Asus Motherboard

Greetings,
In reference to ASUS motherboard M2N-MX SE PLUS, I have sent the following
email to ASUS, which you will find self explanatory.

Motherboard is blocking the Linux installation as well as the use of Live
versions like Mandriva Flash and Knoppix
Unable to upgrade BIOS firmware as instructions in manual and on Internet
are unclear and conflicting.
In view of the above I am returning the motherboard to the vendor.
I am also posting a notice on the Linux News groups and Linux computer
clubs, suggesting people to refrain from buying any Asus products until
assurances are given that no further blockages on the installation of
Linux, will be implemented.
This is a shameful anti Linux attitude.

I have successfully used their products in the past.

FYI on trying to install Mandriva the installation starts and then the
screen goes "Blank" (grey in fact). The same thing happens when trying to
run Mandriva Flash or Knoppix.

I am posting the above as a warning to other Linux users.

Hope this assists
--
Rgds.
Edward
Registered Linux User No. 224802

On Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:59:25 -0400, edward <edward1018@bigpond.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Motherboard is blocking the Linux installation as well as the use of Live
> versions like Mandriva Flash and Knoppix[/color]

Please give some more information. What is the exact error message, or
symptom of the install problem. Have you tried standard install work-arounds
like booting with "acpi=off"?

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

edward wrote:
[color=blue]
> In reference to ASUS motherboard M2N-MX SE PLUS, I have sent the following
> email to ASUS, which you will find self explanatory.[/color]

//snip//

I've got just the same motherboard here. It installs Ubuntu and Mandriva
fine with acpi-off selected as a boot parameter! Also, no problem with the
BIOS.

The documentation on the ASUS website is poorly written (they need to employ
some professional translators), but this is not unusual with South East
Asian companies.

C.

On Monday 29 September 2008 09:21, someone identifying as *Christopher
Hunter* wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/
[color=blue]
> The documentation on the ASUS website is poorly written (they need to
> employ some professional translators), but this is not unusual with South
> East Asian companies.[/color]

Are you implying that there are actually motherboard manufacturers that are
*not* of South-East Asian origin? :p

(Well, except for Intel of course, although I'm pretty sure that their
motherboards are manufactured somewhere in South-East Asia as well... :p)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:34:40 +0100, darklight wrote:
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Motherboard is blocking the Linux installation as well as the use of
>> Live versions like Mandriva Flash and Knoppix Unable to upgrade BIOS
>> firmware as instructions in manual and on Internet are unclear and
>> conflicting.[/color][/color]
[color=blue][color=green]
>> I have successfully used their products in the past.
>>
>> FYI on trying to install Mandriva the installation starts and then the
>> screen goes "Blank" (grey in fact). The same thing happens when trying
>> to run Mandriva Flash or Knoppix.
>>
>> I am posting the above as a warning to other Linux users.
>>
>> Hope this assists[/color]
>
> i would not say it is the motherboard but the os i have installed on my
> motherboard which is a asus m2n-sli deluxe opensuse 10.3 but opensuse
> 11.0 would not install. from my perpective the problem is in the kernel
> for this is where my installation would stall.
>
> what happens if you install an older verstion of mandriva[/color]

With suse 11.0 you could try the following switch 'noacip nolacip'

Do not type the apostrophes. This works with Debian , Suse and studio 64.
HTH

--
Neil
reverse ra and delete l
Linux user 335851

Aragorn wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Monday 29 September 2008 09:21, someone identifying as *Christopher
> Hunter* wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/
>[color=green]
>> The documentation on the ASUS website is poorly written (they need to
>> employ some professional translators), but this is not unusual with South
>> East Asian companies.[/color]
>
> Are you implying that there are actually motherboard manufacturers that
> are *not* of South-East Asian origin? :p
>
> (Well, except for Intel of course, although I'm pretty sure that their
> motherboards are manufactured somewhere in South-East Asia as well... :p)[/color]

Strangely enough, I have recently had motherboards from Mexico (Intel) and
Brazil (can't remember the brand). It seems they're made where the
labour's cheap!

C.

David W. Hodgins wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:59:25 -0400, edward <edward1018@bigpond.com> wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Motherboard is blocking the Linux installation as well as the use of Live
>> versions like Mandriva Flash and Knoppix[/color]
>
> Please give some more information. What is the exact error message, or
> symptom of the install problem. Have you tried standard install
> work-arounds like booting with "acpi=off"?
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>[/color]
Greetings,

As per your request, this is what happened to me, with:
Mandriva 2008.1 i586 Spring
Mandriva Flash 2008, and
Knoppix 5.3.1.

In the case of Mandriva, 2008.1 the initial screen comes up where you
select "Install", then a "grey screen" and nothing else!

With Mandriva Flash, the startup page from the dvd comes up, you type
Flash200 and you get a grey page as above.

With knoppix the opening page comes up, you type Knoppix lang=US and then
the above grey page comes up.

Having fitted the computer with two drives, I installed Windows XP with out
any problems. (This computer in not mine but a friend's who wanted to have
a dual boot)

From the above postings I now suspect this may be a condition existing in
Australia as it seems some people imply they have installed this board
without problems in other countries.

Nevertheless I will personally refrain from purchasing any ASUS products
until an assurance is given that their products are Linux compatible.

We should all insist on this, for all brands, particularly laptops, all of
which come pre-installed with Vista and with a firmware that is not fully
compatible with Linux.
--
Rgds.
Edward
Registered Linux User No. 224802

On Monday 29 September 2008 16:38, someone identifying as *Neil Ellwood*
wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/
[color=blue]
> With suse 11.0 you could try the following switch 'noacip nolacip'[/color]

Ehm.... That should be /noapic/ and /nolapic,/ but neither of those have
anything to do with ACPI (Advanced Control and Power Interface). :-)

The APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) is a register on the
processor for mapping out interrupts.

The pertaining kernel boot parameters are thus as follows...:

acpi=on -> full ACPI interpreter support
acpi=ht -> only use ACPI to enable hyperthreading (if available)
acpi=off -> no ACPI support

noapic -> do not set up the APIC and use the legacy PIC instead
nolapic -> do not use the local APIC

The latter two boot parameters were often needed on some uniprocessor
machines with the combination of a VIA chipset and an AMD processor - and
in some rare cases with an Intel as well - although I must say that this
machine here also has an Asus motherboard with a VIA chipset and an AMD
Athlon XP 2800+ processor, and I've always booted up without any of those
options, and with the machine running 24/7.

I /have/ recently begun seeing some instability at the (X11) application
level - and so far also two or three full lockups, but with the kernel
still alive during two of them - but since I haven't changed anything to
the hardware or the software, I suspect this to be the result of dust in
the fans or possibly a problem with one of the memory modules.

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

edward wrote:
[color=blue]
> Greetings,
> In reference to ASUS motherboard M2N-MX SE PLUS, I have sent the following
> email to ASUS, which you will find self explanatory.
>
> Motherboard is blocking the Linux installation as well as the use of Live
> versions like Mandriva Flash and Knoppix
> Unable to upgrade BIOS firmware as instructions in manual and on Internet
> are unclear and conflicting.
> In view of the above I am returning the motherboard to the vendor.
> I am also posting a notice on the Linux News groups and Linux computer
> clubs, suggesting people to refrain from buying any Asus products until
> assurances are given that no further blockages on the installation of
> Linux, will be implemented.
> This is a shameful anti Linux attitude.
>
> I have successfully used their products in the past.
>
> FYI on trying to install Mandriva the installation starts and then the
> screen goes "Blank" (grey in fact). The same thing happens when trying to
> run Mandriva Flash or Knoppix.
>
> I am posting the above as a warning to other Linux users.
>
> Hope this assists[/color]

3 years. 3 years before I got a good BIOS release from Asus. At last, I can
use standby (disk or ram).

But... even if they don't sell this motherboard anymore, they were still
working on it and finally fixed it (bug fix backported from new BIOS I
guess, but they could ignore us).