Hello All,
I'm a linux newbie, I bought a computer with a Mainboard Asus M2N-SLI
Deluxe and Graphic card NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS.
I'm trying to install suse 10.1, the installation crashes even when I try to install in text mode, as far as I have read, this is (or was) a well known bug in the openSuse distribution but I just read a forum posted the 06-22-06 named ' Socket AM2 motherboards with Linux support?', there's someone(puntjuh) that claim have managed to install suse 10.1 in a machine with the same board. I would like to ask to him, puntjuh or somebody else that has had the same problem and had solved it for help.

I tried also suse 10.2 alpha 1,2 and 3, even debian, still I cannot work.

Please help!!!

Thanks

I've got an M2N-32 SLI Deluxe, with the same problem. I've tried installing gentoo, ubuntu, debian, studio 64, and suse...no luck. I've tried noapic, acpi=off, nolapic, irqpoll, scandelay boot options.....installation always fails.

Even my Acronis True Image (uses linux) won't boot the machine in order to image the hard drives.

I've disabled / removed just about every piece of extra hardware possible. My guess is that the linux kernel doesn't support AM2, or there's limited support, or ASUStek just pieced together a really linux unfriendly piece of hardware.

I hope someone can help,

-DJ

Hi, I just worked through similar problem with my Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard. I have got a machine configured for doble booting, and I first installed WinXP (which is standard procedure). I came across a note that there is probably a bug in the windows drivers for the motherboard that makes the part of the network functionality inaccessible for network on boot to linux.

I am not an expert but the suggested solution was somehow manageable: turn off the power completely. This means using the power switch on your power supply or if there is none, to unplug the main power cable (after the regular shutdown). Wait a few seconds, turn it back on and reboot directly into linux, without booting WinXP first.

Turning the power completely off stops power supply to the mohterboard, which seems to retain the erroneous settings in some "sleep mode".

This approach worked for me, I use 64-bit Kubuntu. What a hack, by the way, it is super-low-level manipulation

I'm looking into buying a crosshair myself (trying to figure out if that 1988B audio is supported in Linux). I've heard that Nvidia has issues with their network drivers (the 64bit version in particular) for Linux/BSD. Try either running a 32bit OS, or disablying in BIOS the onboard ethernet and using a cheap Linksys or Netgear PCI card, see what happens.

I've tried dual booting and I've tried just installing linux on it's own. I know about the XP / Nvidia issue with the ethernet drivers, but this is a separate issue.

I've completely powered down (unplugged), switched out hard drives, and still get hung up either during installation or first boot. I have managed to install / boot Fedora Core 5, but only using "noapic."

I'm fairly certain this is either a BIOS issue or a kernel AM2 support issue.

I don't use Fedore, I use Kubuntu64, but the power down thing did it for me. I wanted to post an update here, as it seems like after the first time i managed to get the network working in linux, the "full power-down including power-cord disconnect before reboot to linux" is no longer necessary. Now it works so that i can do a "soft" power down and reboot into any OS i like from GRUB, with network support.
This might indicate there were issues in the original Kubuntu 6.06 (64bit) which are solved in the updated versions of Kubuntu 6.06.

This might also be the issue with Fedora, try looking for a very-up-to-date install DVD or CD?

I want to talk to all of you for your comments, I'm installing just linux in tha
t machine, so it doesn't have anything to do, at least in my case, with windows
drivers. But thanks a lot heinkel_11. I don't think is the network card either,
I uploaded that module during installation but still didn't work. I think can be
maybe the sata controller, I downloaded the controller from the official nvidia web-page, but I wasn't able during the installation to load that drivers, neith
er from a CD nor from floppy disk, that really sucks. I'm trying still with suse
10.1. I agree also with lmubluejay about that this is a problem related with th
e kernel AM2 support issue, actually is supposed this problem will be solved in
the next opensuse distribution, but for a while what??? , I installed debian and
has some problems also, I'm thinking about Fedora.

What a piece of crap motherboard!

I also had trouble with the APIC bug and none of the flags I tried passing to the kernel worked.
The only distro that works for me is sourcemage -- not sure why.

The problem Im having now is with the AD1988B audio chipset.
Out of despiration I tried loading all of the following modules:
snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec
snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_codec
snd_ac97_bus
snd_pcm

Nvidias website says that snd_hda_intel should work.
So again, Im blaming the BIOS.

If anyone figures this out, please help me out.

Arch Linux 7.2 works fine for me with the 'noapic' flag. Haven't tried the onboard sound yet.

What Kernel version are you running?

OK, Im running Ubuntu 64bit liveCD now...kernel 2.6.15-27

1) The forecedeth that came with this kernel was able to take over the ethernet driver without unplugging the power.


2) I get sound, when I do 'lsmod | grep snd', I get the following
3) I still have the apic problem, but when you boot ubuntu it lets you add kernel flags using f6, so just type 'noapic' and boot

So, all of you guys experiencing problems with this board can either try installing ubuntu with 'noapic' flag, or compile new kernels with the sound modules listed above.

Hope that helped.

This motherboard is in the HCL
May I suggest you post in the HCL at some point?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...ct=3508&cat=37
It will help people making a choice

(Somebody looking for a new motherboard, but really
not wanting to buy DDR2)

This thread says the sata controller is currently not supported
(do not know if this is correct)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...t=ASUS+M2N+SLI

I read so many bad experiences related to the combination of M2N-SLI Deluxe and Linux that I thought I've to tell you that you're wrong.
It works for me: I'm running Linux Suse 10.1 on M2N-SLI Deluxe.
Summary of my configuration is:
- AMD 64x2 (dual core)
- ATI Radeon Xpro 1600 (PCI express)
- DDR2 memory
- The installation was very well - no problems.
The remaining components are quit standard to this motherboard card.

It was just to let you know that it's work well.
Keep going and good luck.

I have not been able to get everything working with my M2N and linux. I tried Ubuntu dapper AMD 64 version, which did not recognize the ethernet, sound driver or PCI cards. Suse 10.2 (64 bit) had to be booted with ACPI off and had similar problems to Dapper. Mepis64 6.5 beta 6 was the closest to working properly, but wouldn't recognize my Hauppauge TV PCI card. I'm beginning to think the M2N is just not compatible with linux.

System:
Motherboard: Asus M2N (plain version)
Video card: Asus 7600 GS (Nvidia)
Memory: Gskill 1 GB
Hard Drive: Samsung spinpoint 500 GB
IDE CDROM: Samsung
IDE CDROM#2: NEC
PCI card: Firewire card
PCI card: 4 port USB card.

I recently puchased an Asus M2N-E SLI motherboard and ran into problems when installing Linux. I tried Ubuntu 6.06.1 and 7.04 (32-bit i386 version, because 64-bit Ubuntu doesn't have some packages I need). Every time, the installer crashed.

My configuration:

Motherboard: ASUS M2N-E SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2
Graphics Card: PNY nVdia GeForce FX5200
Sound card: cheap StarTech.com PCISound4ch sound card (the darn mobo's onboard sound cannot even be found by the Linux hardware detection, so I ended up disabling it in the BIOS and added that sound card).

After fighting with crashes and freezes, I finally did the following:

• In the BIOS, I disabled the HPET (High Precision Timer) in the Power->APM Configuration options
• When I booted the Ubuntu Install CD, I highlighted the first option with the arrow keys, then hit the F6 key. The boot option line appears. In the options, add the following before the "--" (double dash) at the end:
  
  Code:

  noacpi noapic nolapic acpi=off irqpoll

The Ubuntu 6.06.1 installer completed successfully.

However, we're not done yet. These options are only for the installer kernel. We need to put the same options in the kernel's boot parameters of the installed system. So

• Start the system
• Login as a user that has sudo priviledge (if only one user is defined, login as this one
• Open a terminal
• Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file , e.g.
  
  Code:

  sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

• Find the lines that say:
  
  Code:

  ## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
  ## alternatives
  ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
  # defoptions=quiet splash

• Change the last line to:
  
  Code:

  # defoptions=quiet splash noacpi noapic nolapic acpi=off irqpoll

  Do NOT uncomment the line!
  
• Run the command
  
  Code:

  sudo update-grub

• Reboot your machine

These steps fianally brought an end to repeated freezes and crashes.

Disclaimer: It might be too early to tell if it's REALLY the end of the constant freezes. But the machine used to freeze and hang every 10 mins. Now it has been a few hours and it's stable. Also, some of these kernel parameters might be overkill. Finally, the effect of these parameters is to shut off any kind of power saving, so your machine will consume more energy. Asus, you aren't green!