NOOB! RH9 Install probs on a Via C3 machine (Kernel panic)

[gpzoom]

I am running into a "Kernel Panic" problem while trying to install RedHat 9. The last message on my screen reads:

Kernel panic: Attempted to kill the idle task! In idle task - not syncing.

I am a complete newbie here. I am attempting to load RH9 from a CD found in the book "Red Hat Linux 9 Unleashed"

The PC is a little linux box I bought from Fry's with ThizLinux already installed. I am trying to start over with RH9. The processor is a Via C3 on a mini-ITX mobo with integrated video/lan/audio.

Anybody know the tricks of getting RH9 to work with a Via C3 based system? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Dolda2000]

I have to agree that it's probably incompatible with the CPU. However, I'm not very knowledgeable with those VIA CPUs. Do you know to what level it has Intel features?

Also, I'm having a hard time believing that it would only try to kill the idle task without further reason. Are there any other errors above, such as a kernel "oops"? Also, at just what stage in the bootup does this happen?

[garycausa]

Hi, I've got exactly the same problem - I bought the Fry's THinx box and am trying to load red hat 9 from a book copy, get the kernel panic kill idle process error. I have found some relevant information but no real fix. Did you get a fix from anybody?
The one possibly helpful info I got was that this appears to be a special problem with the 2 CD publishers version of red hat 9 and may not occur with the regular 3 CD red hat set. It seems to be cuased by the VIA C3 Samuel cpu not supporting conditional moves, which red hat assumes an i686 processor will support. Using the i386 version of the kernel would work, but I don't yet see just how to accomplish this.
Please let me know what you have found out and maybe between us we can get this fixed.
Thanks, Gary

[Dolda2000]

Doesn't the VIA CPU support conditional moves? I'd never have guessed that, I have to say.

AFAIK, RedHat doesn't ship an i386 kernel at all - I think all they support is i586 and up. Thus, you might want to try another distro. Then when it's installed, I think that you should compile your own kernel, optimized to the C3.

[Napalm]

Im getting the EXACT same problem with my intel celeron trying to install from downloaded cd's my long explanation is here
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=55912