OLPC News 2007-12-30

[Mitch Bradley]

> Richard noticed that on the community-development list there are at
> least two reports of the EC going "terminal", meaning that on boot
> they get the error message: "EC problem. Remove all power and
> restart." We need to get those machines to Cambridge to investigate
> further.
>   

It is unlikely that getting those specific machines to Cambridge will 
prove helpful, unless one of those systems exhibits the problem with 
great regularity.  I have seen that problem happen on quite a few 
machines - but it happens very infrequently, always on a power-up, and 
it always goes away when you completely reset the EC by removing the 
battery and AC.

It is quite possible that fixing http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/4397 will 
make the problem go away.  The technique that the kernel currently uses 
to reboot involves forcing a triple-fault, which results in the main CPU 
resetting without the EC's knowledge.  There is a 2-line patch in the 
ticket; it makes the kernel reboot using the approved EC interaction.

I have been trying for 2 months to get this fix included in the kernel, 
but so far I haven't managed to get any traction.