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I am using a recently acquired laptop with SUSE Linux 9.3 after upgrading the RAM

I cannot get it to boot entirely up and this is the last message I receive:

<0>Kernal panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill the idle task!

and just below it the cursor dash just sits blinking

What do I do? This is urgent as I need to use this computer on line for business, this is my first experience with SUSE or any LINUX for that matter

xDamox

Hi,

What size of RAM do you now have? and if you remove the RAM you just added does SUSE boot up ok?

reyeuro

ASKER

The RAM has been upgraded to 320 MB which is MAX for this notebook hp omnibook 900b, it recognizes the RAM in the BIOS etc....

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

pjedmond

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reyeuro

ASKER

IT Department? I am just me, myself and I

reyeuro

ASKER

Okay, I removed the RAM upgrade and it is booting just fine now, so how do I upgrade the RAM?

pjedmond

So - why a linux laptop?

Anyway..., I suspect that you need to boot from a live CD...Knoppix would be good:

http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

mkdir /mnt/sysimage
mount -t ext2 /dev/internalhdx /mnt/systimage
chroot /mnt/sysimage
mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.11.img

Hopefully that should sort things out for you....Alternatively, it will highlight new problems to address;)

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pjedmond

>Okay, I removed the RAM upgrade and it is booting just fine now, so how do I upgrade the RAM?

Implies that there may be a problem with the RAM....which we (being the sort of curious people that we are)....want to test.....don't we?

Go here:

and create a bootable memtest iso. Burn until well done, check that it boots with current config. Add new memory, salt and pepper, and test as necessary.

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reyeuro

ASKER

I am waiting for an external hard drive so I can install windows XP on this laptop, as to your query "Why a linux laptop?" I guess I will just await the cd rom and forget about using linux at all, just thought I would try to learn something new...

reyeuro

ASKER

Thanks, Removed the RAM and everything is AOK!

pjedmond

Don't give up with linux - it takes a little longer to get familiar with it...but the power is awesome:)

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pjedmond

...and you do want to find out what's wrong with the RAM...don't you?.....or at least I do;)

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reyeuro

ASKER

The RAM works fine in my Windows laptop, it is PC133 and should work in the PC100 laptop shouldn't it?

xDamox

Hi,

Did you even try what pjedmond suggested?

>mkdir /mnt/sysimage
>mount -t ext2 /dev/internalhdx /mnt/systimage
>chroot /mnt/sysimage
>mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.11.img

pjedmond

Linux is a little more particular about reporting faults with hardware. Also in your windows laptop, it might start up fine, but not even use the higher memory addresses in the expansion chip unless you put the system under load. Even then, the data that is stored in the 'faulty memory' may only be data that does not cause a problem - a picture may have a few extra black pixels for example. A linux system will detect that. You need to test the RAM properly with the Live CD iso from memtest (or similar)

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