32bit Installation not possible on the AMD Magny-Cours platform

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2

Situation

Applies to x86 architecture (32 bit) only
When booting a 32bit single processor kernel (kernel-default) on an AMD Magny-Cours platform, devices like hard disks, network and others do not work correctly. An installation of the 32 bit version of SLES10 SP2/SP3/SP4 therefore fails.

The smp and bigsmp kernel versions are not affected by this problem. Neither is the x86_64 (64 bit) version of SLES.

Resolution

The problem can be solved by adding 'pci=nomsi' as a boot parameter.

Additional Information

Regarding the installation of SLES11 on the AMD Magny-Cours platform please have a look at TID 000017028 - kernel panic with x86 kernel on AMD system with 8 cores or more in a CPU package.

Incomplete list of HP systems where this can happen:

BL465c G7
BL685c G7
DL165 G7,
DL385 G7
DL585 G7.

Disclaimer

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