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-   -   Motherboard and memory questions (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/motherboard-and-memory-questions-556759/)

IM2Slick 05-25-2007 09:45 PM

Motherboard and memory questions
 
Hi, I have an HP Pavilion a1203w that came with Micro$haft XP, which has worked fine for the year and a half (or so) that I have had it. Almost every Linux that I put on the second hard drive (160Gb) either "freezes up," won't load, goes flakey and craps out on me within the first two weeks in some way or another. I have been able to run 3 distros without problems as long as I don't try to upgrade them ..... Libranet 2.8.1 - 2.4.21 kernel (Jon Danzig passed away and his son, Tal closed the doors) ..... Beatrix @005 - 2.6.7 kernel(Stephen Watsky went into Diabetic something and is now in a nursing home somewhere in the US) ....... SimplyMepis 2004 - don't remember the kernel ( Warren used a modified Debian kernel which can no longer be upgraded). What I have on it right now is Beatrix (Ubuntu Clone), but I have never been able to get any Ubuntu to work i.e. freezups, etc.
My box has a Semperon 3000+ processor, 512Mb RAM. I will show you what "lspci" says .... I don't understand it at all .....
I'm providing all this info and asking these questions because I have been told on several forums that this box has a hardware problem, and I am trying to track it down. I have the 40Gb hard drive (with the M$ XP) completely disconnected, so that the only drive is the one which seems to cause me all the grief.

Code:

# lspci
pcilib: Cannot open /sys/bus/pci/devices
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 760/M760 Host (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202
0000:00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS964 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 36)
0000:00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)0000:00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
0000:00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
0000:00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
0000:00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
0000:00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller0000:00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 90)
0000:00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]: Unknown device 0180 (rev 01)
0000:00:09.0 Communication controller: Conexant: Unknown device 2f20
0000:00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661FX/M661FX/M661MX/741/M741/760/M760 PCI/AGP

I don't know what mother board is in it, nor do I remember the name of the hard drive (which I can take out and get numbers off of if need be ....). I guess what I'm asking for is a little handholding to show me how to figure out what I have and how to check for compatibility in the HCL.
I have no "/sbin/lspci."
I tried
Code:

gedit /sys/bus/pci/devices
but found nothing at all in /sys ?? which I would think would have had at the very least /bus which would have had /pci ... and so on. this is using the Beatrix with the 2.6.7 kernel and 2.8 Gnome. If I try to upgrade it wipes it out .... especially if I try to use "hoary" backports (it was based on Hoary).

Also, just about every Live Linux CD I try (Knoppix 5.11 included, Mandriva One, SimplyMepis 6.5 etc.) either freezes up or won't load, as well ..... the exceptions are the old Beatrix and Mepis mentioned above, but I have had success with PC-BSD 1.2 loaded on the hard drive and FreeSBIE 3.0 as a live CD. Needless to say, I am very confused, as BSD is supposed to be light years behind Linux, from some of the commentary I've read, but I don't have the problems noted above when I run BSD :?

TIA for any good advice I get.

Crito 05-26-2007 03:15 PM

Looks like this is your chipset http://www.sis.com/products/sis760.htm
and according to the guy who writes the video drivers http://www.winischhofer.eu/linuxsispart1.shtml

Quote:

My advice: Don't buy a machine with a SiS760 unless this machine has dedicated local video memory. And please don't complain about "driver bugs" if you see "flashing lines" on the screen; these are the typical effects of a bandwidth problem and unavoidable - even the Windows driver can't do better. In such cases, reduce the resolution and/or refresh rate and/or color depth, or use one output (CRT1 or CRT2) only. Sorry, can't help it. There is no driver bug involved.
FWIW, based on my past experience with an SiS630 chipset mobo (and it pains me to say this) you're probably better off sticking with Windows on this one. SiS doesn't support Linux directly and they won't support the developers writing code for their stuff indirectly either.

mwengoma 05-28-2007 02:56 PM

I have and Advent 7086 notebook on which i installed SUSE 10.2 and it uses SIS661GX graphics does anyone know how
to configure my graphics so that i can play games like chromium on my pc, where can i get the linux drivers
for my motherboard ????

IM2Slick 06-06-2007 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crito
Looks like this is your chipset http://www.sis.com/products/sis760.htm
and according to the guy who writes the video drivers http://www.winischhofer.eu/linuxsispart1.shtml



FWIW, based on my past experience with an SiS630 chipset mobo (and it pains me to say this) you're probably better off sticking with Windows on this one. SiS doesn't support Linux directly and they won't support the developers writing code for their stuff indirectly either.

Thanks for the reply, that's what I was afraid of ....... I guess I gotta go back to my China Cheepies (GQ -Great Quality Computers) which ran Linux just fine .... 735Mhz Via Ezra Processor ..... runs slow, but it works ;).

Thanks again .......IM2


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