Arch Linux

srimalik

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 65

booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Is it not supported?..I was not able to boot my machine from 32 bit archCD while a 32 bit machine booted without problems with the same CD.

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,480

Website

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Not if your machine is pure 64bit.  If it does runs both (e.g. Intel Core2Duo), then yes.

---

PGP Key: F99FFE0FEAE999BD | I develop pacman - buy me a drink!

byte

Member

From: Düsseldorf (DE)

Registered: 2006-05-01

Posts: 2,046

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

I'm curious about the error message. Also, what kind of machine is it? Itanium?

---

1000

srimalik

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 65

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

I'm curious about the error message. Also, what kind of machine is it? Itanium?

It is a p4 HT processor 3.4 GHz...Will send you more details on Monday.

srimalik

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 65

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Not if your machine is pure 64bit.  If it does runs both (e.g. Intel Core2Duo), then yes.

Why.? .I can boot Suse32 bit and Fedora

srimalik

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 65

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 4
model name      :               Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
stepping        : 3
cpu MHz         : 3391.615
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 5
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc up pebs bts sync_rdtsc pni monitor ds_cpl est cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips        : 6790.62
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Your machine should run 32 bit fine. Post whatever error message that you're getting. If you're not seeing error messages, it could be that the CD drive itself is bad.

Last edited by skottish (2007-11-26 23:58:40)

srimalik

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 65

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Your machine should run 32 bit fine. Post whatever error message that you're getting. If you're not seeing error messages, it could be that the CD drive itself is bad.

Thanks, Skottish

Which line tells you that it can run 32 bit? Fedora8 and suse 32 bit ran without problem.(but arch32 bit is not working :-( )
Uptill now I was under an impression that all the 64 bit processors can run 32 bit OSes.

There is no error message reported on screen.
When I try to boot with the 32 bit CD..it shows a cursor which blinks forever.

a 64 bit CD works smoothly with the same CD drive, can it still be a cd drive problem?

Also the same 32 bit CD works without problems on my laptop(centrino duo).

Is there any other way I can find out th root cause of the problem?

Thanks
Sri

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: booting 64 bit machine with arch 32 bit bootable CD

Which line tells you that it can run 32 bit?

Mainly:

address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

Intel and AMD "desktop" chips are not actually 64 bit chips. They are chips capable of running some 64 bit instructions.
On my AMD X2 5200+:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep address
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

One line for each core.

With that being said, the "64 bit" chips were designed to be able to run 64 or 32 bit code.

I suggested the drive before because every time I've had a drive fail, it first started by struggling to read discs I burned, then it went on to store bought discs.