[mythtv-users] System constantly locks up

[Robert Johnston]

On 7/13/06, Phill Edwards <philledwards at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have this on my hardware. It hangs when I enter graphical ( X ) but not
> > otherwise.
> > Append this to your boot string in grub ( or add it to the kernel line to
> > make it permanent in grub )
> >  acpi=off noacpi
> >
> > This does the trick for me.  Worth a try maybe.
>
> I made this chanhge a couple of days ago. So far so good, though it's
> very early days yet to be sure it was the problem.
>
> Could someone please explain why this works, what it does as I'd be
> keen to understand.

ACPI is used for controlling and reading temperature sensors and fan
speeds. Unfortunately, it's implementation is not exactly completely
standardised, and the Linux ACPI handlers are in a state of "It works,
but only just". Disabling ACPI makes the BIOS take over handling CPU
and system fan speeds, which tends to make the system run more stably.

At least, that's how I understand it.
-- 
Robert "Anaerin" Johnston