# is nmi_watchdog in 2.6.38?

## nordic bro

I have vbox 2.2.4 (don't want to change) and gentoo-sources 2.6.38 (was using 2.6.34 before).  I'm using the vbox bin from their site, not an emerge.  when I build a new kernel I run "/etc/init.d/vbox setup" or compile vboxdrv and vboxnetflt modules myself.

doing either w/2.6.38 I keep getting this from vboxdrv:

```
SUPDrv-linux.c:431: error: 'nmi_watchdog' undeclared (first use in this function)
```

the problem(?) is that doesn't seem defined anywhere in 2.6.38 (grep -r src).  I can find lots of "touch_nmi_watchdog" but no definition of "nmi_watchdog".

I looked in my 2.6.34 source and arch/x86/include/asm/nmi.h has nmi_watchdog defined there; 2.6.38 nmi.h is quite a bit different.  so I included the 2.6.34 nmi.h in vboxdrv compile and it finished fine but now won't run once I try to load it  :Smile: 

```
dmesg: vboxdrv: Unknown symbol nmi_watchdog (err 0)
```

afaik I don't need nmi_watchdog myself and I think vbox doesn't either but just wants to ensure it's turned off(?).

so does anyone know a) what happened to 2.6.38 nmi_watchdog definition (it's not in 2.6.38.2 either) or some way around this?  is there some way I can 'harmlessly' get my own nmi_watchdog definition compiled into the 2.6.38 kernel so vbox will find the symbol and be happy?

thanks.

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## nordic bro

ha, when all else fails, comment, I guess  :Smile:   I kept recompiling vboxdrv and commented assoc lines for each nmi error until it completed and module loads.  for nmi it seems all references are self-contained in the single SUP*.c file anyway and afaik it's not something I've ever used.  in my 2.6.34 /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog indicated it was always off and I don't use "nmi_watchdog=0" in grub.conf.  vbox runs now so I'll use it on a throw-away vm to see if it holds up.

when I google on this all I can find are kernel mailing list threads which are over my head but presumably if nmi_watchdog is still there, it's been renamed?  I find no '*nmi*' under /proc so maybe it's just gone or something?

can anyone tell me, is nmi_watchdog something an ordinary desktop user would ever have enabled?  and why does vbox care anyway?  it would help because then I'd know if I can leave SUP* like it is or if I have to put everything back and figure another way to get it to work.

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