Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 SP2 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION Installation Manual page 535

Sometimes, deviations from the ACPI specification are purposely integrated in the
BIOS to circumvent errors in the ACPI implementation in other widespread operating
systems. Hardware components that have serious errors in the ACPI implementation
are recorded in a blacklist that prevents the Linux kernel from using ACPI for these
components.
The first thing to do when problems are encountered is to update the BIOS. If the
computer does not boot at all, one of the following boot parameters may be helpful:
pci=noacpi
Do not use ACPI for configuring the PCI devices.
acpi=ht
Only perform a simple resource configuration. Do not use ACPI for other purposes.
acpi=off
Disable ACPI.
WARNING: Problems Booting without ACPI
Some newer machines (especially SMP systems and AMD64 systems) need ACPI
for configuring the hardware correctly. On these machines, disabling ACPI can
cause problems.
Monitor the boot messages of the system with the command dmesg | grep -2i
acpi (or all messages, because the problem may not be caused by ACPI) after booting.
If an error occurs while parsing an ACPI table, the most important table—the DS-
DT—can be replaced with an improved version. In this case, the faulty DSDT of the
BIOS is ignored. The procedure is described in Section 28.5.4, "Troubleshooting"
(page 526).
In the kernel configuration, there is a switch for activating ACPI debug messages. If a
kernel with ACPI debugging is compiled and installed, experts searching for an error
can be supported with detailed information.
If you experience BIOS or hardware problems, it is always advisable to contact the
manufacturers. Especially if they do not always provide assistance for Linux, they
should be confronted with the problems. Manufacturers will only take the issue seriously
if they realize that an adequate number of their customers use Linux.
Power Management 517