installation fails with general protection fault in nvidia kernel module

[quintesse]

Trying to install either an older nvidia driver or the latest 9626 results in a general protection fault the moment the installer tries to load the module.

-> Kernel module load error:
-> Kernel messages:
Modules linked in: nvidia(U) bridge netloop netbk blktap blkbk autofs4 hidp
rfcomm l2cap bluetooth sunrpc dm_mirror dm_multipath dm_mod video sbs i2c_ec
button battery asus_acpi ac ipv6 parport_pc lp parport floppy
snd_emu10k1_synth snd_emux_synth snd_seq_virmidi snd_seq_midi_emul
snd_emu10k1 snd_rawmidi snd_ac97_codec snd_ac97_bus snd_seq_dummy
snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_pcm_oss ohci1394 snd_mixer_oss
ieee1394 snd_pcm forcedeth emu10k1_gp serio_raw gameport pcspkr i2c_nforce2
i2c_core snd_seq_device snd_timer snd_page_alloc snd_util_mem snd_hwdep snd
soundcore k8_edac edac_mc ide_cd cdrom sata_nv libata sd_mod scsi_mod ext3
jbd ehci_hcd ohci_hcd uhci_hcd
CPU: 0
EIP: 0061:[<eeeeadfe>] Tainted: P VLI
EFLAGS: 00010282 (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6xen #1)
EIP is at __nv_setup_pat_entries+0x1e/0x82 [nvidia]
eax: c005003b ebx: 00070406 ecx: 00000001 edx: 00000001
esi: 00000286 edi: 00070406 ebp: ef0bb89c esp: cbe47e60
ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0069
Process insmod (pid: 6782, ti=cbe47000 task=eb843280 task.ti=cbe47000)
Stack: 00070406 000000ff 00070406 eeeecd03 00000001 eef36d10 00070406
00070406
cbe47eb2 c0ac4000 ef0bc140 ee599609 ef0bb620 eef38161 eef3815a cbe47eb8
00000000 c04163f6 d3aad1c0 00000001 00308700 00000001 ffffffff ef0b8700
Call Trace:
[<eeeecd03>] __nv_enable_pat_support+0x99/0x199 [nvidia]
[<ee599609>] nvidia_init_module+0x609/0x755 [nvidia]
[<c043667b>] sys_init_module+0x17de/0x1977
[<c0404ea7>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
DWARF2 unwinder stuck at syscall_call+0x7/0xb

Leftover inexact backtrace:

=======================
Code: 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 83 ec 0c 89 1c 24 89 74 24 04
89 7c 24 08 9c 5e fa 0f 20 c0 25 ff ff ff df 0d 00 00 00 40 <0f> 22 c0 0f 09
0f 20 e3 89 df 81 e7 80 00 00 00 74 07 89 d8 24
EIP: [<eeeeadfe>] __nv_setup_pat_entries+0x1e/0x82 [nvidia] SS:ESP
0069:cbe47e60

I used the patch mentioned here to be able to compile: http://nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost...8&postcount=18

[netllama]

Does this reproduce if you're not using a Xen enabled kernel?

[quintesse]

No, the problem goes away with a non-xen kernel.

[netllama]

Then I'm afraid that this is expected behavior, as the nvidia driver doesn't currently support Xen.

[quintesse]

That's okay with me, but you are aware that with Fedora Core 6 this is the default kernel that gets installed? (Don't know if it depends on installing the Xen packages or that it is installed regardless, but I can assure you I didn't select anywhere which kernel I wanted, this was the one selected for me by the FC6 installer)

If you are not planning any support (yet), you might think about changing the installer to warn about this.

[netllama]

The xen kernel is not the default kernel that is normally installed on any of the FC6 installations I've performed in the past few weeks. Also you're the first person running FC6 to report this problem, and many others have run into unrelated problems with FC6. So, I'd assume that you need to explicitly install xen to get a xen kernel by default.

Thanks,
Lonni

[quintesse]

I did select the Xen package during installation, which might mean that the xen kernel gets installed automatically, that's the only thing I can think of because I did not install it myself (and the FC installer does not give you any options about which kernel to install as far as I know).

Just wanted to warn you that Xen being a new interesting technology there might be many more people inclined to install it and you might face more problems in the future with people asking why it doesn't work.

That's why I suggested to put in a warning at least ;-)

Better yet, make sure it won't compile because there exist several repositories that have precompiled nvidia packages, also for xen kernels. I know, that's not your problem ;-)

[McNihil]

Originally Posted by netllama

The xen kernel is not the default kernel that is normally installed on any of the FC6 installations I've performed in the past few weeks. Also you're the first person running FC6 to report this problem, and many others have run into unrelated problems with FC6. So, I'd assume that you need to explicitly install xen to get a xen kernel by default.

Thanks,
Lonni

Well I usually install with everything and when doing so it does install it with the xen kernel (it surprised me because I didn't want it.) Also I found xen supervised kernel laggy for some reason so I chucked it. I would have done this even if it would have worked with the nVidia driver.

[netllama]

Thanks for your feedback. I've opened an RFE to have the driver installer better detect Xen enabled kernels.

[mballint]

Originally Posted by netllama

Thanks for your feedback. I've opened an RFE to have the driver installer better detect Xen enabled kernels.

Would it be possible to open an RFE for support of Xen kernels?

Thanks!

M.

[quintesse]

Would it be possible to open an RFE for support of Xen kernels?

Looking at this patch for FC5 http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...&highlight=xen it should be possible. Now to convince them to actually support it :-)

[netllama]

Xen support is currently under evaluation for a future driver release.

Thanks,
Lonni