Re: RAM chips (NMI) error !

Alan Cox (alan@cymru.net)
Tue, 12 Mar 1996 10:57:04 +0000 (GMT)

> But for a strange reason, when I'm booting the kernel with the floppy disk
> on my 386sx, it starts it and then I get the message:
> Uhhuh. NMI received. Dazed and confused, but trying to continue
> You probably have a hardware problem with your RAM chips or a
> power saving mode enabled.
> looped forever on the screen!
> But my ram chips are ok (tested them under msdos) and I ain't got any
> power saving mode enabled.

How did you test them under MSDOS. Does it behave if you boot the image
off hard disk (thats not as daft as it sounds, DMA sometimes tickles
ram problems close to the edge).

> And the kernel did works fine on this 386sx when it was version 1.1.59

That is hopefully a sign its not a problem with the RAM.

> So, anyone could tell me what's the problem (I've found that the C file
> that was responsible of this message was arch/i386/kernel/traps.c) and
> more important how to SOLVE it ??

Try and build a kernel containing only exactly what you need, don't include
APM or anything you don't have and run that. Try running that off hard disk.

Alan