I can't boot (almost any Linux) on a dual core i686

[graham_k]

I was happy with Ubuntu on my old laptop, but wanted to make the switch to Kubuntu, as I prefer KDE to Gnome.

My old laptop died and I had to get a new one, an HP Pavilion dv9505TX (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/sg/en...&lang=en&cc=sg)

Now I can't seem to boot almost any Linux, as they all crash partway through. I tried Kubuntu, then Ubuntu, then a Suse CD and a Mepis CD which I had lying around. I was scratching my head when my gf suggested that it might be because the new laptop is dual core.

So, I googled from some 686 distros and find that I can get it to a boot prompt with Fedora Core 7 and also with Arch Linux (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page)

Everything I read says that any distro with a recent kernel should handle dual core ok, probably just ignoring one core by default, and then I have to play about with SMP, but most distros which are not explicitly for 686 won't boot completely.

Is there such a thing as a 6868 image for Kubuntu?

Thanks in advance for any help

[jankushka]

Re: I can't boot (almost any Linux) on a dual core i686

not sure this will help, but my Dell Precision M65 has a T7200 (yours looks like a T7300).
it runs with the generic kernel just fine.
i also use the hw virtualization feature with no problems whatsoever.

here's the (partial) cpuinfo:

root# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 2000.000
cache size : 4096 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
...
processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 2000.000
cache size : 4096 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
...

and here's the kernel stuff:

root# uname -a
Linux crisps 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Thu Jun 7 20:19:32 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

could it be your issue is elsewhere (mem/disks/...) ?!?

[mfburgo]

Re: I can't boot (almost any Linux) on a dual core i686

On the dv9000 series you need to use the nolapic kernel option.

There is a forum just for the dv9000 and ubuntu: here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=431815