How can I get off this listserv?  I don't have an Alpha.


-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Heller <mheller@student.uni-kl.de>
To: Chris G. Demetriou <cgd@pa.dec.com>
Cc: port-alpha@NetBSD.ORG <port-alpha@NetBSD.ORG>
Date: Friday, March 06, 1998 6:11 AM
Subject: Re: unexpected halt of system while trying to print


>
>
>On Thu, 5 Mar 1998, Chris G. Demetriou wrote:
>
>> > After a fresh install of NetBSD-1.3 I found a real unexpected
behaviour:
>> >
>> > I'm using an AS200 with 64MB ram , S3-Trio VGA console. In order to
build
>> > a specific kernel, I wanted to print the file where all options for
alpha
>> > are listed. printcap was not set up properly so I did a simple
>> >  'cat ALPHA > /dev/lpt0' ... whoa ! after 1 second the system was
brought
>> > to SRM console prompt.
>> > The kernel? wrote : halted CPU 0
>> >                     halt code = 2
>> >                     kernel stack not valid halt
>> >                     PC=18a98
>> > any idea what went wrong?
>>
>> Interesting!!!  This this repeatable?
>
>Yes !!! always the same ...
>
>> Problems have been reported like this on the i386 (dating back ... a
>> while now) occasionally, but no solution has ever been found.
>
>> I assume this is with the standard lpt configuration (interrupt
>> driven).  You might see if the problem occurs if you use the driver's
>> polling mechanism (remove the 'irq N' from your kernel config line for
>> the lpt0 device).
>
>I'll try that, but I haven't got the original 1.3 sources. The ones I've
>got are a more recent.
>
>
>> examining the registers with the SRM 'examine' command might give some
>> useful information on where the crash happened, but i'd not bet too
>> much on it.  8-)
>I'll do that.Can I trace 'cat anyfile > /dev/lpt0 ' with a trace facility?
>
>> Unfortunately, i've never had a device that I could attach to any of
>> my machine's parallel ports to see if i could experience the problem
>> myself.
>
>Perhaps other folks should try the parallel ports too  ...
>MARTIN
>
>