# Pentium III + Gentoo

## ourcach

Hi there ppl.

I have recently acquired a Pentium III and i have installed gentoo, but when i compile something it crashes:S and i don't have a clue why:S:S:S

has anyone have this problem, or anyone knows what it can be?

I tested the RAM and it is OK...

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## orange_juice

Hi,

I think that it would be proper, while installing, to use the more generic x86 stage3. 

i.e. 

stage3-x86-2006.0.tar.bz2  

There are also 

stage3-i586-2006.0.tar.bz2 -> Pentium 3 (??)

stage3-i686-2006.0.tar.bz2 -> Pentium 4

Do a

```
cat /proc/cpuinfo
```

This will show you exactly the type of your cpu. Then, you can find the correct flags to use in your /etc/make.conf at this guide.

If after performing the above steps the situation is still the same, please post the output of 

```
cat /proc/cpuinfo && emerge --info
```

 and the exact error message that you get while compiling.

Kind regards,

orange_juice

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## NeddySeagoon

ourcach,

Hmm .. is it really a P3 ?

Please post the output of

```
less /proc/cpuinfo
```

If it always crashes compiling the same package in the same place, it probably a software issue.

If its random crashes and some (small) things compile OK, its likely to be a hardware issue.

Clean the CPU heatsink and fan very carefully, with a stiff brush (paintbrush).

Do not use a hoover and do not attempt to remove the heatsink from the CPU as you will need replacement thermal paste to refit it.

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## at240

The i686 stage should be OK for Pentium 3, IIRC.

Could you post the output of emerge --info, please?

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## ourcach

Here is the output of the files

cat /proc/cpuinfo:

processor       : 0

vendor_id       : GenuineIntel

cpu family      : 6

model           : 7

model name      : Pentium III (Katmai)

stepping        : 3

cpu MHz         : 451.093

cache size      : 512 KB

fdiv_bug        : no

hlt_bug         : no

f00f_bug        : no

coma_bug        : no

fpu             : yes

fpu_exception   : yes

cpuid level     : 2

wp              : yes

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up

bogomips        : 903.37

emerge --info :Portage 2.0.54 (default-linux/x86/no-nptl, gcc-3.4.4, glibc-2.3.5-r2, 2.6.17-gentoo-r2 i686)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.17-gentoo-r2 i686 Pentium III (Katmai)

Gentoo Base System version 1.6.14

app-admin/eselect-compiler: [Not Present]

dev-lang/python:     2.4.2

dev-python/pycrypto: [Not Present]

dev-util/ccache:     [Not Present]

dev-util/confcache:  [Not Present]

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.12

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.59-r6

sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r1

sys-devel/binutils:  2.16.1

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.12-r6

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.22

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.11-r2

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"

AUTOCLEAN="yes"

CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium3 -pipe"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d"

CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium3 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="autoconfig distlocks sandbox sfperms strict"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="x86 alsa apache2 apm arts avi berkdb bitmap-fonts bzip2 cli crypt cups dlloader dri eds emboss encode expat foomaticdb fortran gdbm gif gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 imlib ipv6 isdnlog jpeg libg++ libwww mad mikmod motif mp3 mpeg ncurses nls ogg opengl oss pam pcre pdflib perl png pppd python qt qt3 qt4 quicktime readline reflection sdl session spell spl ssl tcpd truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts udev vorbis xml xmms xorg xv zlib input_devices_keyboard input_devices_mouse input_devices_evdev userland_GNU kernel_linux elibc_glibc"

Unset:  CTARGET, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

It doesn't give any error, it simply stops executing everithing and crashes completly, i loose all response from the computer: mouse, keyboard...

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## Beefrum

 :Very Happy:  It will work, if configured correctly. I know, as I am running Gentoo on the same kind of processor. So being a little more specific about what didn't work at what stage in the process of running the installation will help to get an answer.

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## ourcach

when I am compiling a package,

it does all the config section, all the checking an when it is compiling it crashes the computer.

If you need more info about something just let me know...

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## Beefrum

Hmm, post the part of the gcc screen-output that shows the error situation.

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## ourcach

For exaple, I was trying to compile binutils and it stopped in this stage:

  done; \

done

echo ./regex.o ./cplus-dem.o ./cp-demangle.o ./md5.o ./alloca.o ./argv.o ./choose-temp.o ./concat.o ./cp-demint.o ./dyn-string.o ./fdmatch.o ./fibheap.o ./floatformat.o ./fnmatch.o ./getopt.o ./getopt1.o ./getpwd.o ./getruntime.o ./hashtab.o ./hex.o ./lbasename.o ./lrealpath.o ./make-relative-prefix.o ./make-temp-file.o ./objalloc.o ./obstack.o ./partition.o ./physmem.o ./pex-unix.o ./safe-ctype.o ./sort.o ./spaces.o ./splay-tree.o ./strerror.o ./strsignal.o ./ternary.o ./unlink-if-ordinary.o ./xatexit.o ./xexit.o ./xmalloc.o ./xmemdup.o ./xstrdup.o ./xstrerror.o > required-list

make[2]: Entering directory `/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/build/libiberty/testsuite'

make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.

make[2]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/build/libiberty/testsuite'

if [ x"-fpic" != x ]; then \

  gcc -c -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -O2 -march=pentium3 -pipe  -I. -I/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/../include  -W -Wall -Wtraditional -pedantic -fpic /var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c -o pic/regex.o; \

else true; fi

In file included from /var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/../include/xregex.h:26,

                 from /var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c:199:

/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/../include/xregex2.h:548: warning: ISO C90 does not support `static' or type qualifiers in parameter array declarators

In file included from /var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c:653:

/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c: In function `byte_compile_range':

/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c:4552: warning: signed and unsigned type in conditional expression

/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c:4562: warning: signed and unsigned type in conditional expression

/var/tmp/portage/binutils-2.16.1-r3/work/binutils-2.16.1/libiberty/regex.c:4562: warning: signed and unsigned type in conditional expression

found

checking for working makeinfo... found

checking for gcc... gcc

checking whether the C compiler (gcc -O2 -march=pentium3 -pipe  ) works... yes

checking whether the C compiler (gcc -O2 -march=pentium3 -pipe  ) is a cross-compiler... no

checking whether we are using GNU C... yes

checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes

checking for ld used by GCC... /usr/lib/gcc/i386-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.4/../../../../i386-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld

checking if the linker (/usr/lib/gcc/i386-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.4/../../../../i386-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes

checking for /usr/lib/gcc/i386-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.4/../../../../i386-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r

checking for BSD-compatible nm... nm

checking whether ln -s works... yes

checking how to recognise dependant libraries... pass_all

checking for object suffix... o

checking for executable suffix... no

checking for ranlib... ranlib

checking for strip... strip

updating cache ./config.cache

loading cache ./config.cache within ltconfig

It is not necessairly in this stage that it crashes, but it crashes and i don't know how to solve this:S

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## Beefrum

Very difficult to get a clue! Is your system rocksteady in other circumstances? You are rebuilding the toolchain! From what environment? As it can be something other than the problems that occur usually!

Ahh, edited "emerge --info" in. So I now do same thingy!

Current flags of mine: CFLAGS="-O2 -mtune=i686 -march=pentium3 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"

And again. Because lot's of trouble with power-outages and corrup filesystems, as usual   :Crying or Very sad: 

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## ourcach

most of the things you asked i don't know how to answer...

I just bought this computer to set as a server at home.

..

i just installed gentoo and during the installation no errors occured,

then when i tried to install the packages it simply crashes.

at first i tried to do a memtest to check the ram and it was ok...

i installed the stage3, if that is of any importance...

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## Beefrum

I am getting a memory vibe here! Still searching in my biological archive for the moment!

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## at240

 *ourcach wrote:*   

> I just bought this computer to set as a server at home.

 

 :Idea:   You just bought a P3. Was it second hand? Are you sure that all the components in it were working before you installed Gentoo?

Could you post some output from a compilation that fails? We need to see the text just before the compilation grinds to a halt (i.e. the bit that generates the error, plus the error message itself). What you posted above doesn't really help.

Unless, when you say 'it crashes' you mean the whole machine locks up and goes down ?!? Do you mean that? If so, then overheating may well be a possible cause.

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## ourcach

that's it! the entire machine halts...:S 

i checked for overheat but when it happened the machine was cold...:S

is there any utility to check the temperature of the machine?

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## at240

Well, the box itself might feel cool, but the CPU may be at 90C!

```
watch cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature

```

may tell you how hot the chip is at 2-second intervals, but only if you have you compiled ACPI power management support into your kernel. Do you know if your system uses ACPI? Maybe it uses APM if it's quite old?! Not really an expert on all of this. 

You may want to look inside and see if the fan is blocked or clogged up or covered in dust or something. But as NeddySeagoon advised, be very careful if you touch any of the components. You should probably get someone else's advice first if you're going to do this.

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## NeddySeagoon

ourcach,

You have an early P3, The first P3 ran at 400MHz and yours is 450MHz.

I suspect that you either have a CPU cooling problem or a CPU core voltage power suppy problem.

The CPU core voltage is provided by a local regualtor, very close to the CPU slot.

Look for some cylinderical parts, mounted on end, fitted with a plastic sleeve. There will be groups close to the CPU.

They should have flat tops and be fitted flat on the motherboard. Any signs of domed tops, being tipped, or leaking contents over the motherboard indicates that they have failed.

They can be replaced if you are skilled with a soldering iron, or know someone who is. Get good quality parts, they get a very hard life, both thermally from being close to the CPU and elecronically, from the task they perform.

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