IBM Power S822LC: Linux 6.1.172 fails with `kernel BUG at mm/huge_memory.c:474!`, `Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1]`
From: Paul Menzel <hidden>
Date: 2026-05-09 16:27:05
Dear Linux folks,
Testing different Linux versions for bisecting an issue, I noticed that
the stable series Linux 6.1.172 fails to boot (I only tested kexec from
7.1-rc2+):
$ sudo kexec -l /boot/vmlinux-6.1.172
--append='root=UUID=2c3dd738-785a-469b-843e-9f0ba8b47b0d ro
rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash xhci_hcd.dyndbg=" =p"'
--initrd=/boot/initrd.img-6.1.172
$ sudo kexec -e
$ ipmitool -I lanplus -H bmc-power8 -U ADMIN sol activate
[SOL Session operational. Use ~? for help]
[ 234.043322] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 234.044085] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 234.108802] xhci_hcd 0021:0d:00.0: Host halt failed, -110
[ 234.109940] kexec_core: Starting new kernel
[ 234.123024] kexec: waiting for cpu 24 (physical 40) to enter 1 state
[ 234.12329[ 291.048719231,5] OPAL: Switch to big-endian OS
2] kexec: waiting for cpu 1 (physical 17) to enter 2 state
[[ 299.043412967,5] OPAL: Switch to little-endian OS
234.123376] kexec: waiting for cpu 3 (physical 19) to enter 2 state
[ 234.123408] kexec: waiting for cpu 8 (physical 24) to enter 2 state
[ 234.123560] kexec: waiting for cpu 3 (physical 19) to enter OPAL
[ 234.124611] kexec: waiting for cpu 6 (physical 22) to enter OPAL
[ 234.125644] kexec: waiting for cpu 8 (physical 24) to enter OPAL
[ 235.721365] kexec: Starting switchover sequence.
[ 1.667254] kernel BUG at mm/huge_memory.c:474!
[ 1.667370] Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1]
[ 1.667419] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA PowerNV
[ 1.667434] Modules linked in:
[ 1.667446] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.1.172 #9
[ 1.667491] Hardware name: 8335-GCA POWER8 (raw) 0x4d0200
opal:skiboot-5.4.8-5787ad3 PowerNV
[ 1.667596] NIP: c000000002044ccc LR: c000000002044ca8 CTR:
c000000002044c3c
[ 1.667613] REGS: c00000800d71b850 TRAP: 0700 Not tainted (6.1.172)
[ 1.667628] MSR: 9000000000029033 <SF,HV,EE,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR:
48008228 XER: 00000000
[ 1.667653] CFAR: c000000000090944 IRQMASK: 0
[ 1.667653] GPR00: c0000000000115d8 c00000800d71baf0 c000000001568100
0000000000000001
[ 1.667653] GPR04: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000024
0000000000000000
[ 1.667653] GPR08: 0000000000000018 0000000000000008 0000000000000001
c00000800d71ba70
[ 1.667653] GPR12: c000000002044c3c c000000002d10000 c000000000011b18
0000000000000000
[ 1.667653] GPR16: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
c000000002430490
[ 1.667653] GPR20: c000000002430470 c000000002430450 c000000002430430
c000000002003628
[ 1.667653] GPR24: c000000002091078 c000000001546ed0 c000000002091050
0000000000000000
[ 1.667653] GPR28: 0000000000000005 c000000019600380 0000000000000000
c000000002044c3c
[ 1.667792] NIP [c000000002044ccc] hugepage_init+0x90/0x270
[ 1.667809] LR [c000000002044ca8] hugepage_init+0x6c/0x270
[ 1.667823] Call Trace:
[ 1.667830] [c00000800d71baf0] [c0000000010e9f90]
_raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x50/0xb0 (unreliable)
[ 1.667853] [c00000800d71bb80] [c0000000000115d8]
do_one_initcall+0x78/0x2c8
[ 1.667871] [c00000800d71bc60] [c000000002004ce8]
do_initcalls+0x1dc/0x248
[ 1.667889] [c00000800d71bd40] [c000000002004ffc]
kernel_init_freeable+0x214/0x288
[ 1.667909] [c00000800d71bda0] [c000000000011b3c] kernel_init+0x2c/0x1d0
[ 1.667925] [c00000800d71be10] [c00000000000d05c]
ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64
[ 1.667943] Instruction dump:
[ 1.667953] f92aaad8 480001e0 4a04bc45 60000000 2c030000 4182ffe0
3d220117 39295a08
[ 1.667976] e9290000 21490007 7d4a5110 7d4a00d0 <0b0a0000> 21290001
7d294910 39290001
[ 1.667999] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[ 1.847226]
[ 2.847265] note: swapper/0[1] exited with irqs disabled
[ 2.847324] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
exitcode=0x00000005
[ 3.1[ 315.177993778,5] OPAL: Reboot request...
5.17-rc7+, 6.12.87, 6.18.0 and 7.1.0-rc2+ are able to boot via Please find the configuration attached. Kind regards, Paul