Re: Can anyone explain this?

[Galen Sampson <galen_sampson@xxxxxxxxx>]

Adam K Kirchhoff wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Nov 2003, Matthew Dillon wrote:
>
>
> > :I have a dual P3 VIA motherboard (from Gigabyte) that I'm currently
> > :running multiple operating systems from: Slackware 9.1, NetBSD -CURRENT,
> > :DragonFlyBSD, BeOS, Windows XP, and Syllable.
> > :
> > :Of those six, any time I reboot from DragonFlyBSD, I get the following
> > :message from the computer when it POSTs.
> > :
> > :"CMOS/GPNV Checksum Bad"
> > :
> > :When I first noticed this pattern, I chalked it up to coincidence, and
> > :just reset the CMOS to it's default values with F2 and kept going.
> > :However, I'm beginning to doubt this is a coicidence any more.  I have
> > :spent all weekend rebooting between operating systems, with different
> > :hardware configuration nearly every time, and this *only* happens when I
> > :reboot from DragonFly.
> > :
> > :Does this make any sense?  Could the OS be screwing up my CMOS?
> > :
> > :Adam
> >
> >    Yes, it is screwing up the CMOS.
>
>
> Woohoo, I'm not crazy! :-)
>
>
> >    Several people have reported this,
> >    but so far nobody has been able to track it down.  I don't have a
> >    system that does this so I haven't been able to track it down either.
> >
> >    Would you like to try to track it down?  It involves throwing an endless
> >    loop into the low level boot code to lock the machine up and then hitting
> >    reset, then moving the loop to zero in on which part of our codebase is
> >    corrupting the CMOS.
>
>
> My programming skills (especially when it comes to operating systems) if
> fairly limited.  If I get a chance this week, though, I might take a look
> and see if there's anything I can do.
>
> Adam

While I have no evidence to back up the statement I'm about to make, I 
feel that it is probably the acpi code.  I have a ~5 year old gateway 
machine that has a bios supporting acpi.  When using freebsd 4.8 (no 
acpi support) the machine would boot fine every time.  Now that 4.9 came 
out I compiled acpi support into the kernel.  The power button on the 
front functions perfectly with acpi, and I don't have to worry about 
apmd, etc.  Now that I am using acpi every time I turn the machine on I 
get an error "Drive A: floppy device incorrect.  Press ESC to continue 
booting".  Of course I could be totally wrong.

Regards,
Galen