Initial install: intermittent kernel oopses, segfaults, etc

antisthenes · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 89

Well, I just got a new machine, and Debian was having problems with its sis900 network card. So I decided to try gentoo.

Specs:
Pentium4 2.4 (533)
512 MB RAM (DDR 300)
ECS LS48A2 motherboard (SiS 648 chipset)
GeForce2 MX
SB Live! 5.1
60GB WD HD

Booting from the (basic) cd works great, network works out-of-the-box, etc. etc.

However, when I try to bootstrap the system, I constantly get Kernel Oopses (I remember the "Tainted" is "GF"). Often, I get random segmentation faults while compiling, which go away after rerurnning the script, only to show up in another build. I also get totally random compile errors, which likewise go away on rerun. I tried the same thing with the stage2 tarball, and it does the same thing. ("--mcpu=pentium4 -O1 -pipe")

I had installed Libranet on this PC before, and it seemed to work. I hate Libranet, though, and I want gentoo.

Help appreciated.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Most likely a hardware problem. See this FAQ.

Also see Linux hardware stability guide, Part 1.

Moved from Portage & Programming.
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

antisthenes · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 89

Using -j1 in make.conf seemed to have made it much better (knock knock knock); less CPU load?

Twist · Guru Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 414 Location: San Diego

>Using -j1 in make.conf seemed to have made it much better (knock knock knock); less CPU load?

Not really, top will probably show you 99.X% while compiles are happening. It's just that there will be more spool up and back out time between module compilations.

Random guess: something up with your controller/disk combo. -j2 or higher would result in more disk thrash.

-Twist