# asus m2npv-vm motherboard for linux ?? Will I get it working

## Mroofka

Im going to buy new hardware and I'm thinking about 

ASUS m2npv-vn motherboard with lan,audio and vga onboard. I was looking for drivers for it in kernel but I wasn't able to find any.

Is this hardware supported by kernel 2.6?  nvidia 430 chipset, which kernel components should I compile for lan 1GB, gf 6150 and (ADI AD1986A High Definition Audio) audio card.

Or should I forgot about it and look for other hardware ??

Thanks in advance

Pozdrawiam

Mroofka

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## Drone1

This board looks good for a HTPC or mythtv box if that is what you are planning on. 

I'm currently running 2.6.16.18 on my mythbox which is using the FoxConn 6150K8MA-8EKRS mobo (6140 / 430 chipsets). As far as kernel support, the GeForce 6150 and nForce 430 are supported. That should take care of the vga (but will require nvidia-drivers being loaded for X), ethernet and I/O busses. Kernel Support for the sound chipset is going to be the big question mark. I perused the kernel 2.6.17.9 on my laptop, and didn't find specific support for the ADI AD1986A HD Audio 5.1 codec. I did look on Analog Devices website and it does state that the 1986A codec does have linux support. Since Creative Labs looks to be the one implementing the ADI codec for ASUS, according to an article I found, It would seem like everything would be supported on this motherboard. You may want to do some more forum searching, either here, mythtvtalk, avs forum, or the htpc forum. Through all that, you should be able to clarify your concerns with total support for this motherboard. 

Here is the lspci output on my mythbox, which consequently everything works on.

```

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)

00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)

00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)

00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)

00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)

00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150] (rev a2)

00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a2)

00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a2)

00:0a.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)

00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)

00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)

00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev a1)

00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev a1)

00:0f.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev a1)

00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)

00:10.2 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller (rev a2)

00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 7300 GS (rev a1)

04:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)

04:07.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)

```

Let me know if you want me to post my kernel config.

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## lucianolev

Hi! I had the asus m2npv-vm mobo and it's great! However, i had some linux issue i hadn't solve yet:

1. After using windows and rebooting, i noticed ethernet card won't work. You have to poweroff and unplug the system completely in order to use it on linux again. Not so important to me, but maybe it's annoying if you are dualbooting frequently.

2. Sound works great (Thought i had only test with 2 simple speakers and the headphones output), but it had to install alsa separetly (a newer version than the one that comes with kernel 2.6.16) in order to make it work.

3. I'm having some issue regarding dvd burning with my pata dvd+rw which i haven't solved yet. DMA is disabled when burning.

4. Kernel 2.6.17 (and i think 2.6.18 too) won't boot! I don't know if there's a workaround for this... However, 2.6.16 works fine.

5. I haven't yet managed to get to work lm_sensors. I will try a recent version later to see if it works.

Despite this issues i0v got to say the performance with gentoo is excellent.

By the way, if anyones has this mother and/or has a workaround  for any of this problems please post.

Cheers, Luciano.

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## Hobbes2100

 *Drone1 wrote:*   

> This board looks good for a HTPC or mythtv box if that is what you are planning on. 
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Let me know if you want me to post my kernel config.

 

Sorry this is a bit late, but I just ordered this motherboard and I hate digging through kernel options.  If you wouldn't mind posting your .config, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Regards,

Mark

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## the womble

Graphics Driver - Nvidia-driver

Network Driver (kernel) - New SysKonnect GigaEthernet support 

Sound Driver - ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel"

Sata Driver (kernel) = NVIDIA SATA support

IDE Driver (kernel) - AMD and nVidia IDE support

Remember that the usb driver is OHCI not UHCI, (i'm used to via chipped motherboards and this get me every time)

I think the firewire driver is the Texas Instruments one in the kernel (i don't have any firewire devices to check with)

You will have to wait to the 2.6.19 kernel to get the sensors working with the k8temp module (you could always be brave and patch your kernel)

I have my box setup to use Mythtv directly connected via DVI to my Philips LCD TV and it works great.

I had problems trying to get it to boot an amd64 liveCD (it kept locking up while tryiing to load the kernel) so i'm currently running it under x86.

I have also had problems with mplayer crashing while using powernow on conservative.

Current system specs are

Asus M2NPV-VM mobo

Athlon64 X2 3600+

1 Gig Ram

Seggate Sata Drive (/ drive)

Happauge PVR 150 tuner / remote

Pioneer DVR-111D

Silverstone LC-17 case

2.6.18-r2 kernel, GCC 4.1.1, Xorg-7.1, ivtv-8.1, nvidia-drivers-1.0.9629, Lirc-8.0

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers Nick

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## Hobbes2100

Hello all,

Well, I bit the bullet and did the kernel config by hand.  Only needed a few retries to get it right ... a few things bit me in the ass:

Make sure to use Intel HD Audio and NOT the AC97 audio.

ALSA works from the kernel (as a module) with 2.6.18-gentoo-r3 and gcc-4.1.1-r1

You'll need the following options in /etc/modules.d/alsa:

```

option snd-hda-intel model=3stack position_fix=1

```

to fix a high-pitch whine/hiss/whistle in playback.

For framebuffer, I'm using the vesafb with fb-tng

I hadn't been using the evdev protocol and migrated to it.  That cost me a compile or two ... there's a nice guide under "Advanced Mouse" on the gentoo-wiki.

This is all using x86, btw.  If you want to boot the live-x86_64 disc, you need to disable apic (pass boot option noapic .... humm, it might be noacpi ... let me check ...).  

```

gentoo acpi=off 

```

got the LiveCD going for me.  Honestly, I don't know what to do with all the pretty graphics!

I'm going to go through a system build of x86_64 and see how it goes.  This system is replacing one I built in Fall of 2001.  I was very pleased with five years out of that box (with a few component upgrades) ... we'll see how this one goes.

Regards,

Mark

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## the womble

 *Hobbes2100 wrote:*   

> Hello all,
> 
> Make sure to use Intel HD Audio and NOT the AC97 audio.
> 
> ALSA works from the kernel (as a module) with 2.6.18-gentoo-r3 and gcc-4.1.1-r1
> ...

 

I run media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.13 and don't have any problem with a high pitched whistle or any other noises, have you tried using this driver instead of using the kernel driver?

Nick

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## Hobbes2100

 *the womble wrote:*   

> 
> 
> I run media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.13 and don't have any problem with a high pitched whistle or any other noises, have you tried using this driver instead of using the kernel driver?
> 
> Nick

 

I didn't try the external alsa modules.  Since I've got it working (and I need to get to doing some productive work on the machine), I don't think I'll be playing with that any more -- for the moment.  The one thing I am trying to do is get a built partition with x86_64 architecture.  Unfortunately, I'm stuck at the kernel compile stage right now .... I copied my working .config over and modified as detailed in the x86_64 installation guide.  It hung after the anticipatory IO scheduler line ....

Ok, well ... I just tried a reboot and passed acpi=off ... and voila, I got a bootable machine.  Nice.    Unfortunately, it's Monday after vacation and I have to get back to work so I can't follow up on this, but not having to boot via the CD to compile kernels makes the next steps a heck of a lot easier!

One other thought:  I wanted to use the "no emulation" x86_64 profile, but this doesn't have an equivalent of the "desktop" sub-profile.  I don't want to manage a long list of USE flags, so I'm probably going to go with the (32-bit) emulation, desktop setup.  If I get around to it, I'll try to reconcile the x86 desktop and the x86_64-nomulti USE flags.

Oh yes, and one other question:  is there a compelling need to upgrade the BIOS?  Everything I've done so far has been with the stock BIOS (not sure of the version number off hand).  I think I saw there was a nice graphics performance boost (enabled some hardware acceleration) with recent BIOS versions?  Should I make that a priority?

Regards,

Mark

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## karmik

Hi guys, i pretty much reached your own conclusion on this fine piece of hardware as a good basis for a mythtv box. What bugs me is this: I don't want to run it in x86.. that sounds a bit lame to me.. So the question is: Are your builds x86-based or are you actually running your box with a full amd64 build? My main concerns are on the nvidia closed drivers.. i just checked the nvidia website and the 64bit version of the nvidia-drivers are 2 years old -_- I wonder if they support the nvidia 6150 chipset with the nifty features (xvmc maybe..). Any guess? Regards and thanks for your time:)

EDIT: Ok.. **me the lamest**

Crossreferencing these two urls i just verified what i was asking:

XvMC MythTV Wiki Page

 Gentoo Packages' nvidia-drivers package page

Sorry for the useless posting :&

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## lucianolev

Hi!

Does anybody tested the new 2.6.19 kernel with this mobo?

karmik: I'm using 64-bit Gentoo and I didn't have any major problem so far... AMD64 Nvidia drivers are updated, same version as x86. Maybe you are confused with IA64...

This are the lastest AMD64 nvidia stable drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_1.0-9629.html

Bye.

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## lucianolev

I've just updated to 2.6.19 and the few problems we had with older kernels have been solved:

1. No need to boot with "noapic" kernel parameter.

2. Forcedeth bug has been fixed. (The "cold boot" thing)

3. AMD64 sensors work now.

4. No need to install external Alsa modules. Kernel ALSA built-in support works perfectly with the onboard sound.

So I recommend everyone who has this mobo to upgrade.   :Cool: 

Bye.

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