Arch Linux

jwc

Member

Registered: 2007-07-08

Posts: 2

Website

Installation reboots immediately after loading initrd.

Hello.

Having used Arch Linux in the past for various things, I was hoping to use it to run my (really tiny) music/media server.  However, I seem to be experiencing an issue with installation.

Here are some hardware specs.
Motherboard: Jetway J627F Mini-ITX Motherboard
North Bridge: VIA VT8623
South Bridge: VIA VT8235
Graphics Chp
CPU: VIA C3 Samuel 2 processor - 800MHz (133x6.0)
RAM: 256 MB (Very Generic)
HD: Seagate 80GB Drive

The problem:
After the POST is done, the system correctly gets to the ISOLINUX boot prompt.  I press enter to boot with the default configuration.  The system loads the kernel and then tries to load the initrd.  It goes through about 6-7 lines of ...... and then a new line that says "Ready." appears under all these periods and milliseconds later, the system restarts.

I have tried playing around with a few flags at the boot prompt, but to no avail.

I have tried both an IDE drive and a USB drive.  The results are exactly the same.

I have successfully installed Slackware.  I have also successfully built and run 2.6 kernels.  I have used various LiveCDs with no problems too, such as the GParted LiveCD for partitioning my system.  However, I'd like to use Arch Linux because Pacman is so much more robust than Slackware's package manager and it would take far too long to compile things like X with such a weak processor.

If you would like any more information on the system, please do not hesitate to ask.  I'm not familiar with this type of problem, so I'm not quite sure where to start.

Thank you.

ataraxia

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2007-05-06

Posts: 1,553

Re: Installation reboots immediately after loading initrd.

Are the Samuel cores 686-compatible, or are they more like Pentium-Pro equivalent? Arch is compiled to require 686 functionality.

jwc

Member

Registered: 2007-07-08

Posts: 2

Website

Re: Installation reboots immediately after loading initrd.

They should be compatible.  Yet, I have found some information:

Select this for a Cyrix III or C3 chip.  Presently Linux and GCC
treat this chip as a generic 586. Whilst the CPU is 686 class,
it lacks the cmov extension which gcc assumes is present when
generating 686 code.

Yet, if I type "arch" on my Slackware build, it will respond with i686.  Also, this seems like it would be an issue when compiling with GCC, not necessarily starting the system.

a samuel-2 is an i686 CPU, but unfortunately not one that can run code compiled with -march=i686

I guess that answers my question, then.

But I still wonder why if I run "arch" (the command), it responds with i686.

Last edited by jwc (2007-07-09 10:57:38)

ataraxia

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2007-05-06

Posts: 1,553

Re: Installation reboots immediately after loading initrd.

It's probably just enough of an i686 to be detected as one, but not enough to handle code generated only for one.

standa

Member

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 2

Re: Installation reboots immediately after loading initrd.

I have seen the same symptoms on my J7F2 C7 mini-itx. It proved to be an invalid initrd.gz on my USB stick I was trying to boot with syslinux.

So in case you have a real i686 then make sure you can gunzip and mount/extract the initrd as appropriate somewhere on a test system.

Last edited by standa (2007-08-20 05:40:32)