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nForce2 and MDK10 community edition


mikeoneil
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Has anyone tried either the download or powerpack community release of Mandrake 10 with an nForce2 motherboard yet?

Like many others I've had lots of random freezes using 9.2 which I never really solved (though I got from several per day down to once every 2 or 3 days).

There are many other threads describing these problems with USB, IRQ settings and the nvnet driver all conspiring to cause random crashes.

Is it now more stable with MDK10?

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Hi,

 

I was planning to re-install my machine with MDK 10. However, i've got the same issue as you do, and thus don't plan to move yet. (Actually running a stable 9.1, on a asus A7N8x deluxe mb, 1Gb ram, two ethernets active, a wacom usb tablet)

I hope i can fully get my machine working once there's a nvidia2 solution.

 

So if someone can :help: ...

 

TIA,

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I'm runnning ML 9.2 absolutely stable now with the 2.6.3-1MDK kernel, it has very good support for nForce-based MoBo.

 

You should go for the forcedeth-driver for your onboard NIC and don't even bother trying to find appropiate drivers for onboard sound, just go for ALSA.

 

I've downloaded my iso's tonight and I can't wait to get home to do a clean install without hesitation.

 

In my opinion there no argument in waiting for nVidia!

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You should go for the forcedeth-driver for your onboard NIC and don't even bother trying to find appropiate drivers for onboard sound, just go for ALSA.

 

I've downloaded my iso's tonight and I can't wait to get home to do a clean install without hesitation.

I already use ALSA for sound but I think I will try the forcedeth driver in place of nvnet. Please let us know how you get on with MDK10 and nForce2.

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ML 10.0 CE comes with kernel 2.6.3. As of kernel 2.6.2 the forcedeth driver comes with the kernel!

Yes, I think I've read this somewhere too...

 

So that would mean that Nvidia Nforce2 chipset's should work "out of the box" !?

 

...and that Nvidia-drivers is not included in the Community release of MDK just means the Geforce drivers to get 3D graphics!?

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I'm running an Abit NF7-S Nforce2 board with 10.0 RC1 (still downloading the final Community Edition). RC1 identified and installed the Nforce2 modules fine. I'm using an old SBLive for sound so haven't tried the built-in sound, when I reinstall with the final Community Edition plan on giving it a try. Also, not using the SATA controller, so can't address that, but the board runs great so far with RC1. When I look in the "hardware" section of Mandrake Control Center all the various on-board components such as IDE, USB, Firewire, etc. are all labelled "Nforce2..."

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:jester: Yessssssssssssssss ML 10.0 Communitiy rockssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Excuse me if I'm being so over-enthousiastic, but everything I've tested untill now is working out of the box!

 

And for all you nForce-users out there go for Mandrake 10.0 Community!

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A few updates...

 

Pulled out the SBlive card and enabled the built-in sound, working fine. So is the Firewire/1394 controller, built-in ethernet, USB, etc. The only "problem" I've had is that when I tried hooking up a CDRW to the SATA controller (via the Abit Serillel adapter) it was quite slow, but worked perfectly. Don't know if the speed problem was the controller or the adapter, but it did work, just decided not to keep it in the system.

 

BTW, the original poster asked about stability / lockups. I'm running this on a fresh-built box, an Abit NF7-s with a mobile Athlon XP 2500 and 1 GB of PC3200 ram, along with an NVIDIA 5600 Ultra 128 mb. The cpu is currently running at 2.5 GHz (default is 1.8) and is stable as can be even under full load for hours. When I first got this running I was having some lockups which I eventually traced down to a BIOS option for "enchance PCI performance". When this option is enabled and there is heavy hard disk activity the system would freeze. With the option disabled my HD transfer rate goes down very slightly, but the lockups have disappeared.

 

Yesterday I ripped a DVD and encoded it to Divx, a good test for stability and all went well.

 

Sarissi - I've used the enterprise kernel, it worked fine. Not sure about the differences but think they're fairly minor.

 

So far the only odd problem I haven't been able to solve is that sometimes e2fsck will freeze up while checking hard drives, think I've heard of others having the same problem, but haven't figured out the cause yet.

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Just installed 10.0 CE on my NForce2 Ultra and everything works. I was extremely pleased to finally have the Soundstorm chipset working flawlessly. The onboard NVIDIA eithernet works very well too. Both the northbridge and southbridge seem to work better then they ever did with Windows XP. I did not have to fool around with any sort of extra installation procedures as everything was auto detected :headbang:

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A correction to my last post, finally have determined the cause of the random lockups under heavy disk load, it turned out to be the "Enable CPU Disconnect" option in the BIOS.

 

With that option turned off all is good.

 

Ripping a DVD to Divx, downloading off Usenet, playing some tunes and browsing the web, with no slowdown in the computer, feels just like a single app running.

 

First Nforce2 board for me, but sure happy with this one and the mobile Athlon (and Mandrake 10!)

 

Good luck all.

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Just finished installing MDK 10.0 CE on my DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B (based on nVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400/MCP-T). Everything is working fine except the 2nd NIC.

 

Initially, I use forcedeth for the built-in nVIDIA network controller as eth0 and r8169 for eth1, which is mistakenly identified as nVIDIA AGP. The eth0 is ok and eth1 can't ping (dest. unreachable). Then I switched the network config, i.e., r8169 as eth0 and forcedeth as eth1. The eth0 is still working well while eth1 can't ping. It seems that the drivers are ok. Don't know what's going wrong there.

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