# Is my System compatibly?

## Kopernikus

Hi all,

I'm German, so I hope you can understand me.

I simply have a question if my system is compatibly with gentoo and if its components are compatibly themselves.

My Hardware is:

- Motherboard:   Asus M2N32-SLI deluxe

- Cpu:  AMD Athlon 64 X2 EE 4600+

- Graphic Card: Asus Geforce 7600 GT

- RAM:  2 x 1024 MB G-Skill DDR2-800

A friend told me that DDR2-800 rams are not supportet by the Amd Athlon 64 X2 4600+

But I can't believe that.

I bought this components 3 days ago and I hope they will come to me tomorrow.

So I hope you could understood me.

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## Emopig

Your graphics card is supported by the proprietary nVidia drivers so no problem there. If you use the F/OSS "nv" driver you'll only get 2D, no 3D or Xvideo acceleration, which would be wasteful for such a good card.

Your CPU will be supported fine, just remember to enable SMP in your kernel and tweak your CFLAGS to make best use of that nummy X2 goodness 

You *might* have problems with the nForce 590 MCP chipset on your motherboard. I did some Googling though and some websites mention proprietary Linux drivers for this chipset that come on a CD in the mobo box. I suggest compiling a nice new kernel and trying the built in kernel capabilities before going down this route though, only use proprietary drivers if you absolutely have to 

Oh, and these points apply to ALL Linux distributions, not just Gentoo.

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

Welcome to Gentoo.

You will have many happy hours with Gentoo on that hardware.

I hope you will choose a 64 bit install - there is no point in buying a 64 bit CPU and only using the bottom 32 bits.

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## Kopernikus

Hi all and thank you for your answers,

What problems might be there with the chipset on my board?

I don't know much about Hardware. Could you explain me what chipset is and what it's job is?

Perhaps you have got an internet site where this is good explained for noobs.

I already googled but didn't find articles which could help me.

I'm not completly new to gentoo but I'm still a newbie  :Smile: 

Thank you again!

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## bytenirvana

hier, immer wieder hilfreich:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipset

(german wikipedia link about chipsets)

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## Kopernikus

Oh thanks to you bytenirvana  :Smile: 

Now I know whats a chipset.

But can anyone tell me what problems there might be with Gentoo?

Have I bought something wrong ?   :Rolling Eyes: 

Cu

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

There are nomally no problems with chipsets. The BIOS configures the chipset before Linux (or Windows) even boots.

However, some chipsets or BIOSs (or both) have bugs, so that the chipset settings are not as good as they can be.

Under these circumstances the operating system can change the settings to avoid the problems.

In the early days of a chipset, it may be an instruction to turn a feature off in the BIOS, or get a later BIOS.

Later, the kernel may have a an option you need to select. Later still, the bug detection becomes automatic.

Not all BIOS/chipset bugs go through all the stages.

For some examples, follow the history of the nForce2 chipset, or almost and of the IDE drivers.

googling will show kernel patches for the former, while reading the kernel help will show a examples of the latter.

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## Keruskerfuerst

The CPU (AMD Athlon 64 4600 x2) supports DDR2-800.

The select components are really good (and fast).

And think about buying a good power supply e.g. from Be Quiet or Seasonic or ...

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## Kopernikus

Hi guys,

thanks a lot for your good help.

@Keruskerfuerst:

I bought an Enermax Liberty 500watt Power supply.

That's ok, isn't it?

cu

Kopernikus

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## Keruskerfuerst

Usually, you don´t need a power supply with 500W.

In your case, a power supply with 350W is sufficient.

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## Emopig

I mentioned chipset problems because the nVidia MCP chipsets handle the ethernet controller. The forcedeth driver in the kernel might handle this perfectly, but alot of people have said the proprietary nVidia ethernet driver works alot better. In the case of the 590, the chip isn't listed on the supported products page by nVidia's proprietary Linux drivers.

I recently switched to Forcedeth and have had no problems but I thought it was worth mentioning because Gentoo as a distro is particuarly dependant on Internet connectivity and when I first booted Gentoo from the live cd, I had no Internet connectivity with the nForce 430 MCP.

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## Kopernikus

Hi,

The only problem is the Ethernet Card on board ?

I could disable it in BIOS and then put in an pci ethernet card, couldn't I ?

I don't know if I understood you correctly.

Is there a problem to install gentoo?

That will be my first gentoo install on a 64 bit cpu.

Is it difficult. Do I have to consider any things?

Can you give me some tipps and tricks?

Thanks to all of you,

this forum is the greates I ever visited!

cu

Kopernikus

P.s.: My components (Board, CPU, Graphic Card) arrived today!

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

If your liveCD boots and can connect to the internet, all your major problems will be behind you.

If any Linux distro can drive your hardware, so can any other, including Gentoo.

Follow the install handbook carefully - try to understand what you are doing as you do it. 

You will be in a much beter position to fix it when it breaks then.

When you post here with problems, tell us what you did, what you expected and what actually happened.

We need error messages verbatium to focus help quickly but will always ask if we need more information.

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## Kopernikus

Hi,

so there's the first question:

What release CD should I use?

2005.1, 2005.1-r1 or 2006.0 ?

cu

Kopernikus

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## Keruskerfuerst

Release 2006.0

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## Monkeh

 *Kopernikus wrote:*   

> I bought an Enermax Liberty 500watt Power supply.
> 
> That's ok, isn't it?

 

Yep. I have one. Little warning: I've had a bad one, so has a friend. If your machine just turns off for no reason, return the PSU.

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## Kopernikus

So now I have the first problem:

I downloaded the iso image of an Gentoo minimal installation live-cd (the 64bit version) burned it with Nero and then I took this Cd in my Cd-rom drive and then there was the prompt

```
Boot:
```

there I pressed 'Enter' and then he loaded

```
Gentoo ....................................................................
```

and after that he loaded

```
gentoo.igz.................................................................
```

Than the Screen went black and nothing is moving. He doesn't make anything with the CD because the LED of the DVD-Rom Drive didn't light!

What's wrong there?

Do I have to set somethin on this promp:

```
Boot:
```

?

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## Enverex

Start it with "gentoo-nofb" instead. I used to have that issue.

Also, what is the "EE" in the processor name?

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## Kopernikus

Oh thank you. This way it worked  :Smile: 

what makes this 'gentoo-nofb' ?

The EE in the Processor is something with Energy. The cpu only need 65 watt!

cu

Kopernikus

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## Kopernikus

Oh no,

I have the next problem:

At 'boot:' prompt wrote in:

'gentoo-nofb'

Then it goes on and then the pc freezes at this point:

```

[....]

Initializing Cryptographic API

io scheduler noop registered

io scheduler deadline registered

```

What I'm doing wrong?

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

Its time to try some of the no  options to turn of various automaic features of the liveCD.

you can read about them on the F2, F3... help screens

noapic noacpi   are worth trying.

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## Kopernikus

Should I try all?

EDIT: Ok, with noapic and noapci it worke, thank you.

I think there will be soon another problem. 

But you all are the best helpers I've ever meet.

cu

Kopernikus

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## Kopernikus

So now I've a question:

I'm now at the point where I have to edit the make.conf!

I don't know really what I should write in the make.conf.

I want to have a system which has top performance.

Perhaps anyone who has an "AMD 64 X2 4600+" too can send me his "make.conf"?

I opend my 'make.conf' and here it is:

```

#These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage

#Please consult /etc/make.confexample for a more detailed example

CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CXXFLAFS="${CFLAGS}"

```

Why is 'CHOST' set to 'x86_64-pc-linux-gnu' ?

I don't have an x86, do I?

I've got an AMD 64!

cu

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

```
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
```

is correct.

x86 means 32 bit Intel and compatibles, x86_64 means 64 bit Intel and compatibles, thats you.

In your CFLAGS, you should add the -march= option but I don't know what goes after the = for you.

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## Kopernikus

Hello together,

now I have installed Gentoo on my system.

There were no more problems during the installation.

But now, when I start my System I get an similarly problem as before.

The system starts up, grub is loading, no problems at this time

then there is a lot of text runs over the screen.

Those are the last lines there:

```

[...]

Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0

Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de).

io scheduler noop registered

io scheduler deadline registered

io scheduler cfq registered (default)

```

Thats a similar problem to that, I had when I wanted to boot from the liveCD, isn't it?

There I solved the problem by adding 'noapic' and 'noapci' to the 'boot:' prompt.

What should I do?

Cu.

Kopernikus

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

You should add 

```
noapic noapci
```

to the kernel line in your grub.conf.

These issues are fixed by configuring your own kernel.

I guess that you used the kernel from the CD or used genkernel to make you kernel, so you have the same problems as the liveCD just now.

Once your system can boot, you can continue your install and fix the kernel at the same time.

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## Kopernikus

Ok, thanks.

But I didn't use the genkernel.

I moved in the directory:' /usr/src/linux '

And there I made: 'make menuconfig'

Oh, no I'm so bad. Can you tell me what I have to do in the Kernel.

EDIT: I emerged vanilla-sources and after that I made 'make menuconfig' and then I did all things like in the handbook.

I hope, that helps.

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

The long term fix is get the APIC code in the kernel to cope with your APIC.

The medium term fix is to remove the IOAPIC option from your kernel and rebuild and reinstall it.

The short term fix is to add noapic to the kernel line in your /boot/grub/grub.conf

You do that by booting the liveCD, mounting your partitions, so that your grub.conf can be edited with

```
nano -w /mnt/gentoo/boot/grub/grub.conf
```

find the line that starts kernel ... add noapic at the end, just like you do when you boot the CD.

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## Kopernikus

NeddySeagoon,

sorry but I didn't understand you right, i think.

I don't understand the problem. What about this APIC?

What is that?

You said:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:43 pm    Post subject:
> 
> Kopernikus,
> ...

 

How can I do this?

Sorry, I'm totaly confused now.   :Rolling Eyes: 

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

Start the liveCD. At the console do

```
mount /dev/<your_root> /mnt/gentoo -t <fstype>

mount /dev/<your_boot> /mnt/gentoo/boot -t <fstype>
```

You fill in the bits in <brackets> to be correct for you.

Now you may edit grub.conf with the command

```
nano -w /mnt/gentoo/boot/grub.conf
```

Find the line that starts

```
kernel
```

 at the end of the the line add

```
noapic
```

Save your change and reboot.

It has the same effect as when you used 

```
gentoo-nofb noapic
```

to make the liveCD start.

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## Kopernikus

Ok, did that.

Now, it works.

I didn't understand what this APIC is and what it's for,

but when my System boots. OK.   :Smile: 

Cu.

Kopernikus

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## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

APIC is an abbreviation for Advanced Peripherial Interrupt Controller, if it works, its a good thing to have because you get more IRQs. The problem is that on many single CPU systems, it has bugs and does not work properly.

Then it must be turned off.

It can be turned off in two ways - with the kernel option noapic,  which you have used up to now, or by removeing the code from the kernel that trys to use it.

Buggy APICs can have work arounds developed, in future kernels, you may be able to make it work.

Someone may already have a patch you could try. However, thats not top of your list of things to do right now.

When your Gentoo is working the way you like - come back to this issue then.

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## Kopernikus

Ok now I know what this APIC is thanks.

But you say something about IRQ!

When I start my system and there is my login screen:

```

Gentoo login:

```

then there comes after 5 seconds or so this:

```

Gentoo login: Disabling IRQ #7

```

But I haven't done anything.

It appears without I'm doing anything.

Whats that?

And what can I do against it?

Cu.

Kopernikus

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Kopernikus,

You probably have an unhandled interrupt. It may be important, it may not matter.

Look in 

```
less /proc/interrupts
```

to see what was using the IRQ mentioned. In this case 7.

Whatever was on IRQ 7, if anything, no longer works.

There may be useful linformation in dmesg. Use 

```
dmesg | less
```

 to have control over the scrolling.

Press q to quit from less.

=========== edit ============

You can try adding 

```
pci=routeirq
```

after the noapic on your kernel line in grub.conf.

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