From the SuSE Support Database http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/.
SuSE Linux: Version 7.2,7.3 This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux. Therefore some of the informations given in this article may be outdated or the article may contain stale links. ------- Symptom ------- The installation on a Dell Pentium4 system fails with the message "kernel panic" or "cpu:0, clock:0, slice:0". Cause The Dell's BIOS has a valid MP[=multi processor] config table, but there aren't any CPUs registered as active, which is right. E.g. Dell Dimension 8100: 03: None 00.0: 10105 BIOS [Created at bios.75] Unique ID: IB+A.lZF+r4EgHp4 Serial Port 0: 0x3f8 Parallel Port 0: 0x378 Base Memory: 639k PnP BIOS: @@@0000 MP spec rev 1.4 info: OEM id: "DELL" Product id: "Dim 8100" 0 CPUs (0 disabled) Unfortunately, YaST2 selects an SMP-kernel if the board is SMP-able (i.e. if a MP table exists), regardless of whether there are >=2 CPUs or not. Therefore the number of CPUs will be simply ignored and an SMP-kernel will be installed. ---------- Solution 1 ---------- Update your BIOS from version A06 to the current version. After doing this, the installation should work without any problems. For this purpose please refer to Dell's support pages at http://support.us.dell.com/us/en/DHS-BSD_reg.asp?segid=5DS and select your system. There you will find a BIOS update along with instructions about how to update your BIOS. ---------- Solution 2 ---------- 1. Boot from the first CD and type in the option "disableapic" at the boot prompt. This should look like this: boot:linux disableapic 2. As soon as the system is started for the very first time during the installation, you will presumably just get a black screen and the installation will hang. Abort the installation at this stage (e.g. with Ctrl+Alt+Del) and proceed again as described in point 1. 3. Continue with the installation process until you are given the option "boot the installed system". Boot it. 4. Start YaST2. Select SYSTEM -> SELECT KERNEL, "Standard Kernel 2.4 (pentium optimized)" and install it. Under certain circumstances, an entry has to be added to the file /etc/lilo.conf. In order to do this, please proceed as follows: 1. Open a SHELL ( ALT + F2 -> xterm ) and type in su (ENTER) followed by your root password. Then execute pico /etc/lilo.conf 2. Search for the entry append="" and add disableapic to this line between the quotation marks. If there are already other entries, leave these in the line but separate the parameters from each other with a blank space. 3. Save the file and close the editor. 4. Execute the following command: /sbin/lilo (Please note: If you are booting with a LILO boot floppy, make sure that the floppy is in the floppy drive and that it is not write-protected.) ------------ Version 7.3: ------------ 1. Boot from the first CD and type in the option "disableapic maxcpus=0 nosmp" at the boot prompt. This should look like this: boot:linux disableapic maxcpus=0 nosmp 2. When you reach the installation menu, select 'Installation safe settings' and add the options (separated with a blank space): maxcpus=0 nosmp You also might have to add both options to the [append=""] line in a similar way as described in Solution 2. On Wed, 2002-06-12 at 16:19, James Salisbury wrote:
How do I inststall suse 7.3 on a P IV, it crashies at the boot screen, reports 0.00 MHz FSB and 0 cpu!