[Sussex] ACPI problem, Debian Wheezy

Tue Aug 7 12:49:16 UTC 2012

Hello Gavin,

On 2012-08-07 00:56, Gavin Stevens wrote:
> Hi Jan,
>
> Sorry, I should have mentioned that I'd already tried "acpi=off". I
> tried it again just now & it made a few differences: It produced a
> "pnpbios" message suggesting that I turn off pnpbios (already 
> disabled
> in BIOS); it still appears to try to start ACPI & returns a message
> saying that there was an "error talking to the kernel via RNETLINK1" 
> &
> it then goes to a blank screen (before typing "acpi=off" it had the
> "INVALID _PCT DATA" message).
>
> If the machine tries to boot normally (without "acpi=off") it 
> produces
> a message "waiting for /dev to be fully populated ACPI: INVALID _PCT
> DATA" but it carries on booting past that before coming to a halt as
> mentioned.

That seems to be a rather specific ACPI-style bug. Unfortunately I'm 
not a C developer, so even though I managed to get to the part of the 
kernel source that spits out that specific error [1], I'm at a loss as 
to what to do about it right now.

> I tried booting in recovery mode (with "acpi=off" for good measure) & 
> I
> got the command line & was able to log in as root, which is a start.

OK, this is quite hopeful then. Have you tried to replicate the same 
kernel parameters used in recovery mode (minus the single user bit of 
course) for your normal kernel?

If the problem persists after that test, here are a few things to try 
(at least that would be what I would do since this clearly seems like a 
kernel/hardware mismatch):

* Try out a few of the latest live CD's (Fedora 17, Ubuntu 12.04 an 
12.10, System Rescue CD, etc.) just to test the kernel/hardware theory
* Try to roll back to the previously known "good version" of the kernel 
- it should still be installed and available with a few grub config 
changes
* Research BIOS updates for your board - it could be that there was a 
few long-standing ACPI bugs with work-arounds in the kernel, and the 
latest kernel updates took out the old cruft because of various reasons.
* Try out a few new kernels, or simply roll your own (a bit technically 
involved, but not overly difficult).

By the way, I cannot remember whether you stated the version of your 
distro and kernel, so please update us with that.

> I hope this may assist you in identifying the problem.

I hope you are aware that I'm doing a lot of straw-clutching here! :-D

Anyhow, I hope that one of the above activities could help you out.

>
> Many thanks,
> Gavin.
>
> On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:25:36 +0100
> Jan Henkins <jan at henkins.za.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello Gavin,
>>
>> Have you tried to disable ACPI yet?
>>
>> Here is a thread with some tips on how to do it:
>>
>> http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2006/08/msg01606.html
>>
>> Before you make any lasting changes, you can try it by temporarily
>> adding the "acpi=off" in GRUB. If that works, you can go and add it
>> to your GRUB defaults.
>>
>> During bootup, press <Ctrl>+<E> in your boot screen. Move the
>> highlight to the "kernel" entry, and add "acpi-off" at the end. Once
>> you have done that, hit <Ctrl>+<B> to boot the kernel with those
>> options.
>>
>> Let's see if it works! :-)
>>
>> Regards,
>> Jan Henkins
>>
>> On 2012-08-06 17:16, Gavin Stevens wrote:
>> > After a routine update my main PC will no longer boot 
>> successfully.
>> > Everything appears normal in the beginning, but then appears the
>> > following message: "22.290745 ACPI: INVALID _PCT DATA". The 
>> numbers
>> > at
>> > the beginning vary every time but the rest of the message is the
>> > same.
>> > The machine then sits there until I do CTRL+ALT+DEL whereupon the
>> > machine restarts & does the same thing, or I press the on switch 
>> of
>> > the tower & the system shuts down.
>> >
>> > I tried a Puppy CD this morning & it booted successfully but I am
>> > very keen, nay, desperate to learn the possible causes for this
>> > error message. Searches on the web have not been helpful.
>> >
>> > The system is a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, 1GB RAM dual channel 80GB + 40 
>> GB
>> > HDD capacity. Intel D875PBZ board. This machine has been running
>> > Debian all its life since June 2004 when I built it.
>> >
>> > Any help much appreciated.
>> >
>> > Gavin.
>>
>>
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>
>
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-- 
Regards,
Jan Henkins