# Gigabyte GA-7N400-L1 compatible with gentoo?

## hatem

Hey,

I'm building my first system for Gentoo, and I have ordered all of the hardware except the motherboard. I took a look at a Gigabyte GA-7N400-L1 motherboard the other day, and it seems good and I can afford it. I've searched for reviews on this motherboard on google, tom's hardware, newegg, etc. but could not find any. Anyone here have it set up with Gentoo or know if it works with Gentoo?

Here are the specifications:

Gigabyte GA-7N400-L1, nForce2 Ultra400 chipset for Socket A ATX motherboard RETAIL 

Specifications: 

Supported CPU:AMD AthlonXP / Athlon / Duron processor 

Chipset:nForce 2 Ultra400 + MCP 

FSB:400/333/266/200 

RAM:DDR*4 (dual channel) DDR400/333/266 Max 3GB 

IDE:Dual channel Ultra ATA 133/100/66 Max 4 Devices 

Slots:1 x AGP pro slot (8x/4x-AGP 3.0 compliant), supports 1.5v display card only. 5 x PCI slots (PCI 2.2 compliant 

Ports:2xPS2, 2xCOM,1xLPT,1xLAN, 4xUSB and Audio Ports 

Onboard Audio:AC97 (ALC650) 6 Channel onboard Codec 

Onboard LAN: Realtek 8100C 10/100 Ethernet

Thanks in advance,

Hatem

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## madtomkidd

from everything I've read in the forums, you will probably run into the following:

All of the integrated stuff may not work, so be sure to have backups.

These two posts should help:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=72813&highlight=nforce2+400

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=69554&highlight=nforce2+400

It sounds like the biggest thing is make sure that you disable legacy usb support in the bios and most of the other stuff _should_ work.

Let me know what you come up with... i really like giga-byte and the wife is gonig to let me build a new system... so, i'd probably get the same board (but not for a couple of months)

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## guiding5

I just started to setup Gentoo on my new comp :

* AMD 2500+

* Gigabyte GA-7N400-L1

* 2 * 256 Geil DDR400

* Leadtec FX5200 64MB

* WD80 GB 8MB (WD800JB)

Problemns that i already have encountered into :

1. Grub wasnt able to identify geometry of my HD.

    Solution : I installed LILO instead.

2. Last of compiled kernel hangs when trying ACPI IRQ messages on screen.

    Solution : disabled ACPI in kernel config.

for now kernell still hangs, but i will update you with my advance on configuring  :Smile: 

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## 5a\/ag3

I am installing gentoo right now on my wifes new system, I feel this thread is relevant

Barton XP 2500 Proc

Mobo GA-7N400 Pro2

1 X 512 PC3200 Infineon Ram

MSI FX 5200

wdc 40gb with 8mb cache

LG 52X Cdrom

will keep you all posted with details  :Wink: 

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## xadin

i been toying with getting gentoo tweaked so i can game well.

i have 1gb DDR 2700 

GA 7N400-PRO2

40GB 7200 2meg cache

GF4TI4200

3com nic

SB audigy gamer

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i first had this install on my a7v333 and decided to install a nforce2 board instead,

gentoo ran well on my a7v333.

when i moved to the nforce2 board my IDE speeds have greatly dropped.

my first problem was that i needed another option in the kernel for the amd/nforce ide

fixed

im still having problems with my drive running very slow

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  hdparm -Tt /dev/hda3

/dev/hda3:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   540 MB in  2.01 seconds = 268.43 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  108 MB in  3.02 seconds =  35.73 MB/sec

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

when i had my a7v333 enemy-territory was running at around 70-90 FPS

with the ga7n400 it now runs around 30FPS, witch is a big difference

im shure my problem lies with the ide somewhere.

my other problem was that my usb mouse stopped working when i switched boards, so i used a usb>ps/2 adapter and its fine, now that i see aabove about dissabling legacy usb ill try that.

if anyone has any suggestions about increasing my ide transfer plz post

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## infecticide

My problem with this board is that I went from a MSI KT3 Ultra2 Athlon XP 1800 to a Gigabyte GA 7N400-L Athlon Barton 2500 and things are running slow as ever, specifically the display, is my PCI bus speed not turned up high enough?  I have an ATI Xpert 98 (Mach 64 chipset) and it used to run just fine on the old board.  I've noticed signifigant lag and increased load time.   It has an onboard NForce2 chipset what modules and/or options do I need to look at to possibly solving this problem?

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## infecticide

Incase anyone else comes across the same problems.   I went to gentoo-dev-sources (kernel 2.6.5) and it all works beautifully now.

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