hello,

I was able to update my BIOS using EZ Flash 2 to 0901 from 0702 for the Asus M3N-HT. For a while I was able to boot back to windows. The coldboot problem seems to have been fixed for now.

Then when I tried editing the BIOS for SATA support, the windows partition didn't boot. Anyway, I tried inserting the Gentoo Linux AMD64 boot DVD but the hardware detection phase stops at the part of the SATA AHCI.

I can reinstall Windows XP no problem. But I've been successful with SuSE, redhat, Gentoo(custom kernel) on my Athlon XP before. How do I install Gentoo 64 bit version on my Asus M3N-HT with SATA hard drives?


thanks
David


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pc specs
AMD Phenom 9850 with Scythe Mine RevB heatsink
Asus M3N-HT Deluxe/Mempipe
Enermax 625W Pro82+ PSU
Mushkin DDR2 996580 4GB
2x500GB Seagate

That's right. In BIOS, there is Asus EZflash utility which can update/downgrade BIOS directly "from BIOS" :-)

Hi David,
I'm using 64bit Gentoo and experimented a bit with kernel and SATA settings in BIOS and found that there is some problem with SATA in AHCI mode. Instalation of Win XP hangs with BSOD after loading basic drivers from CD, and booting Gentoo's kernel (no initrd) fails, too.

So I'm using SATA in IDE mode.

hm... no reply after one month... it seems that they're just ignoring me
:'( (sob)

XP simply does not support AHCI so you'll need to download an AHCI driver and install it from a floppy while you are installing XP. Technically, you could install in IDE mode, install the driver only then and start using AHCI from there - but this goes totally more often than it works.

As for Gentoo, don't know... Get the latest kernel and make sure that you get the proper drivers compiled in.

Hi all.

I just upgraded my BIOS to 1204 version (downloaded from ASUS global support site, China mirror).

Everything now works fine, sound is loud and clear under my Arch Linux with 2.6.26 kernel and in Express Gate too, all distorts are gone Funny is they solved the problem but there's nothing about it in release notes...

Try it, maybe it will solve your problems too.

Looks like 1204 is working for me too. Thanks for the heads up

Which version on Linux are you running because I have hade a hell of a time getting this same board to even allow me to install Ubuntu 7 I Have the new one in route so maybe it will have better luck
I also am trying to run it with a phenom processor and I have not yet had any difficulties with it at all

I'm using Gentoo.
What issues are you having with Ubuntu?

Hi I have a M3N-HT deluxe Mobo running AMD 9950 quad with bios update 1502. Have had no problems running Linux before on my older mobo's but this one just locks up in text or graphics mode setup, probing disabled and been enabled AHCI driver takes about 10 mins to load ( even though i'm not using AHCI) then tries to run the X server under redhat enterpise 5 and just hangs.

Any suggestions as i think its the mobo as have had the same problems with sys commander to run multi OS's just hangs the bios and game over.


Also system boot fail over and over, unplug mains supply to reset then boots, also does not like usb devices such as ipods or WD my books on post or it hangs the bios.

Any help would be much appreciated

Ant

Hi Slopey,
it can be Linux kernel problem ("older" version).
Try to add kernel's boot parameter "pci=nomsi" - it may help.

You may also be interested in this:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/272247

There is a bug in the latest Linux kernel that causes the exact behaviour that your are describing. If you're using K/X/Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10) or any other bleeding edge Linux distribution which uses the 2.6.27-7 Linux kernel, then you are going to run in to this issue. I'm experiencing the same issue and I have the M3N-HT with the latest BIOS update as well. I did some debugging and it led me back to that bug post, so check it out.

The cold boot issue on this board was a problem of the earlier BIOS. As you have a new board, you may need to update. Be advised there's an issue with the on board sound for all BIOS between 0702 and 1204; you shouldn't need to worry about the sound issue if you use the latest BIOS (1502).

He stated that he's running the latest BIOS update already.

I'm now experiencing this exact same cold boot issue with the latest BIOS update where as the system was booting perfectly fine with an older version (I think it was like 702 or something, it's no longer available on the ASUS site). I think I might just downgrade, this new BIOS version blows.