CentOS - Feb 2007 - Problems loading CentOS 4.4 on ASUS M2N-MX mobo

I have a brand new ASUS MB model M2N-MX which is giving me issues when
installing Centos 4.4 64 bit
I initially had problems with finding the SATA drives but I resolved that
issue by simply selecting the NVIDIA SATA (sata_nv)driver from the list of
drivers during the initial install.
The install seemed to go fine after that as the installer uses the Generic
VESA video driver during the install, however, upon the restart after the
install, the server then completely locks up. I can only assume it is at the
point of loading the video driver although I really don't know what CentOS
loads after the "acivating local loopback" section, because that is
where it
freezes on the screen.
 
I'm thinking that the install to the SATA drive went well since it boots
from the drive though it doesn't exactly boot completely.
 
I have tried reinstalling several times already with the same negative
results.

Would appreciate any help that someone could offer in getting this working
with this new MB.

Here are the specs of the MB:

-Key Specifications: NC-AS-M2N-MX Form Factor: uATX, 9.6" x 8.8" 
CPU 
- Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64/ Sempron 

Chipset 
- NVIDIA nForce430/GeForce6100 

Front Side Bus 
- 2000 / 1600 MT/s 

Memory 
- Dual channel memory architecture 
- 4 x 240-pin DIMM, support max. 4GB DDR2 800/667/533 ECC and 
non-ECC,un-buffered memory 
VGA 
- Integrated GeForce 6100 GPU 
- High Definition Video Processing with max. resolutions to 1920 x 1440 

Expansion Slots 
- 1 x PCI Express x16 
- 1 x PCI Express x1 
- 2 x PCI 

Storage/RAID 
- NVIDIA MCP61P 
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 
- *4 x Serial ATA 3Gb/s with RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 & JBOD 
NVIDIA MediaShield? RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD span cross Serial ATA 
drives 
LAN 
- NVIDIA MCP61P built-in Gigabit MAC with external Attansic PHY 

Audio 
- ADI AD1986A High Difinition Audio 5.1channel CODEC 
- Support Jack-Sensing and S/PDIF out interface 

USB 
- 10 USB2.0/1.1 ports 

Manageability 
- WfM 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL by PME, WOR, PXE, Chassis Intrusion 

BIOS 
- 4Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0 
Overclocking Features 
- SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) from 200MHz to 230MHz at 1MHz 
- increment 
- Adjustable Voltage : 
- *core: @ 0.025V stepping 
- *chipset: 2- stepping 
- *ddr: 4- stepping 
- Overclocking Protection: 
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) 

Special Features 
- ASUS Q-Fan 
- ASUS My Logo 2 
- ASUS CrashFreeBIOS2 
- ASUS EZ Flash 2 
Back Panel I/O Ports 
- 4 x USB 2.0 ports - 1 x RJ45 
- 1 x COM1 - 1 x PS/2 Mouse 
- 1 x 5.1 channel Audio I/O - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 

Internal I/O Connectors 
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports 
- 1 x S/PDIF output connector 
- High Definition Front panel audio connector 
- 4-pin CPU Fan / 2*Chassis Fan connectors 
- Chassis Intrusion connector 
- CD audio-in connector 
- 24-pin ATX power connector 
- 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector 

Accessories 
- 1 x Serial ATA cables - 1 x FDD cable 
- 1 x SATA power cable - 1 x I/O Shield 
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable - User's manual 

- 1 x COM1 - 1 x PS/2 Mouse 
- 1 x 5.1 channel Audio I/O - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 

Internal I/O Connectors 
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports 
- 1 x S/PDIF output connector 
- High Definition Front panel audio connector 
- 4-pin CPU Fan / 2*Chassis Fan connectors 
- Chassis Intrusion connector 
- CD audio-in connector 
- 24-pin ATX power connector 
- 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector 

Accessories 
- 1 x Serial ATA cables - 1 x FDD cable 
- 1 x SATA power cable - 1 x I/O Shield 
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable - User's manual
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On Tue, 2007-02-06 at 15:39 -0600, Ed Burgstaler wrote:
> I have a brand new ASUS MB model M2N-MX which is giving me issues when
> installing Centos 4.4 64 bit
> I initially had problems with finding the SATA drives but I resolved
> that issue by simply selecting the NVIDIA SATA (sata_nv)driver from
> the list of drivers during the initial install.
> The install seemed to go fine after that as the installer uses the
> Generic VESA video driver during the install, however, upon the
> restart after the install, the server then completely locks up. I can
> only assume it is at the point of loading the video driver although I
> really don't know what CentOS loads after the "acivating local
> loopback" section, because that is where it freezes on the screen.
>  
> I'm thinking that the install to the SATA drive went well since it
> boots from the drive though it doesn't exactly boot completely.
>  
> I have tried reinstalling several times already with the same negative
> results.
> 
> Would appreciate any help that someone could offer in getting this
> working with this new MB.
> 
<snip>

Try initially loading in run level 3 (NON-X mode)

at blue grub screen, press enter, then select a kernel and press "A"

add a "3" to start in CLI mode ... then you can troubleshoot the video
errors
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Ed Burgstaler wrote:
> I have a brand new ASUS MB model M2N-MX which is giving me issues when 
> installing Centos 4.4 64 bit
> I initially had problems with finding the SATA drives but I resolved 
> that issue by simply selecting the NVIDIA SATA (sata_nv)driver from the 
> list of drivers during the initial install.
> The install seemed to go fine after that as the installer uses the 
> Generic VESA video driver during the install, however, upon the restart 
> after the install, the server then completely locks up. I can only 
> assume it is at the point of loading the video driver although I really 
> don't know what CentOS loads after the "acivating local
loopback"
> section, because that is where it freezes on the screen.
I have a motherboard that is not very different (probably not 100% 
identical either) and CentOS works fine. It's Fedora 6 that's causing 
SATA issues on that mobo.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=227186

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=227441

There's something wrong with SATA on these new motherboards. Or maybe 
they are too new and the SATA support in the kernel is lagging.

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/

Ed Burgstaler wrote:
> I have a brand new ASUS MB model M2N-MX which is giving me issues when 
> installing Centos 4.4 64 bit
> I initially had problems with finding the SATA drives but I resolved 
> that issue by simply selecting the NVIDIA SATA (sata_nv)driver from the 
> list of drivers during the initial install.
> The install seemed to go fine after that as the installer uses the 
> Generic VESA video driver during the install, however, upon the restart 
> after the install, the server then completely locks up. I can only 
> assume it is at the point of loading the video driver although I really 
> don't know what CentOS loads after the "acivating local
loopback"
> section, because that is where it freezes on the screen.
>  
> I'm thinking that the install to the SATA drive went well since it
boots
> from the drive though it doesn't exactly boot completely.
>  
> I have tried reinstalling several times already with the same negative 
> results.
> 
> Would appreciate any help that someone could offer in getting this 
> working with this new MB.
[snip]

You say you think it is hanging at the video startup, yet you fail to give 
any info on what video hardware you have.  Do you by chance have video 
based on the nVidia 6200 chipset?  If so, Centos will try to install the nv 
driver, which does not support that chipset.  There may be other chipsets 
in the same situation, but that is the one that I fought with.  The 
proprietary nVidia driver works very nicely, but be sure to switch to vga 
before upgrading the kernel, as it has to be reinstalled/recompiled after 
every kernel upgrade.

Ted Miller
Indiana, USA

Ed Burgstaler wrote:
> I have a brand new ASUS MB model M2N-MX which is giving me issues when 
> installing Centos 4.4 64 bit
> I initially had problems with finding the SATA drives but I resolved 
> that issue by simply selecting the NVIDIA SATA (sata_nv)driver from the 
> list of drivers during the initial install.
> The install seemed to go fine after that as the installer uses the 
> Generic VESA video driver during the install, however, upon the restart 
> after the install, the server then completely locks up. I can only 
> assume it is at the point of loading the video driver although I really 
> don't know what CentOS loads after the "acivating local
loopback"
> section, because that is where it freezes on the screen.
>  
> I'm thinking that the install to the SATA drive went well since it
boots
> from the drive though it doesn't exactly boot completely.
>  
> I have tried reinstalling several times already with the same negative 
> results.
> 
> Would appreciate any help that someone could offer in getting this 
> working with this new MB.
When you get the grub screen, hit esc to stop the count down. Edit the 
kernel line and add 'acpi=off' to the list of kernel parameters. Then 
boot (run) that grub entry.

After you have got in, edit all your kernel parameters to add acpi=off.

That is how I get Centos 64-bit to run stably on my Asus manufactured 
board. Asus BIOSes are crap and their acpi table setup is lousy.

Feizhou ... thank you for the reply.

Feizhou wrote:

"When you get the grub screen, hit esc to stop the count down. Edit the 

kernel line and add 'acpi=off' to the list of kernel parameters. Then 

boot (run) that grub entry.

After you have got in, edit all your kernel parameters to add acpi=off.

That is how I get Centos 64-bit to run stably on my Asus manufactured 

board. Asus BIOSes are crap and their acpi table setup is lousy."

I only have one question ... if it does successfully boot using the
"acpi=off" parameter how do I actually edit all of the kernel
parameters to
reflect the change? What file do I edit ... need some hand holding here if
you don't mind.

Thanks again

Ed

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> I only have one question ... if it does successfully boot using the 
> "acpi=off" parameter how do I actually edit all of the kernel
parameters
> to reflect the change? What file do I edit ... need some hand holding 
> here if you don't mind.
Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf or /etc/grub.conf. Just tack on 'acpi=off' to 
the end of the lines that start with 'kernel'.

Oh, successful boot is not all. It should also run without hiccups. If 
it does not...then acpi tables are not the end of the story.