I got this right after the initramfs script was finished and the root filesystem was mounted:
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000 printing eip: c02f52fa *pde = 00000000 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT Modules linked in: CPU: 0 EIP: 0060:[<c02f52fa>] Not tainted VLI EFLAGS: 00010246 (2.6.11-0.rc5.1ark) EIP is at __down+0x10a/0x130 eax: 00000000 ebx: cf63652c ecx: cfd6d020 edx: ffffffff esi: 00000286 edi: cfbcd000 ebp: cfbb3020 esp: cfbcddc0 ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068 Process hotplug (pid: 286, threadinfo=cfbcd000 task=cfbb3020) Stack: cf636534 00000001 cfbb3020 c0116cb0 00100100 00200200 cfbcde04 9bbf6ac4 d70e78df cf727d14 cfbcdf54 cfbcde6c cffe4140 c02f51c7 00000010 cf6364bc c01711ad cf727d14 cfbcde6c c016c7b6 cf6364bc 00000001 cf6349fa cfbcde6c Call Trace: [<c0116cb0>] default_wake_function+0x0/0x20 [<c02f51c7>] __down_failed+0x7/0xc [<c01711ad>] .text.lock.namei+0x8/0x1db [<c016c7b6>] permission+0xe6/0xf0 [<c016d762>] link_path_walk+0x882/0xf80 [<c010218c>] __up+0x1c/0x20 [<c01711c7>] .text.lock.namei+0x22/0x1db [<c016d8a1>] link_path_walk+0x9c1/0xf80 [<c014e2ea>] handle_mm_fault+0x1ea/0x540 [<c016dee3>] path_lookup+0x83/0x150 [<c016e7ef>] open_namei+0x8f/0x620 [<c015d49b>] filp_open+0x3b/0x70 [<c015d4fc>] get_unused_fd+0x2c/0xd0 [<c015d677>] sys_open+0x57/0xf0 [<c01030d1>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb Code: ff 21 e0 ff 48 14 8b 40 08 a8 08 75 19 c7 45 00 00 00 00 00 83 c4 24 5b5e 5f 5d c3 e8 00 07 00 00 e9 73 ff ff ff e8 f6 06 00 00 <00> 00 00 00 00 00 eb da 0f 0b a4 00 7b 48 30 c0 eb 8e 0f 0b a5 Same box, same kernel, with hotplug disabled boots up fine and produces a similar oops later: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000 printing eip: c02f52fa *pde = 00000000 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT Modules linked in: usbkbd usbhid snd_cmipci gameport snd_pcm snd_page_alloc snd_opl3_lib snd_timer snd_hwdep snd_mpu401_uart snd_rawmidi snd_seq_device snd soundcore psmouse binfmt_misc lp parport md5 ipv6 8139too mii af_packet 8250 serial_core ide_cd cdrom ohci_hcd usbcore video thermal sony_acpi processor pcc_acpi fan container button battery ac genrtc CPU: 0 EIP: 0060:[<c02f52fa>] Not tainted VLI EFLAGS: 00210246 (2.6.11-0.rc5.1ark) EIP is at __down+0x10a/0x130 eax: 00000000 ebx: c0346644 ecx: cda20540 edx: ffffffff esi: 00200286 edi: c6b6f000 ebp: c4c68020 esp: c6b6fed4 ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068 Process iwconfig (pid: 3080, threadinfo=c6b6f000 task=c4c68020) Stack: c034664c 00000001 c4c68020 c0116cb0 00100100 00200200 30746973 00000000 00000001 cfe71ee0 cfe71ee0 c55006e0 c55006e0 c02f51c7 00000000 c4c68020 c02f6c94 c019279f 00000000 00000000 00000000 c019288f 00000000 c55006e0 Call Trace: [<c0116cb0>] default_wake_function+0x0/0x20 [<c02f51c7>] __down_failed+0x7/0xc [<c02f6c94>] .text.lock.kernel_lock+0x28/0x37 [<c019279f>] de_put+0xf/0xa0 [<c019288f>] proc_delete_inode+0x5f/0xc0 [<c0192830>] proc_delete_inode+0x0/0xc0 [<c017b225>] generic_delete_inode+0xb5/0x190 [<c017a27c>] iput+0x3c/0x90 [<c01774bb>] dput+0x6b/0x2b0 [<c015f39e>] __fput+0x11e/0x1c0 [<c015d792>] filp_close+0x52/0xa0 [<c015d838>] sys_close+0x58/0xa0 [<c010307b>] sysenter_past_esp+0x54/0x75 Code: ff 21 e0 ff 48 14 8b 40 08 a8 08 75 19 c7 45 00 00 00 00 00 83 c4 24 5b5e 5f 5d c3 e8 00 07 00 00 e9 73 ff ff ff e8 f6 06 00 00 <00> 00 00 00 00 00 eb da 0f 0b a4 00 7b 48 30 c0 eb 8e 0f 0b a5 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/