Why does the SMP kernel not work on my single processor system?

While the SMP kernel works on many systems with a single processor, on some systems it does not function correctly. This is because the SMP kernel requires that the processor supports Page Address Extensions (PAE), which enable a processor to address more than 4GB of physical memory.

Many processors used in laptops, such as the Intel Pentium M, do not support PAE.

If a single pro...