SUSE 9.3 install failed on ASUS motherboard

[rajeevk]

Hello,

I am new to linux installation. I tried to install the SUSE linux9.3 on my new PC with ASUS p5VDCMX mother board. The initial sysmtoms like unable to recognise the CD_ROM came through & I loaded the ide-generic module. It went ahead with the installation. I performed the steps recommended in the below url http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~mohitz/tech/suse.php. I added the ide-generic & did mkinitrd with no parameters. I do not know what exactly the parameters that I have to pass. I gave the path to mkinitrd as /. The mkinitrd went through fine. But after this when I rebooted linux it just failed to come up. It is unable to recognise the root file system which I had given it during the installation. Any help in this regard would be great.

Thanks,
Rajeev.

[rajeshk]

Hi,

Have u updated the grub configuration file with the new initrd file.
mkinitrd will create a new initrd file which contains the driver for your hard disks.

--Regards,
rajesh

[rajeevk]

Hello Rajesh,

Can you kindly elobrate the procedure to update the grub & configuring with the mkinitrd command. Or can you suggest me a better version of linux which can overcome the mother board problem. I tried to flash ubuntu 6.01.1, but it does not recognise the root file system.

-thanks,
Rajeev

[valemon]

Try installing openSuSE 10.2 and see what happens

[mestrini]

Try installing openSuSE 10.2 and see what happens

I don't think it will work as i'm facing same problem with an ASUS A7V8X which uses VIA Chipset VT8377 and VT8235 Southbridge PCI to ISA Bridge.

I can't install anything more recent that SUSE 9.1 since it's a bug in the kernel.The VIA82cxxx bug.
I've read several situations like this but i'm a bit desperate since i have no idea how to solve it. And i wouldn't like to buy a new PC just to use linux.
Is there any way to contact the guys responsible for the kernel and ask them to fix this issue?

cheers

[devils casper]

I don't think it will work as i'm facing same problem with an ASUS A7V8X which uses VIA Chipset VT8377 and VT8235 Southbridge PCI to ISA Bridge.

I can't install anything more recent that SUSE 9.1 since it's a bug in the kernel.The VIA82cxxx bug.
I've read several situations like this but i'm a bit desperate since i have no idea how to solve it. And i wouldn't like to buy a new PC just to use linux.
Is there any way to contact the guys responsible for the kernel and ask them to fix this issue?

cheers

what error message installer throws? where does it hang?

[techieMoe]

I can't install anything more recent that SUSE 9.1 since it's a bug in the kernel.The VIA82cxxx bug.

I don't follow your logic here. If there's a bug in the kernel, wouldn't using a newer version have more of a chance of working, since the bug could have been fixed in newer versions?

I've not had any issues with my ASUS K8V-X, which (if I remember correctly) uses a similar VIA chipset. I'm able to install the latest openSuSE 10.2 on it. How many newer distributions have you tried?

[mestrini]

I don't follow your logic here. If there's a bug in the kernel, wouldn't using a newer version have more of a chance of working, since the bug could have been fixed in newer versions?

I've not had any issues with my ASUS K8V-X, which (if I remember correctly) uses a similar VIA chipset. I'm able to install the latest openSuSE 10.2 on it. How many newer distributions have you tried?

I have tried a lot of distros: Suse 10.2, Ubunto 6.10, Kubunto 6.10, Ubunto 7, Mandriva One, Kurumin, Debian 4, Fedora Core 6, Caixa Mágica 11.

I don't know if one can call it a bug in the real term since the VIAARENA site reports the missing information about recent chipsets in the drivers files of the kernel.

Check the Kernel patch they advise
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=4#1009

There are lots Linux distributions in the world nowadays. Many of them do not support newer VIA South Cridge chips, such as VT8237A, VT8251, and CX700/M. Unsupported South Bridge chips might cause the system not to boot or to only run in PIO mode. This is because the kernel does not recognize the IDE controllers. This document describes how to manually patch the kernel source to enable DMA mode in VIA’s South Bridge chips.

Other bug report sites mention a hanging problem when trying to enable DMA mode for the CD drive.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s....15/+bug/56823

Suse 10.2 hangs after displaying the message about the drivers: VIA82cxxx
Other distro like Ubunto (and related) can't detect the CD drive when loading the hardware drivers.

But hey, i'm a complete noob as far as Linux is concerned

tx for the replies

mestrini

[devils casper]

boot installation CD/DVD, highlight "Installation" title and type 'all-ide-generic'. press Enter key.

[mestrini]

boot installation CD/DVD, highlight "Installation" title and type 'all-ide-generic'. press Enter key.

nope, that didn't work