'm sorry I mistyped. I do have swap in /dev/hda2

Jonaswhale:
Could you please tell me how do i set the setup for amd k-6 from menuconfig. I looked into and I just see "processor family and setting " which does not say much about amd processors.

Please reply back...

nms

Edit /etc/make.conf and set HOST from i686 to i586 and CPU FLAGS from pentium to i586 (K&-specific are a little buggy if not used with -mcpu instead of -march).

This is the setup I have in /etc/make.conf:

Code: Select all

CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=k6 -03 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

Is this alright? And, after i make the changes as you said do i have to do bootstrap again or just compiling the kernel if fine? I see that when bootstrap process was building packages it was using these definitions..

Waiting to hear from you...

nms

[Deathwing00]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

AveryTorn:
I'm sorry I mistyped. I do have swap in /dev/hda2

Jonaswhale:
Could you please tell me how do i set the setup for amd k-6 from menuconfig. I looked into and I just see "processor family and setting " which does not say much about amd processors.

Please reply back...

nms

Edit /etc/make.conf and set HOST from i686 to i586 and CPU FLAGS from pentium to i586 (K&-specific are a little buggy if not used with -mcpu instead of -march).

This is the setup I have in /etc/make.conf:

Code: Select all

CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=k6 -03 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

Is this alright? And, after i make the changes as you said do i have to do bootstrap again or just compiling the kernel if fine? I see that when bootstrap process was building packages it was using these definitions..

Waiting to hear from you...

nms

It's not alright, as I said before, -march is buggy, chage it to -mcpu like this:

CFLAGS="-mcpu=i586 -03 -pipe"

The k6/k6-2/... options are buggy, so better forget them And do not use arch, use cpu instead, as arch is considered 'crazy' by developers.

[niben_s]

Thanks!! I am recompiling my gentoo-sources kernel with arch and using i586 instead of k6 as you said.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Sir Al: I tried with vga=792 as you said. It did not work! Any other suggestions.

nms

[Sir Al]

Sir Al: I tried with vga=792 as you said. It did not work! Any other suggestions.

Umm, I wouldn't use vga=792 unless you are confident that everything works and VESA or other type of framebuffering is set up.

I suggested using vga=ask instead, as I had a similar problem -- except my system actually booted, I just couldn't see anything.

I do think the problem would be in the kernel, however. Tell us how it works with i586 instead of k6.

And one more question, are you sure you have a k6 and not a k6-2, k6-III or k6-3? 533mhz is a LOT for a simple k6. Many people have trouble identifying between the different k6 series, especially the differences between k6-iii and k6-3.

[Deathwing00]

And one more question, are you sure you have a k6 and not a k6-2, k6-III or k6-3? 533mhz is a LOT for a simple k6. Many people have trouble identifying between the different k6 series, especially the differences between k6-iii and k6-3.

Explain to us the stepping differencies... for what I know it's that what makes them different as their identification string is the same for all of them.

[Sir Al]

And one more question, are you sure you have a k6 and not a k6-2, k6-III or k6-3? 533mhz is a LOT for a simple k6. Many people have trouble identifying between the different k6 series, especially the differences between k6-iii and k6-3.

Explain to us the stepping differencies... for what I know it's that what makes them different as their identification string is the same for all of them.

Their differences are in the model numbers and steppings. For AMD CPUs in Family #5, the following model numbers represent these processors:

0 - K5/SSA5
1-3 - K5
6,7 - K6
8 - K6-2
9 - K6-3
13 - K6-2+ or K6-III+

Generally the model number should tell you what CPU you're running (cat /proc/cpuinfo). Mine is a model 8, so I have a K6-2. The #13 models are more confusing, and I can only poke a guess that lower stepping numbers indicate you are running a K6-2+ and higher ones, a K6-III+, but for both of these, only k6-2 optimizations are recommended. There have been also cases were some k6-3 cpu's are actually k6-III cpu's (don't ask me what the difference is) and can use only k6-2 optimizations as well, as they behave like ones (perhaps with a large cache). I think if you have a K6-3 with a low stepping number, you might need to use K6-2 flags. Anyway, this system is confusing and as some have said, it might be better just to use i586 and sleep better

I don't know the exact differences between these processors featurewise, but a k6-3 has an L2 cache of 256k, which makes it superior to the K6-2, etc. I don't see why k6 optimization wouldn't work on a K6-2, but all this stuff is really beyond me as I've never dealt with these K6 processors that much, especially when it comes to optimizing options in gcc. I just used the -march=k6-2 option with -fomit-frame-pointer, and hey it works

[kikawala]

The default gentoo cpu choice is an intel pentium 3

when doing menuconfig on your kernel cpu/processor to k6-2

AveryTorn:
I'm sorry I mistyped. I do have swap in /dev/hda2

Jonaswhale:
Could you please tell me how do i set the setup for amd k-6 from menuconfig. I looked into and I just see "processor family and setting " which does not say much about amd processors.

Please reply back...

nms

Edit /etc/make.conf and set HOST from i686 to i586 and CPU FLAGS from pentium to i586 (K&-specific are a little buggy if not used with -mcpu instead of -march).

This is the setup I have in /etc/make.conf:

Code: Select all

CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=k6 -03 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

Is this alright? And, after i make the changes as you said do i have to do bootstrap again or just compiling the kernel if fine? I see that when bootstrap process was building packages it was using these definitions..

Waiting to hear from you...

nms

It's not alright, as I said before, -march is buggy, chage it to -mcpu like this:

CFLAGS="-mcpu=i586 -03 -pipe"

The k6/k6-2/... options are buggy, so better forget them And do not use arch, use cpu instead, as arch is considered 'crazy' by developers.

compiling the kernel does not use settings from make.conf. So changing CFLAGS in make.conf will not change them when compiling the kernel. You have to set the correct processor architect in the "processor family and settings" in kernel config/menconfig etc. to do so.

[niben_s]

And one more question, are you sure you have a k6 and not a k6-2, k6-III or k6-3? 533mhz is a LOT for a simple k6. Many people have trouble identifying between the different k6 series, especially the differences between k6-iii and k6-3.

Explain to us the stepping differencies... for what I know it's that what makes them different as their identification string is the same for all of them.

Their differences are in the model numbers and steppings. For AMD CPUs in Family #5, the following model numbers represent these processors:

0 - K5/SSA5
1-3 - K5
6,7 - K6
8 - K6-2
9 - K6-3
13 - K6-2+ or K6-III+

Generally the model number should tell you what CPU you're running (cat /proc/cpuinfo). Mine is a model 8, so I have a K6-2. The #13 models are more confusing, and I can only poke a guess that lower stepping numbers indicate you are running a K6-2+ and higher ones, a K6-III+, but for both of these, only k6-2 optimizations are recommended. There have been also cases were some k6-3 cpu's are actually k6-III cpu's (don't ask me what the difference is) and can use only k6-2 optimizations as well, as they behave like ones (perhaps with a large cache). I think if you have a K6-3 with a low stepping number, you might need to use K6-2 flags. Anyway, this system is confusing and as some have said, it might be better just to use i586 and sleep better

I don't know the exact differences between these processors featurewise, but a k6-3 has an L2 cache of 256k, which makes it superior to the K6-2, etc. I don't see why k6 optimization wouldn't work on a K6-2, but all this stuff is really beyond me as I've never dealt with these K6 processors that much, especially when it comes to optimizing options in gcc. I just used the -march=k6-2 option with -fomit-frame-pointer, and hey it works

Sir A:

Thanks for the detailed info. Upon looking into BIOS I found that the processor is K6-2. So what I thought before (ie, K6) about the processor was wrong. I am redoing the complete process. I will go with your -march=k6-2 option with -fomit-frame-pointer and see.

Deathwing00:
I recompiled the kernel with -march=i586 and it did not work. Let me try Sir A suggestion and I will do it from scratch.

Thanks for the help guys....I will update my stats with you.

nms

[Sir Al]

Sir A:

Thanks for the detailed info. Upon looking into BIOS I found that the processor is K6-2. So what I thought before (ie, K6) about the processor was wrong. I am redoing the complete process. I will go with your -march=k6-2 option with -fomit-frame-pointer and see.

Deathwing00:
I recompiled the kernel with -march=i586 and it did not work. Let me try Sir A suggestion and I will do it from scratch.

Sir Al instead of Sir A would be more au fait

I hope those options work well for you, I know they have for me, but others seem to say otherwise. My K6 box is rock stable hardware-wise, so it might contribute to that

[Deathwing00]

Sir A:

Thanks for the detailed info. Upon looking into BIOS I found that the processor is K6-2. So what I thought before (ie, K6) about the processor was wrong. I am redoing the complete process. I will go with your -march=k6-2 option with -fomit-frame-pointer and see.

Deathwing00:
I recompiled the kernel with -march=i586 and it did not work. Let me try Sir A suggestion and I will do it from scratch.

Sir Al instead of Sir A would be more au fait

I hope those options work well for you, I know they have for me, but others seem to say otherwise. My K6 box is rock stable hardware-wise, so it might contribute to that

All this brings me to think that there's some weird component... try stage 2... After that, you can recompile for your CPU the tools that stage 2 gives you compiled doing an emerge system without -u

[niben_s]

Deathwing00:
I will try the generic -mcpu=i586 option from scratch if -march-k6-2 will not work ( I am still building the system.. ). Will update with you guys.

Only then, I will try stage-2.

Thanks guys!

[niben_s]

Thanks guys for all your help. I rebuilt the system from scratch using -march=k6-2 flag and it works!!

Now, I need to configure desktop.

[Deathwing00]

Thanks guys for all your help. I rebuilt the system from scratch using -march=k6-2 flag and it works!!

Now, I need to configure desktop.

Those are good news. Have fun with your system, mate!

[Sir Al]

Thanks guys for all your help. I rebuilt the system from scratch using -march=k6-2 flag and it works!!

Now, I need to configure desktop.

Congrats! I knew -march=k6-2 would work