[Bug 930447] Re: Unable to start Ubuntu 12.04 live CD with syslinux loader on Pentium M x86 Laptop due to bug in PAE kernel, initramfs or syslinux

[oliver]

Then the Ubuntu kernel team is just retardedly stupid. And I will make
it harsh.

There is no SINGLE technical reason to not support it. The kernel runs
PAE kernels just fine. There is a bug maybe you can call it, that does
not tell you that it IS pae (36 bit addressing) capable. It just lags
the PAE flag. THe sheer amount of users coming here and to the forum
thread alone should give you an idea that it is still relevant.

That said, they deliberatly broke the Pentium-M by checking for the PAE
flag. Granted this should be a valid check, and the Pentium-M messes
that check up. There's your bug.

Also, this bug is about SYSLINUX. NOT the kernel (it is now too though).
SYSLINUX here checks on boot if you have the PAE flag and refuses to
boot. It REFUSES, not because its technically not possible, no, because
it was decided so, because of a silicon bug if you will.

Recently the kernel team decided to have a PAE check int he package.
'Only install if you have the PAE flag'. Now in the kernel package, this
may make a little more sense, there's PAE and non-PAE kernels available,
and adding a non-PAE ppa is easy. Syslinux can't be easily replaced,
well you can grub chainload your ISO and all is well.

So if this truely is about support, then stop supporting the 32 bit
architecture. Period. But with that even being the recommended
architecture for must, I don't see this happening soon. This again, has
nothing to do with the Pentium-M not being supported, but about the CPU
not properly announcing PAE.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/930447

Title:
  Unable to start Ubuntu 12.04 live CD with syslinux loader on Pentium M
  x86 Laptop due to bug in PAE kernel, initramfs or syslinux

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Won't Fix
Status in “syslinux” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in Baltix GNU/Linux:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Ubuntu 12.04 doesn't start from Desktop CD or USB with syslinux boot
  loader on Pentium M 1.6Ghz or faster Pentium M CPU - displays error
  message about missing PAE feature in CPU, but *the same* *Ubuntu
  12.04* Desktop CD/LiveUSB starts fine on *the same CPU* (and same PAE
  kernel) if GRUB boot loader is used, for example when WUBI or LiveUSB
  with GRUB boot loader, like Multisystem
  (http://liveusb.info/dotclear/index.php?pages/install ) is used!

  The error message is:
  "This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: pae.
  Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for you CPU."

  THIS IS AN IMPORTANT REGRESSION! People are able to install and successfully use Ubuntu 12.04 on such pretty new hardware, like IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop with Pentium M 1700Mhz processor, but the bug in syslinux (or something related) forbids Ubuntu 12.04 installation.
  This bug is reproducible on lots of computers, there are several log files and /proc/cpuinfo file attached to this bugreport, AFAIK it's enough to reopen this bug.

  ---
  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
  Architecture: i386
  CurrentDmesg: Error: command ['sh', '-c', 'dmesg | comm -13 --nocheck-order /var/log/dmesg -'] failed with exit code 1: comm: /var/log/dmesg: Permission denied
  MachineType: IBM 2373PPU
  dmi.bios.date: 06/18/2007
  dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
  dmi.bios.version: 1RETDRWW (3.23 )
  dmi.board.name: 2373PPU
  dmi.board.vendor: IBM
  dmi.board.version: Not Available
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
  dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDRWW(3.23):bd06/18/2007:svnIBM:pn2373PPU:pvrThinkPadT42:rvnIBM:rn2373PPU:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
  dmi.product.name: 2373PPU
  dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T42
  dmi.sys.vendor: IBM

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