Which motherboard ?

[Greg L.]

Hello,

I've got some problems with a ASUS A7V8X-X motherboard under Linux (it's seems that tehre'... it's quite boring because everything is well recognized on this motherboard.

I think I will change this and put it on a computer for my home-studio.

Could you tell me which motherboard to chose for a computer under Linux ?
If this can be without embedded sound and lan chip, it's not so bad !

[bpark]

I don't understand what your problem is? If everything is recognized, then you won't have to compile a custom kernel.

[Greg L.]

Sorry, my English is quite bad and I fear I can't explain very well my problem.

In fact, I'm sure that my motherboard makes my computer to crash when I start it for the first time. The best way to make it not to crash again is not to force the file system check. My processor (Athlon XP 2600+) is running at 1900 MHz, so I think that the processor is not "guilty".

When I had Win2K, it seemed that my computer didn't crash so often.

I'm looking for people who can help me to fix this, or for a new motherboard.

I hope you understand what I mean.

[Dolda2000]

If your computer crashes, then, in my opinion, you should try to see why that is first. Would it be possible for you to extract the error message somehow? Do you have access to another computer and serial null modem cable?

[Greg L.]

Hello Dolda,

This morning, I had to reboot my computer about 10 times before being able to use it.
The first time, it freezed on the VGA-screen (before BIOS POST message).
The second time, it booted and I entered the BIOS (?!)
The third time, it freezed once KDE was launched and when GAIM was starting
The fourth time, it freezd at the KDM login screen ...
And on, and on, and on ...

I'm quite sure that my motherboard is doing a mess, but I don't know where to find message to prove what I say.
Do you have any idea ?

If I had to change my motherboard, which is the best in the following motherboards:
- ABIT KD7A (VIA KT400, FSB 333MHz, Audio + Lan)
- ABIT NF7 (nForce2 SPP, FSB400, ATA133, Audio + Lan)
- ABIT KV7 (VIA KT600 + VT8237, FSB 400MHz, Audio + Lan)
- Gigabyte 7VA (VIA KT400, DMA 133, FSB 333MHz, Audio - no Lan)
- Gigabyte 7VT600L (VIA KT600+8235, FSB 400MHz, DMA 133, Audio + Lan)
- Gigabyte 7N400L (nForce 2 Ultra 400, FSB 400Mhz, ATA 133, DDR 400, Audio + Lan)
- Soltek KT400-C (VIA KT400, DMA 133, Audio, ABSII(?!))
- Soltek 75FRN2-L (nForce2 (SPP+MCP), DDR400, Audio + Lan)
- Soltek KT600-R (VIA KT600 + VT8237, SATA, DDR333/400, Audio - no Lan)

Thanks !

[Dolda2000]

Oh, I see. Since it crashes during the POST, I have to agree with your assessment that there must be something wrong with the hardware. You might want to download Memtest86 and use it to test if your RAM is faulty.

If you decide to buy a new motherboard, I would suggest some of those that use a VIA chipset. In my experience, VIA is much more Linux-friendly than nForce.
I'm currently running my workstation on a VIA KT600-based motherboard (MSI KT6 Delta), and it's working very good.

[Greg L.]

Thanks for your help Dolda !

How much did you pay your motherboard and what are the sound and lan chips ?
I can buy my motherboard with my company but I can't have some MSI motherboards.

[Dolda2000]

My motherboard currently costs 825 SEK (1 EUR is about 9 SEK).
The sound chip is a VIA VT8233, which has excellent Linux support.
The LAN chip was a bit troublesome. It's a Broadcom chip. There are drivers for it in the Linux 2.6 kernel, but I don't think that there are any built-in drivers for Linux 2.4. However, the manufacturer provides an open-source driver for it for Linux 2.4, so it is fully possible to get it to work under either Linux version.