# spurious interrupt [SOLVED]

## trilexx

hey,

I have just setup gentoo on a hp nx6325 (Turion X2 Dual Core cpu) notebook. beside some minor glitches (ati xpress 1150...) everything works fine. another problem I had is apic. I could solve most problems booting with the noapic option. no more errors now,  but one. from time to time I receive this error message:

```

spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.

```

I have checked what's on IRQ 7. It's smp_affinity. When I cat /proc/irq/7/smp_affinity I get:

```

ff

```

Now I know that disabling apic interferes with smp. Is this the result of booting with the noapic  option?

Would be nice, if somebody could give me some hints on this  :Smile: 

cheers,

trilexx

----------

## NeddySeagoon

trilexx,

The 

```
spurious 8259A interrupt
```

can safely be ignored. Its a feature or the original 8259 Programmable Interrupt Controller thats been faithfully carried forward for over 20 years.Wikipedia has a reasonably accurate description of the history and the issue.

You should not use noapic, since you need apic mode to make use of SMP operation.

----------

## trilexx

hello,

thanks for the answer. I even have been on wiki, but must have overread this. I have removed noapic as you said. Now I keep getting errors like this:

 *Quote:*   

> APIC error on CPU0: 40(40)

 

I think these are harmless as they are direct results of the spurious interrupts?

trilexx

----------

## erik258

```
Nov 26 15:32:59 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 20 09:37:44 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 00(02)

Nov 21 04:40:12 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 21 09:33:38 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 21 12:05:54 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(02)

Nov 21 18:05:25 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 04:14:06 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(08)

Nov 22 04:20:54 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 22 04:32:13 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(02)

Nov 22 05:27:11 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 05:45:57 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 22 05:52:36 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 06:41:28 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 22 07:05:51 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 07:50:42 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(08)

Nov 22 09:00:56 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 22 09:52:33 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(02)

Nov 22 12:33:10 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 12:39:10 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 22 12:50:48 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 22 13:45:25 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(08)

Nov 23 00:13:06 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 23 05:57:22 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 23 16:21:46 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 24 00:11:03 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 24 02:14:52 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(08)

Nov 25 14:09:03 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

Nov 25 16:31:09 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 02(08)

Nov 26 00:55:37 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(08)

Nov 26 12:55:43 [kernel] APIC error on CPU1: 08(02)

```

i have been getting these at roughy this frequency ever since i set up gentoo on this ancient abit BP6, which is a dual-core pentium 2 motherboard.  

they do in fact seem harmless.  why they occur so intermittently is beyond me, but i am guessing it has something to do with CPU load.

----------

## Bones McCracker

Thanks from me too.  I just noticed this for the first time, but apparently it's been popping up one to three times a day, at least as far back as my kernel logs go.

Edit:

I'm referring to the "spurious 8259a interrupt".

----------

## trilexx

here, this APIC error most of the time occurs when the frequency is scaled...

----------

## mirko_3

I too get that error now that I have put the noapic option on the boot line in grub... I need this option to get my fans spinning on resume from suspend; what are the downsides? I've done some research but didn't really find a clear answer. What is it that is disabled?

Thanks

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## mogix

Hi, 

I have APIC error on CPI(0): 40(40) too. I tried booting with noapic nolapic everything but still no good.

I have Acer Aspire 7720 (Core 2 Duo ) after a while my laptop just shutdowns by itself.

Any Idea how to get rid of APIC error- ?

----------

