Re: laptop + 2.1.57 resetting before printing "Uncompressing Linux"

Steve Dunham (dunham@cps.msu.edu)
12 Oct 1997 18:28:07 -0400

The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.hardware as well.

Bill Gribble <grib@cs.utexas.edu> writes:

> My Dell Latitude XPi (P120) has worked fine with 2.0.x kernels and
> early 2.1.x kernels (early ==> before about 2.1.35, plus or minus).
> I've brought all my other machines to 2.1.57, so I'm trying to get it
> on the laptop as well.

> LILO prints "LILO Loading Linux", and then the machine resets
> spontaneously before printing the "Uncompressing Linux" message. I'm
> back on my older 2.0.27 kernel, and it works fine; there's not that
> much different between the two kernels with respect to what happens
> before "Uncompressing Linux" is printed.

> Any ideas what's going on here?

Yup, "bzimage" kernels don't work with the Dell Xpi laptops. They
reboot just as you describe (even with the 2.0.x kernels). This makes
installing Debian Linux a pain. (I'm recompiling a 2.0.30 kernel as I
write this, so I can install Debian on my Xpi.)

I remember reading that at some point in the 2.1.x series bzimage
became the default. BTW, I have P75 Dell XPi.

Steve
dunham@cps.msu.edu