[PLUG] PC Reboots As Kernel Loads

[Paul Mullen]

Strange. I recently replaced the aging P166 motherboard in my Linux
box with a second-hand (known good) MicronPC i810-based 700 MHz
Celeron mobo. Everything looks alright until the kernel attempts
to load, at which point the box spontaneously reboots.

I can just barely make out where the kernel message spew is when
it barfs: it appears to be just *after* the "calculating delay
loop" line, which judging by the dmesg output of my other systems
is when the kernel decides what it has to work with in the way of
RAM.

Is it possible for "bad" RAM to make the kernel barf? This RAM came
off of the P166 board (yes, it's compatible with the Celeron --
standard PC133 DIMMs), and was working just fine. Also, I had no
difficulties booting with a Win98 boot floppy (sigh).

The next step I had in mind was to run some sort of memory test
software. Any better ideas?


Paul