LiveCD troubles on Asus A8N-VM CSM (nVidia nForce 430)

[lifeless]

I just bought a brand spanking new Asus MB and a 64-bit Athlon 3500+ to go with it. The motherboard is based on the nForce 430 chipset, has four SATA connectors, integrated gigabit Ethernet, an integrated GeForce 6150 GPU and various other miscellany.

I've been trying to get a decent boot off one of the LiveCD's to start installing Gentoo, but without luck as of yet.

Before I started, I checked out the BIOS settings. Lots of stuff there I knew to be worried about, Linux compatibility-wise, but I decided to not disable any of the features there. I intend to dual-boot with WinXP for gaming, and I expect to get Linux working with the same BIOS settings that Windows works with - any trickery or disabling features must happen with boot and/or kernel parameters.

------

Description of things done:

I tried booting with the 2005.1-r1 AMD64 livecd, using -nofb to see what happens. Loading HID took a long time (half a minute maybe), but eventually finished. Then the SATA part started. Several modules loaded okay, but the booting hung on the sata_sx4 module.

Reset, added noload=sata_sx4, so it was skipped, but now it hung on the next sATA module.

Reset, replaced the noload with nosata, got further, but then autoloading devices just kept on going forever.
After a bit of googling, adding noapic solved this one. But then, somewhere around coldplugging PCI or USB devices, a kernel panic occurred. The message flies past so fast (and is unscrollable) that the precise point of error is unclear. One of the errors referenced sata_nv (although I still had nosata as a boot parameter, which is rather odd).

So then I budged and disabled SATA from the BIOS (I only have PATA drives for now, fortunately -- although I expect to get SATA working at some point). Now, the command gentoo-nofb boots, no parameters needed, and I get the root prompt... BUT the integrated ethernet doesn't get an IP via DHCP from my router (the physical connection is OK, Windows gets an address just fine). Forcedeth gets loaded (see the lsmod listing further down), but dhcpcd times out (clip from /var/log/messages):

Nov 27 13:37:37 livecd forcedeth.c: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.35.
Nov 27 13:37:37 livecd PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:14.0 to 64
Nov 27 13:37:38 livecd eth0: forcedeth.c: subsystem: 010de:cb84 bound to 0000:00:14.0
Nov 27 13:38:43 livecd dhcpcd[6432]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response
Nov 27 13:38:43 livecd dhcpcd[6877]: recvfrom: Network is down

So, not much luck there.

I tried booting with the x86 2005.1 livecd without kernel parameters. Again, HID takes a while, but it boots fine with SATA disabled in the BIOS. Still no IP address, same timeout.

Also, the AMD64 livecd doesn't recognize my USB stick. Error in dmesg output:

USB 1-6: new high speed device using ehci_hcs and address [1-11, tries every one in succession]
USB 1-6: device not accepting address [1-11], error -110

The x86 livecd works fine with the USB stick. But there I get an ALSA error just before root prompt.

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Due to the USB stick problem, I only managed to get the lsmod output from the x86 livecd (having no network connectivity or a floppy drive).

lsmod:

Module Size Used by
sata_nv 7556 0
libata 30984 1 sata_nv
forcedeth 16384 0
dm_mirror 16400 0
dm_mod 39264 1 dm_mirror
sbp2 19592 0
ohci1394 27596 0
ieee1394 63480 2 sbp2,ohci1394
sl811_hcd 11392 0
ohci_hcd 17156 0
uhci_hcd 26528 0
usb_storage 55616 1
usbhid 27680 0
ehci_hcd 25864 0
usbcore 86136 7 sl811_hcd,ohci_hcd,uhci_hcd,usb_storage,usbhid,ehci_hcd

Odd that sata_nv is there although SATA is disabled in BIOS.


lspci:

0000:00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
0000:00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
0000:00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
0000:00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
0000:00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
0000:00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
0000:00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
0000:00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
0000:00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
0000:00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a2)
0000:00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
0000:00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
0000:00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev a1)
0000:00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
0000:04:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:04:09.0 PCI bridge: Hint Corp HB6 Universal PCI-PCI bridge (non-transparent mode) (rev 13)
0000:05:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator] (rev 01)
0000:05:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 04)

Nothing too special there; the integrated soundchip is disabled, and I have a Hercules DigiFire 7.1 (the Cirrus Logic CS) in place.


nVidia has drivers available that support the chipset, but I need the network interface working to finish the installation and to install the drivers. I'll have to compile the kernel in the chroot before installing the drivers, but could someone explain what actually happens when I run the installer? Do the drivers automagically just work when booting off the new kernel (barring any unexpected problems)?

Any pointers for nForce 430 on Gentoo? I even tried to boot off a Finnix livecd that has a fresh 2.6.14 kernel in it, but it also kept autodetecting devices forever during boot. Any advice concerning ACPI, APIC, SATA, USB and whatnot with the 430 would be most welcome.

Also, is it possible to install an AMD64 system from an x86 livecd?

[cato`]

Code: Select all

[b]Linux Compatibility[/b]

The 2.6.11 x64_64 SMP kernel that shipped with the original Fedora Core 4 release will not boot with this board. Luckily the install also includes the non-SMP kernel, which works fine. After updating, the current 2.6.14 SMP kernel works great.

The forcedeth network driver in 2.6.11 does not recognize the on-board NIC, but the version included with the 2.6.14 kernel does. The nvnet driver included on the disk did not work immediately - since the latest forcedeth works, I haven't investigated this.

Unfortunately, the current 7676 graphics drivers for Linux do not work with the on-board 6150 video. NVidia says that this will be corrected with the upcoming 8xxx driver release.

Source: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/924000436731/r/795004846731

So you need a 2.6.14 kernel for forcedeth and the nvidia 8xxx driver (search the forum) for graphics.

Edit: The board works in linux, the only thing that does not work is getting NCQ and SATA-300 (S-ATA II)

[lifeless]

So you need a 2.6.14 kernel for forcedeth and the nvidia 8xxx driver (search the forum) for graphics.

Edit: The board works in linux, the only thing that does not work is getting NCQ and SATA-300 (S-ATA II)

Since the AMD64 livecd doesn't have 2.6.14, what should I do?

I managed to get the Finnix livecd (with its 2.6.14 kernel) to boot, with everything enabled in the BIOS, including SATA which makes the Gentoo livecd's kernelpanic during coldplugging (I might have waited too short a time for the Finnix autodetection to work last time). But still, no network connectivity. lsmod still lists forcedeth as one of the loaded modules, but dhclient never finds an IP address.

If there's someone here who has successfully performed an AMD64 install for Asus A8N-VM CSM, I'd love to hear how.

[cato`]

There is a thread on nvnews dedicated Linux on NForce 430 + GeForce 6150, have you read it?

[lifeless]

There is a thread on nvnews dedicated Linux on NForce 430 + GeForce 6150, have you read it?

I have, actually, but even though people there make passing references to getting things working on their boards, they didn't really provide specific instructions. Someone got the network interface working sporadically with FC4 and 2.6.14, but mine didn't get even that far (even with SATA disabled, which I really don't want to do).

It's suggested there that a newer-than-in-the-kernel version of forcedeth should be used - how can this be accomplished in the livecd environment?

The SATA kernel panic is the most serious problem at the moment, but googling for the error message was pretty fruitless (the only thing I remember now was something about a Bad RIP Value: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!)

[cato`]

Maybe you should try the CONRAD Install LiveCD 0.2.2 it features a 2.6.14-nitro2 kernel and after reading on nvnews you should try booting with "noapic" or "nolapic" (or both).

[lifeless]

Maybe you should try the CONRAD Install LiveCD 0.2.2 it features a 2.6.14-nitro2 kernel and after reading on nvnews you should try booting with "noapic" or "nolapic" (or both).

Interesting, but x86-only for the moment, at least until version 0.2.5... dang . I may give it a shot, though, just to see how it does with the ethernet drivers.

Well, I've got my WinXP here for the time being, but the whole situation completely sucks. Linux + new hardware = grief.

I started a thread on nvnews.net as well: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=756792

...but any further advice is still very welcome from here too

[boppen]

Hi!

I don't know, maybe you've solved all your problems but here is how I did it!

I'm having a A8N-VM CSM with a AMD 64 3200+ that I'm running Gentoo 2005.1 on.

When I installed I got kernel panic when it tried to load nv_sata - so I disabled SATA in the BIOS and bought a 80Gb Parallell-ATA disc
Then it booted just fine - I could install without any problems.

I haven't had any problems with the integrated network card - and I'm using this box as a streming client for watching Live-TV so it's quite heavy network load (10-15Mb/s constant). I'm using the forcedeth-modules that's included with my kernel (vanilla-kernel-2.6.14.2).

So I think I solved all my problems by disabling SATA at installation - I don't know if I could get SATA working by installing lastest kernel (2.6.15-rc?) and enable SATA in the BIOS again? But as I've bought another HDD I haven't tried yet.

Btw - I running X with the leaked 8xxx-driver without any problems.


/Boppen

[bus.dch]

Hi, I have an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ processor and an Asus A8N-VM/CSM motherboard (with the nForce 430 chipset) and the minimal AMD64 cd image was giving me problems (install-amd64-minimal-2005.1-r1.iso)

It would hang while loading the sata_sx4 module (not the PCI coldplug), but after noload=sata_sx4, I figured out it was hanging after doing something with sata_nv. Hard to see what, since it cleared the console line and overwrote it with sata_sx4. If I disabled sata_sx4, it would hang on sata_uli, the next sata module it was trying. If I booted "gentoo nosata," it would still hang because in the PCI coldplug it would modprobe sata_nv. (I guess it detected it.)

I tried "gentoo noapic." That doesn't work because (I think?) it's a dual core system, so the APIC is needed to load something right at the beginning (before the framebuffer is initialized?)

Well, to my surprise, install-x86-minimal-2005.1-r1.iso works great, loads all the sata_* modules great, and so I (think) I can use that to get an amd64 install, right?

[antiflag1980]

I have the msi board with this chipset and had the same problems, all I had to do was pass nodetect as a kernel parameter and then once booted modprobe forcedeth and everything was fine

[bus.dch]

Well, I was just wondering if I could boot the x86-minimal install and switch to an AMD64 kernel and build during the install.

forcedeth is having trouble getting on the network, anyone know what to do?

Code: Select all

# dmesg
(snip)
livecd forcedeth.c: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.35.
livecd ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LMAC] enabled at IRQ 23
livecd ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:14.0[A] -> Link [LMAC] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
livecd PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:14.0 to 64
livecd eth0: forcedeth.c: subsystem: 010de:cb84 bound to 0000:00:14.0
livecd Real Time Clock Driver v1.12
livecd input: PC Speaker
livecd Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
livecd FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
livecd pnp: Device 00:05 activated.
livecd parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
livecd pnp: Device 00:05 disabled.
livecd dhcpcd[9276]: terminating on signal 1
livecd dhcpcd[7781]: recvfrom: Network is down
livecd dhcpcd[9738]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response
livecd dhcpcd[9792]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response

ifconfig eth0 shows that I'm receiving packets, but 0 bytes transmitted, and all the packets are listed as "dropped." Since I'm using NAT hardware, I know what my IP address should be, so I tried manually configuring:

Code: Select all

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.104 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
# route add default gw 192.168.1.1
# cat << EOF > /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.1.1
EOF
# ping 192.168.1.1

The pings are errors at first (no route to host) and then after 3 or 4, it just starts dropping them with no response.

[bus.dch]

Okay, the pinging goes like this:

Code: Select all

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.104 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
# route add default gw 192.168.1.1
# cat << EOF > /etc/resolv.conf
> nameserver 192.168.1.1
> EOF
# ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=11 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=12 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=13 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=15 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=16 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=17 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=19 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=20 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=21 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=23 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=24 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.104 icmp_seq=25 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
31 packets transmitted, 0 received, +12 errors, 100% packet loss, time 42023ms
, pipe 3
# ifconfig eth0
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:F2:02:F3:90
          inet addr:192.168.1.104  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:3 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:840 (840.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:23 Base address:0x8000

And so I guess sometimes it's Destination Host Unreachable, and sometimes the packets just disappear. The 3 dropped packets seem to be related to running dhcpcd.

[cato`]

Well, I made this page: http://rasmus.uib.no/~hmy079/Linux_on_a ... n_csm.html

The gentoo install CD's dont work, they freeze on sata_nv, so I used the Ubuntu 64bit LiveCD to install amd64 gentoo.
On my system I have to use nvnet to get an IP.

net-misc/nvnet-1.0.0310.ebuild

Code: Select all

# Copyright 1999-2005 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2

inherit eutils linux-mod

PKG_V="pkg1"
NV_V="${PV/1.0./1.0-}"
AMD64_NV_PACKAGE="NFORCE-Linux-x86_64-${NV_V}"

DESCRIPTION="Linux kernel module for NVIDIA's nForce onboard NIC"
HOMEPAGE="http://www.nvidia.com/"
SRC_URI="http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nforce/amd64/${NV_V}/${AMD64_NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}.run"

NV_PACKAGE="${AMD64_NV_PACKAGE}"


S=${WORKDIR}/${NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}/nvnet

LICENSE="NVIDIA"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS="-* ~amd64"
RESTRICT="nostrip"
IUSE=""

MODULE_NAMES="nvnet(:${S})"
BUILD_PARAMS="SYSSRC=${KV_DIR}"
BUILD_TARGETS=" "

src_unpack() {
        unpack ${A}

        cd ${WORKDIR}
        bash ${DISTDIR}/${NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}.run --extract-only
}

src_compile() {
        cd ${S}

        if kernel_is 2 6
        then
                rm makefile
                ln -snf Makefile.kbuild Makefile
        fi

        linux-mod_src_compile
}

src_install() {
        linux-mod_src_install
        dodoc ${S}/ReleaseNotes.html
}

pkg_postinst() {
        linux-mod_pkg_postinst

}

The only thing not working right now is the sensors, All I get is "No i2c device files found. Use prog/mkdev/mkdev.sh to create them." but thats probably me not RTFM.

[bus.dch]

Well, I made this page: http://rasmus.uib.no/~hmy079/Linux_on_a ... n_csm.html

@ cato:
What does the DSDT.aml do you have posted there? I'm not too familiar with ACPI, but that's not some gzipped ramdrive. What is it?

I had exactly the same mileage with the amd64 livecd, but the x86 livecd loads the sata_* modules just fine. Wonder why it's different...?

I also wonder if I can boot from the x86 livecd and then switch to amd64 at that point? Anyone?

[bus.dch]

Okay, I actually read the webpage, now I get it. The DSDT.aml file still needs to be prefixed... read the patch (dsdt initrd patch) -- its comments are worth reading.

And yes, I'm going to use the Ubuntu 64bit LiveCD to get the AMD64 stage3 tarball to run.

[cato`]

Just ask if you need any help or if something is not working right.

[bus.dch]

Okay, things are going better today. I tried everything.

Ubuntu amd64: no nvnet driver, forcedeth not recent enough to support the motherboard.
Ubuntu x86: same.
Knoppix: same.
Debian amd64: same.
Debian x86: same.
Gentoo x86-minimal: same.
Gentoo amd64-minimal: same.

Gentoo amd64-universal: pretty much the same. But... I went ahead and installed the stage3 tarball by booting with Grub for NT and not putting the CD in the drive, which drops you into busybox ash. (Start some more VT's: from the first VT, type ash < /dev/tty2 > /dev/tty2 2>&1 & etc.) I put nosata on the command line. Once I had the stage3 installed and the kernel built, I booted directly into gentoo and installed the nvnet driver for the nForce 3 chipset. It worked fine. nvidia's website doesn't have a linux driver for the nForce 430 chipset by the way.

I guess I tried all those other distros because I wanted to go all the way from stage1. So when I gave up on that, things got a lot better.

[Icer]

I have the msi board with this chipset and had the same problems, all I had to do was pass nodetect as a kernel parameter and then once booted modprobe forcedeth and everything was fine

Which board is it? Is it the K8NGM2-FID? I'm considering getting one. Are you passing the kernel parameter when booting live cd or where or when do you do that?

I've heard that modprobing works but then after booting you have to do it again. i.e you cant autoload the drivers. Is that true?

You mean you get good audio, lan works too? How's the DVI output btw?

Lol, lot of questions but this board might be the best htpc board there is.

[stick_figure]

I followed some of the info on the nvnews site, and eventually succesfully installed onto my 400 GB SATA drive by installing first onto an IDE drive. Basically, the sata_nv drivers on the LiveCD are out of date and suck, but the latest ones from the gentoo-sources are good stuff. Since the LiveCD couldn't touch the SATA, I did a fresh install on an IDE, which could then write to the SATA with sata_nv, and I used dd to copy my installation from one drive to the next. I also had to patch forcedeth, but that is well documented at nvnews.net.

Some of my references (I know they may be redundant, but I don't want people to miss these):
http://www.student.uib.no/~hmy079/Linux ... n_csm.html
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr ... 791&page=8 - see KenWoodland's patches and others towards the end
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=60596

My audio is still buggy, and I'll follow up with that when I can make some sense of my current situation. Video does not work, I'm using the vesa drivers and occaisionally X crashes for unkown reasons which I will attempt to diagnose momentarily.

[edit]
Nevermind, audio works, after rebuilding the kernel with the ACPI patch. It could be related, it might not be, but with the acpi patch from KenWoodland and the alsa-driver patch I have audio.

[SilentK]

I have the MSI K8NGM2-FID and am having some trouble installing gentoo with it. Perhaps it's a bios setting or something as someone else reported they were able to boot up with just nodetect. Will that's not the case. I can boot with nodetect noload=sata_nv but I only have a sata harddrive so I can't really install it that way.

Also when I modprobe forcedeth eth0 does appear when I do ifconfig however when I do dhpcd eth0 it disappears.

I am using bios vesion 3.1. Also I noticed some of you said you were able to install gentoo by first installing ubuntu. Could you give a more detailed explanation on how you were able to do this? I was able to get ubuntu kind of installed (no internet, no sound, and using vesa) but since the ubuntu install cd did not come with the linux-source or linux-tree packages I wasn't able to compile a kernel with support for the nividia stuff as the installers from nividia site kept complaining about the kernel being compiled with a different version of gcc than what was installed on my ubuntu install.


Also I am noticing several people with MSI boards saying they are able to boot no problem with the gentoo cd which I find odd as I am having all the same problems as the asus people are reporting. Are you installing to a sata drive or is it a pata?

[cato`]

Use the experimental LiveCD, I think it solves all the install problems.

[SilentK]

Where's the download for the experimental LiveCD for amd64?

[SilentK]

Nevermind found it.

[SilentK]

Hmmmm I download the 2005.1-r1 expiremental amd64 iso and it still hangs on sata_nv is this not the newest one?

I can boot by just doing gentoo nodetect no though but the xserver fails to start. when I modprobe forcedeth eth0 shows up but when I try to dhcpcd eth0 it disappears.

Any thoughts on how to get past these issues?

[SilentK]

the x86 universal cd load sata_nv just fine. I really want it to be native amd64 though. Anyway to do this?