From: Charles Hedrick (hedrick@dumas.rutgers.edu)
Date: 08/02/92


From: hedrick@dumas.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: Re: Linux 0.97 and fast 486: timing problem ? (hanging at boot)
Date: 2 Aug 1992 19:35:50 GMT

jesq@coos.dartmouth.edu (Joseph Heye Killoran) writes:

>nnhut@bnr.ca (Nhut Nguyen) writes:

>>I have a 486 with 256K cache and had no problem with any version
>>of Linux, until I tried 0.97 today. 0.97 compiled OK but when I
>>try to boot, it hangs just before printing out HD partitions data.
>>If I boot at lower speed (8 Mhz vs. 33 Mhz) then it comes up OK.

>My 486/33 does exactly the same thing. ...
>boot at a lower speed, is that A BIOS option? (Not that it
>would be a real solution anyway)

I had this problem when I omitted the SCSI code, a configuration that
had worked under previous releases. With the SCSI code in, it works.
(Of course this could still be a timing problem, with something in the
SCSI code adding a bit of delay.)

A lot of systems have a button on the front that lets you slow the
machine down, for running things like games that have processor-
dependent timing loops. It's often labelled the "turbo" button. I
believe it would be possible to boot at 8 MHz and then go up to full
speed.