fc3-test2-x86_64 vs HP Pavilion zv5000z

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

I'm trying FC3-test2 X86_64 on my new notebook.  Lots of problems.  I
welcome hints!


1. the DVD image is too big.

<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=132998>
I've remastered the .iso, leaving out the SRPMs for koffice and
OpenOffice (as suggested somewhere).

I have attached my script for remastering to the bugzilla entry.


2.  Checking the MD5 sum of the DVD works fine, but when it finishes,
it goes into install.  I'd like to be able to go back to the initial
screen that gives me choices like "rescue".

Probably hard to fix this, but it is an interface design infelicity.


3.  During graphical install, the mouse (actually a Synaptics
Touchpad) is not found.

Some mailing lists suggest that the psmouse module needs to be pushed
later than normal startup does.  I don't understand.  Could this be
fallout from udev?

See for example:
<http://quanta.homeip.net/pipermail/linuxr3000/2004-September/000388.html>


4.  During graphical install, X comes up nicely (except for mouse
problem noted above).  Switching to any of the text consoles shows a
broken display.  Perhaps it could be described as lost sync, except I
don't know that LCD panels have sync.

This is apparently a known problem with the NV (nVidia) driver.  The
open source one, not the proprietary one.

"lspci -v" says this about the video controller:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 440 Go 64M] (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 006d
	Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
	Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
	Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=512K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0

See for example:
<http://quanta.homeip.net/pipermail/linuxr3000/2004-September/000369.html>


5.  In rescue mode ("linux rescue" or "linux rescue noprobe"), when I
type "reboot", I get:

	The system is going down NOW !!
	Sending SIGTERM to all processes.
	Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on \
		unknown-block(3,2)

Note: I did *not* ask for any partition on the HD to be mounted at the
start of rescue mode.  This is because the only partion is NTFS (so
far).


6.  I installed FC3-test2 X86_64.  I had to use text mode since the
touchpad was not detected.  This went well.  Unfortunately there was
no way to suppress a graphical login for the installed system.
Eventually I booted the DVD in rescue mode and editted the installed
/etc/inittab to set the initial runlevel to 3.

On initial boot of the installed system, I was asked to set up a few
things.  It was awkward without a mouse.  Selecting the monitor from
the list seemed impossible (I could not find a keystroke to expand a
selected manufacturer list), so I accepted the default.  Switching to
the text consoles (CTRL-ALT-F2, for example) didn't work because they
were corrupted (see above).


7.  Now I can log in in console mode.  When I do, the CPU speed is not
throttled, even though the CPU is mostly idle.  As a result, the
notebook is blowing a lot of hot air.  It would be better to switch it
down to the lowest speed.  WinXP does this.


8.  I just tried pressing the power button briefly.  In WinXP this
means "suspend to disk".  Under FC3, I got a screen full of:
	vt: argh, driver_data is NULL !
I have no idea how many, but at least a screen full.

I then pressed C-A-D and got an oops:
    Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 000000000000000000 RIP:
    <ffffffff8024cc24>{vt_ioctl+34}
    PML4 1a142067 PGD 17a79067 PMD 0
    Oops: 0000 [2]

[skipping list of modules linked in: I'm too lazy to type it]

    Pid: 9935, comm: shutdown Not tainted 2.6.8-1.541

[skipping]
    Call Trace:  ... {filemap_nopage+362} ... {selinux_file_ioctl+735}
	... {do_no_page+1944} ... {tty_ioctl+4023}
	... {do_munmap+1212} ... (sys_ioctl+1029}
	... {system_call+126}
    Code: 44 8b 38 49 63 c7 44 89 ff 48 8b 04 c5 e0 36 4c 80 48 89 44

I can flip between virtual consoles, but nothing I type goes into the
WindowsXP.  C-A-D will generate new Oopsen.


To be continued.