Symptoms (v1.3.91 - the only image I have that is kinda usable):
1) errors getting kernel pages (random).
2) 'cat /proc/ioports' usually panics (98% of the time).
3) SCSI errors (never got any before, but could be a driver update)
4) errors trying to use serial ports after 2nd load.
(ie. the 1st insmod/rmmod works, and 2nd insmod works, but
I get errors/panics when accessing ports)
On 1.3.93, the 2nd load always fails, and the ports
_never_ work (ie. the problem is worse).
5) The dev_name in /proc/ioports for the serial driver
is wrong on 2nd load (random name = corrupted?).
6) I didn't have _ANY_ problems until I started to use
the serial driver as a module (that's over 2 years
without an error message on _ANY_ kernel, until now).
Conclusion:
The serial module does not load/unload properly, and/or
possibly corrupts some of the kernel space in the process.
My conclusion that it is the serial module could be wrong, but
it is my best guess so far. Anybody with a better guess is
invited to chime in!
Haven't tried 1.3.95 yet (I've tried all the other v1.3.9*),
but I thought I'd speak out anyways as others are having similar
problems that might be related. I'm going to try it with serial
as a module and compiled in. I'll report the results here.
-- Andrew E. Mileski --
mailto:aem@ott.hookup.net
http://www.redhat.com/~aem/