Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[S. van Beek]

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Hello there,

This is our first post on this list, hi all!
We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at all. 
Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what is going wrong? 

Regards,
Sander van Beek
Daniel van Os

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Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Jaap-Jan Boor]

is there something printed before 'Now booting the kernel'?
If so, do the memory ranges not overlap or something?

Jaap-Jan

On 17-mrt-05, at 13:49, S. van Beek wrote:

> Hello there,
> =A0
> This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from=20=

> Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel=20=

> wich comes with MontaVista Linux=A03.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a=20
> serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything=20
> seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was=20
> adding=A0support for the Flash=A0on the com board. We added the IP to =
the=20
> hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we=20
> enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel=20=

> did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting=20=

> the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We=20
> recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O=20
> (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader=20
> messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first=20=

> kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine=20
> before-=A0with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at=20=

> all.
>  Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out=20
> what is going wrong?
>  =A0
> Regards,
> Sander van Beek
> Daniel van Os
> _______________________________________________
> Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded

J.G.J. Boor                       Anton Philipsweg 1
Software Engineer                 1223 KZ Hilversum
AimSys bv                         tel. +31 35 689 1941
Postbus 2194, 1200 CD Hilversum   mailto:jjboor@aimsys.nl

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Andrei Konovalov]

 > We added the IP to the hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA.

- isn't this the root of the problem? Any hardware conflict?

Not sure about the ff672 board and the Comm2 module, but in case of fg456 board and P160 COMM module
rev 2 SystemACE and the parallel flash sit on the same data bus. And in the design generated by default
the chip selects are always enabled for both. Maybe you have something similar.
Just a pure guess.

Thanks,
Andrei

S. van Beek wrote:
> Hello there,
> 
> This is our first post on this list, hi all! We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from Memec
> with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet
> and a serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to
> make was adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the
> FPGA. Next thing, we enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel did not seem to boot anymore. It
> stopped at the message 'Now booting the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We recompiled this kernel
> with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader messages
> anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked
> fine before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at all. Can anyone give us some hints on what we can
> try more to find out what is going wrong?
> 
> Regards, Sander van Beek Daniel van Os
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________ Linuxppc-embedded mailing list Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org 
> https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[S. van Beek]

Hi,

Yes this is the case too on this board, they are multiplexed. But we don't
have a SystemAce adapter and the SystemAce IP is also not included in our
design.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrei Konovalov" <akonovalov@ru.mvista.com>
To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 14:17
Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672
board


> > We added the IP to the hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the
FPGA.
>
> - isn't this the root of the problem? Any hardware conflict?
>
> Not sure about the ff672 board and the Comm2 module, but in case of fg456
board and P160 COMM module
> rev 2 SystemACE and the parallel flash sit on the same data bus. And in
the design generated by default
> the chip selects are always enabled for both. Maybe you have something
similar.
> Just a pure guess.
>
> Thanks,
> Andrei
>
> S. van Beek wrote:
> > Hello there,
> >
> > This is our first post on this list, hi all! We're two Dutch students
working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from Memec
> > with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel wich
comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet
> > and a serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything
seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to
> > make was adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP
to the hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the
> > FPGA. Next thing, we enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel.
After that, the kernel did not seem to boot anymore. It
> > stopped at the message 'Now booting the kernel'. So we read some
documentation about debugging. We recompiled this kernel
> > with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O (optimalization) flag. Then
we did not even see the ppc boot loader messages
> > anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first kernel
(with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked
> > fine before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output
at all. Can anyone give us some hints on what we can
> > try more to find out what is going wrong?
> >
> > Regards, Sander van Beek Daniel van Os
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________ Linuxppc-embedded
mailing list Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> > https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
>
>
>
>

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Peter Ryser]

How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System 
Builder to generate your hardware?

If you configure the hardware manually and use the OPB EMC make sure 
that you add the address range to the PLB2OPB bridge.

- Peter


S. van Beek wrote:

> Hello there,
>  
> This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from 
> Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel 
> wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a 
> serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything 
> seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was 
> adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the 
> hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we 
> enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel 
> did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting 
> the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We 
> recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O 
> (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader 
> messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first 
> kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine 
> before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at all.
> Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what 
> is going wrong?
>  
> Regards,
> Sander van Beek
> Daniel van Os
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
>Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
>https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
>

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[S. van Beek]

> How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> Builder to generate your hardware?

Yes, we started a new project using the base system builder with the same
options as the previous (working) project and flash, so the address range
should be ok. I'll check tomorrow, right now its time to go home ;)

Regards,
Sander

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Ryser" <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com>
To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 16:37
Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672
board


> How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> Builder to generate your hardware?
>
> If you configure the hardware manually and use the OPB EMC make sure
> that you add the address range to the PLB2OPB bridge.
>
> - Peter
>
>
> S. van Beek wrote:
>
> > Hello there,
> >
> > This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> > We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from
> > Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel
> > wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a
> > serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything
> > seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was
> > adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the
> > hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we
> > enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel
> > did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting
> > the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We
> > recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O
> > (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader
> > messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first
> > kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine
> > before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at
all.
> > Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what
> > is going wrong?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Sander van Beek
> > Daniel van Os
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> >Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> >https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
> >
>
>
>

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Peter Ryser]

Also try to boot the first Linux kernel (the one without the Flash 
support) on the EDK design with Flash support. It will help narrow down 
the problem to the HW or the SW.

- Peter


S. van Beek wrote:

>>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
>>Builder to generate your hardware?
>>    
>>
>
>Yes, we started a new project using the base system builder with the same
>options as the previous (working) project and flash, so the address range
>should be ok. I'll check tomorrow, right now its time to go home ;)
>
>Regards,
>Sander
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Peter Ryser" <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com>
>To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
>Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
>Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 16:37
>Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672
>board
>
>
>  
>
>>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
>>Builder to generate your hardware?
>>
>>If you configure the hardware manually and use the OPB EMC make sure
>>that you add the address range to the PLB2OPB bridge.
>>
>>- Peter
>>
>>
>>S. van Beek wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hello there,
>>>
>>>This is our first post on this list, hi all!
>>>We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from
>>>Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel
>>>wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a
>>>serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything
>>>seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was
>>>adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the
>>>hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we
>>>enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel
>>>did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting
>>>the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We
>>>recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O
>>>(optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader
>>>messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first
>>>kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine
>>>before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at
>>>      
>>>
>all.
>  
>
>>>Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what
>>>is going wrong?
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Sander van Beek
>>>Daniel van Os
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
>>>Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
>>>https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>
>  
>

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[S. van Beek]

We've booted the first kernel on the hardware with Flash, and that works
fine. So the hardware doesn't seem to be the problem.
We have a JTAG port, debugging and viewing the log_buf address after the
crash just gave us 8 zero's so no usefull hints there..
The kernel probably crashes before it can write anything to that buffer, or
before its initialized?

I'll also include the output we get here, maybe its helpfull:

loaded at:     00400000 004A11E0
board data at: 0049E138 0049E150
relocated to:  004052D4 004052EC
zimage at:     0040589F 0049D91C
avail ram:     004A2000 02000000

Linux/PPC load: root=/dev/nfs rw ip=on
Uncompressing Linux...done.
Now booting the kernel

And then it halts..

Any other suggestions would be welcome :)

Regards
Sander

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Ryser" <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com>
To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 19:04
Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672
board


> Also try to boot the first Linux kernel (the one without the Flash
> support) on the EDK design with Flash support. It will help narrow down
> the problem to the HW or the SW.
>
> - Peter
>
>
> S. van Beek wrote:
>
> >>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> >>Builder to generate your hardware?
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Yes, we started a new project using the base system builder with the same
> >options as the previous (working) project and flash, so the address range
> >should be ok. I'll check tomorrow, right now its time to go home ;)
> >
> >Regards,
> >Sander
> >
> >----- Original Message ----- 
> >From: "Peter Ryser" <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com>
> >To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
> >Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
> >Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 16:37
> >Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro
ff672
> >board
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> >>Builder to generate your hardware?
> >>
> >>If you configure the hardware manually and use the OPB EMC make sure
> >>that you add the address range to the PLB2OPB bridge.
> >>
> >>- Peter
> >>
> >>
> >>S. van Beek wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>Hello there,
> >>>
> >>>This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> >>>We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from
> >>>Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel
> >>>wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a
> >>>serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything
> >>>seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was
> >>>adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the
> >>>hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we
> >>>enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel
> >>>did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting
> >>>the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We
> >>>recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O
> >>>(optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader
> >>>messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first
> >>>kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine
> >>>before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at
> >>>
> >>>
> >all.
> >
> >
> >>>Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what
> >>>is going wrong?
> >>>
> >>>Regards,
> >>>Sander van Beek
> >>>Daniel van Os
> >>>
>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>_______________________________________________
> >>>Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> >>>Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> >>>https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Tony Lee]

Peter,=20

Maybe xilinx can come up with app note on how to debug the kernel=20
bring up / hanging issue with chipscope on PLB bus.

That would be the most powerful way to demo how to use the=20
Xilinx VP HW platform to debug some tricky kernel issues.
You have a extreme flexible platform for this.  We just need a
xilinx's guiding hand from time to time.


I can use the same help too for following issues with linux on VP 20.  :-) =
=20

   * I have trouble finding where 700+ msec cpu time went in my
currect system - kernel, ISR, other user tasks.

   * Sometime on power on, the linux would lockup before everything is read=
y.


-Tony


On 3/17/05, Peter Ryser <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com> wrote:
> Also try to boot the first Linux kernel (the one without the Flash
> support) on the EDK design with Flash support. It will help narrow down
> the problem to the HW or the SW.
>=20
> - Peter
>=20
> S. van Beek wrote:
>=20
> >>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> >>Builder to generate your hardware?
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Yes, we started a new project using the base system builder with the sam=
e
> >options as the previous (working) project and flash, so the address rang=
e
> >should be ok. I'll check tomorrow, right now its time to go home ;)
> >
> >Regards,
> >Sander
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Peter Ryser" <Peter.Ryser@xilinx.com>
> >To: "S. van Beek" <nlv11891@prle>
> >Cc: <Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org>
> >Sent: Thursday 17 March 2005 16:37
> >Subject: Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff6=
72
> >board
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>How did you add the Flash (EMC) peripheral? Did you use the Base System
> >>Builder to generate your hardware?
> >>
> >>If you configure the hardware manually and use the OPB EMC make sure
> >>that you add the address range to the PLB2OPB bridge.
> >>
> >>- Peter
> >>
> >>
> >>S. van Beek wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>Hello there,
> >>>
> >>>This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> >>>We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from
> >>>Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel
> >>>wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a
> >>>serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything
> >>>seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was
> >>>adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the
> >>>hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we
> >>>enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel
> >>>did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting
> >>>the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We
> >>>recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O
> >>>(optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader
> >>>messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first
> >>>kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine
> >>>before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at
> >>>
> >>>
> >all.
> >
> >
> >>>Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what
> >>>is going wrong?
> >>>
> >>>Regards,
> >>>Sander van Beek
> >>>Daniel van Os
> >>>
> >>>----------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
> >>>
> >>>_______________________________________________
> >>>Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> >>>Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> >>>https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> Linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org
> https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
>=20


--=20
-Tony
Having fun with FPGA HW + ppc + Linux

Re: Problems with MontaVista Linux on a Memec Virtex-II pro ff672 board

[Mark A. Greer]

S. van Beek wrote:

> Hello there,
>  
> This is our first post on this list, hi all!
> We're two Dutch students working with a Virtex-II pro ff672 board from 
> Memec with the Communications 2 module. We've compiled a simple kernel 
> wich comes with MontaVista Linux 3.1 (2.4.20) with ethernet and a 
> serial port. It mounts its root filesystem over NFS and everything 
> seems to work nicely. The next step we wanted to make was 
> adding support for the Flash on the com board. We added the IP to the 
> hardware and loaded the new bitstream in the FPGA. Next thing, we 
> enabled support for MTD devices in the kernel. After that, the kernel 
> did not seem to boot anymore. It stopped at the message 'Now booting 
> the kernel'. So we read some documentation about debugging. We 
> recompiled this kernel with the -g -ggdb options and removed the -O 
> (optimalization) flag. Then we did not even see the ppc boot loader 
> messages anymore when trying to boot. So we tried to compile the first 
> kernel (with only serial and ethernet support) -wich worked fine 
> before- with debugging and it gave us the same result.. no output at all.
> Can anyone give us some hints on what we can try more to find out what 
> is going wrong?

There are lots of possible problems that may be causing this but my 
guess is that you are accessing some piece of hardware that you don't 
have ioremap'd/io_block_mapping'd.  IOW, you don't have a virt->phys 
translation set up for the hardware register you're trying to access.  
If you can find a COPS/JTAG debugger and your board has a connector, set 
it up and run your kernel again.  When it hangs stop the processor and 
dump the 'log_buf' that's in memory (you can get the address from your 
System.map file).  That's where printk msgs are logged before the 
console is set up.  In there you will likely see a panic msg and a 
register dump.  That should point you to where things went wrong.

If you don't have access to a debugger like that, you could try running 
KGDB.  If the kernel is running long enough to reach the initial 
breakpoint and you have correctly configured your code so that KGDB will 
work, that can be big help too.

Mark