[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]

Stan, just an FYI, in case you haven't read any of the previous posts.
The Pentium-M supports PAE just fine, it just lies about not having it.
Not sure what your 13 year old IBM uses however. My IBM is 9 years old
(doing the math on that surprises me immensely, not realizing it was
that old already, but its still going strong!).

If you DO have a Pentium-M, there are instructions here how to use the
ISO via grub on a USB stick. Its quite painless.

If however you have an older Pentium, that predates the Pentium M, it is
still possible it features PAE! It was first introduced on the Pentium
Pro (e.g. the first i686 if memory serves right, which PRE-dates the
Pentium III of which the Pentium-M is based on). Though the Pentium-M
seems to start in 2003, mean, leaving me to wonder what ancient CPU you
have ;) Though even the Pentium III should support PAE, which does date
13 years back.

RE-reading the wikipedia article (which I admit I haven't done in a
while) it claims the following.

"PAE is supported by Intel Pentium Pro and later Pentium-series
processors except most 400 MHz-bus versions of the Pentium M."

I hope that line makes it clear why this is causing an issue for us
Pentium-M users. That the Ubuntu team decided to no longer support non-
PAE hardware makes perfect sense, it predates the Pentium-Pro. So we're
talking CPU's with less then 150 MHz to put it in context (yes MHz means
nothing, but 150 MHz should tell you something). Very valid reasoning.
But whoever made the decision overlooked the Pentium-M, and no none of
the Ubuntu folk even look at this thread to see why this is a problem.

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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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