Re: booting SMP P6 kernel on P4 hangs.

[Arjan van de Ven]

Linus Torvalds wrote:
> 
> In article <[e-mail]> you write:
> >
> >Isn't SMP P6 kernel supposed to boot fine on a P4? Btw, booting with
> >"nosmp" works but booting with "noapic" hangs just the same.
> 
> It should boot, and it looks like the problem may be a bad MP table.

Oh it is. And it's due to a recommendation Intel makes to bios writers. 
As a result, every P4 I've encountered shares this bug. Intel knows it's
an invalid MP table, but refuses to change the recommendation.

Now all Linux installers that decide to install a SMP kernel if they
encounter
a MPTABLE already have a "except if it's a P4" exception nowadays..

Greetings,
   Arjan van de Ven