EPoX-*RDA+ (nForce2) with GeForce2 MX400: hang up X

[hmepas]

Hi!
When I type startx my PC is hang up, and Ctrl-ALT-DEL and Ctrl-ALT-Backspace not working.
I use latest nvidia driver and latest nForce driver. When i change nvidia to "nv" in XF86Config-4 all working, only 2D.
I try it on all BIOS version which working on my mobo ( 5/08/2003, 4/10/2003 03/05/2003) and all nvidia drivers versions with the same result.
I hear that this problem did not exist on 01/29/2003 bios version, but flashing this version is killed my mobo.

On Windows all working fine.

Any solution?

P.S.: Sorry for my English :) It's not my 1st language.

[hmepas]

I found the solution of this problem:
My problem dissapear when I change my BIOS settings like this:

PnP/PCI Configuration
Resource Controlled by "Manual"
IRQ Resources
IRQ-10 assigned to "Reserved"

This remap VGA from IRQ10 to IRQ5
And now all working properly

My BIOS: 08 May 2003
Motheboard revision: Rev 1.1
Chipset revision: C18D (Do not try to flash mobo with this chipset revision whit bios version earlier than 05/03/2003)

[micha_b]

Hi hmepas,

did you get USB working?

I have an older v1.1 revision and switched back to 29th january BIOS to fix the problem. But I still could not get USB running under Suse8.2 - USB gets no IRQ :-(

Greetings
micha

[hmepas]

Originally posted by micha_b
Hi hmepas,

did you get USB working?

I have an older v1.1 revision and switched back to 29th january BIOS to fix the problem. But I still could not get USB running under Suse8.2 - USB gets no IRQ :-(

Greetings
micha
I haven,t USB devices, so I didn't try :)
May be you should to play with apic? But I am not sure. Try to on apic on your kernel ( if you use lilo add append=" apic=on" to you kernel image section and on apic on you bios.

For me it looks like:
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=2.4.21rc1
root=/dev/hdb3
read-only
vga=0x0164
append=" apic=on"



I know that my chipset revision is C1, after kill 1 mobo :)

Luck!

[micha_b]

I use standard Suse8.2 kernel (patched 2.4.20) up to now - will try 2.4.21rc2 tomorrow (is said to have nForce support).

In my current config on screen Alt+F10 I see after starting Suse8.2:
...*don't remember exactly*... no IRQ for USB found ... try irq=pciirq (or something similar)

I use noacpi bootoption and tried irq=pciirq - did not fix it. I also disabled APIC in the BIOS - did not help ...

I will also try the may-BIOS tomorrow.
If this does not help, my A3 revision might be broken ?!

Greets
Micha

[hmepas]

Do you try USB on Windows?

May be you should to ask here:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=32

[micha_b]

on Win2k it works.

I already spammed nforcershq forum with my questions ;-)

Have a nice day
Micha

[Emphroon]

Hi hmepas,

I have the same experience with flashing the BIOS to 3129. My EP-8RDA+ mobo was killed and I am waiting for a new BIOS chip from Epox.

It is good to see you found correct working BIOS settings. As soon as I have received my BIOS I will try these as well, and let you know if it worked for me.

Thanx!

P.

[hmepas]

you can flash all bios version after 03/05/2003 (05 Mar 2003) -- that is the version which was on you mobo before you flash it, i think.

You can also reflash you bios on programmator service centre. For it you should to know chip type. That it is:

SST
49LF020
33-4C-NH
0252089-A

You can see it ^ if you remove sticker from chip, but it remove your waranty too ;)
I advice you to flash your new bios chip with newer bios, and you default chip with version that it has -- may be which help you if you for safe warranty if you mobo die.

Luck!

[micha_b]

The USB problem:

it seems that 1 or 2 of the 3 USB hosts get no IRQ. If I use another USB connector on the 8RDA+ it recognizes my USB harddisk but still fails to work - I cannot mount /media/sda1 like I do with my SIS746 board and Suse8.0 ...
Tried to disable USB2.0 in the BIOS - did not help ...


The X hangup:

I have an older v1.1 of the 8RDA+ and can use the 29th january BIOS - with this the nvidia gfx driver works.

I will try hmepas' "manual Resources" proposal later.

Greets
Micha

[AranC23]

But changing the BIOS as suggested did nothing to fix it.

[hmepas]

Originally posted by AranC23
But changing the BIOS as suggested did nothing to fix it.

That is your BIOS, Chipset, kernel, nvidia drivers and X versions?

[Emphroon]

Hi hmepas,

Well, I got my BIOS chip & new mobo, changed the BIOS settings to your suggestion (so IRQ10 = reserved), but still my graphic card locks up.

The only thing I have attached to my kernel is append="hdd=ide-scsi".

But my BIOS still has version 3-5-2003. After the last flash failure I am not very happy with the flash procedure anymore... ;)

Regards

Peter.

[Emphroon]

I flashed my BIOS anyway to 5-8-2003 but still no go. I had to 'reserve' IRQ12, which remapped the VGA IRQ to #5.

So do you have any other special BIOS settings? XF86Config options? Kernel params? Which nVidia driver are you currently using?

This is my config:

Epox EP-8RDA+
ATHLON XP 2400+
nVidia Ti4200/128
512 DDR memory
Linux driver version 1.0-4363
Bios settings: optimized defaults

Thanx,

Peter.

[shurik2k]

I have not any result, if trying remap IRQ`s .
The X Server works only if BIOS manufactiured date is 29 jan 2003
Any newest version not working

I test ALT Linux Master 2.2 , Mandrake 9.1 , Red Hat 9

[Emphroon]

Hi!

GOOD NEWS! My EP-8RDA+ bios (version dated 8-5-2003) finally works with the XFree 4.3 server! I have done the following:

1) Put the IRQ's 10, 11 and 12 to "reserved";
2) Make sure that the MIDI IRQ remains to the default IRQ 10.

In my /proc/interrupts I see now this:

CPU0
0: 21702 XT-PIC timer
1: 807 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 26229 XT-PIC usb-ohci, usb-ohci, NVIDIA nForce Audio, bttv, eth0, btaudio, nvidia
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
14: 7358 XT-PIC ide0
15: 43 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
ERR: 0

And the NVidia driver 1.0-4363 runs like a dream!

Thanx for your good suggestion!

Peter.

[hmepas]

I'm glad that you solved it.

[kurachi.m]

Hi,

i am from another thread "driver problem". because i know this is the board-specific thread and found its the best way to move here!!

i just quote my previous post in another thread:

i set IRQ 10,11 and 12 to "Reserved", and made sure midi's irq set to "10".
in my XFree86Config, i replaced "nv" with "nvidia" and set an option "NvAgp" to "1"(use nvagp) and "IgnoreEDID" to "true".
a strange thing happened!
Crazy characters appeared on the screen as always:( but soon after that i could see nvidia logo:afro2: then X cursor appeared which i can move by mouse, after a while a dialog box appeared which says :
"Failed to find network domain and hostname. gnome might not work. Adding an entry to /etc/hosts may solve the problem..."
(originally in japanese, so i'm not sure that its correct)
Next i pressed "Ignore" botton by using mouse cursor... then X locked up....:eek:

Do you think this problem relates to network configuration???
But i can connect network using "nv" display driver...like this.
anyway i attached my xfree86 log.
in addition, i have not seen any "nvidia" word under /proc/interrupts
here's mine
CPU0
0: 24881 XT-PIC timer
1: 667 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 89523 XT-PIC usb-ohci, usb-ohci, ehci-hcd, eth0, NVIDIA nForce Audio
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
12: 2461 XT-PIC PS/2 Mouse
14: 8966 XT-PIC ide0
15: 4120 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
ERR: 0
Does anyone have idea what causes this problem???

[kurachi.m]

Sorry, forgot to attach log

[hmepas]

Network in undepended from X server and video card dirvers. For use your nForce2 onboard network card your should to install nForce2 drivers and put
alias eth0 nvnet
string to your /etc/modules.conf file. Don't forget to comment another
alias eth0 ...
string.

[henrik_se]

Still no luck. Changed irq in bios as said here but x still wont start. I have an EP-8RDA. Bios is 0129. Should I try flashing it to a newer version? Would prefer not to kill my mobo though.

my /proc/interrupts

0: 47867 XT-PIC timer
1: 479 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 72663 XT-PIC usb-ohci, usb-ohci, ehci-hcd, eth0, EMU10K1, nvidia
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
14: 17979 XT-PIC ide0
15: 99 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
LOC: 47832
ERR: 14
MIS: 0

[hmepas]

My mobo is different than you. May be my advice is not for you.
I can try to reserve all interupts exept one, which you want to assing to vga.
And try all interupts so.
You can see assigned interupts by this command:
modprobe nvidia
cat /proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0

[Emphroon]

Originally posted by kurachi.m
Hi,

i set IRQ 10,11 and 12 to "Reserved", and made sure midi's irq set to "10".
in my XFree86Config, i replaced "nv" with "nvidia" and set an option "NvAgp" to "1"(use nvagp) and "IgnoreEDID" to "true".
a strange thing happened!
Crazy characters appeared on the screen as always:( but soon after that i could see nvidia logo:afro2: then X cursor appeared which i can move by mouse, after a while a dialog box appeared which says :
"Failed to find network domain and hostname. gnome might not work. Adding an entry to /etc/hosts may solve the problem..."
(originally in japanese, so i'm not sure that its correct)
Next i pressed "Ignore" botton by using mouse cursor... then X locked up....:eek:

Do you think this problem relates to network configuration???
But i can connect network using "nv" display driver...like this.
anyway i attached my xfree86 log.
in addition, i have not seen any "nvidia" word under /proc/interrupts
here's mine
CPU0
0: 24881 XT-PIC timer
1: 667 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 89523 XT-PIC usb-ohci, usb-ohci, ehci-hcd, eth0, NVIDIA nForce Audio
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
12: 2461 XT-PIC PS/2 Mouse
14: 8966 XT-PIC ide0
15: 4120 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
ERR: 0
Does anyone have idea what causes this problem???


Hi Kurachi,

It seems to me that your X configuration is OK since you get the X cursor! I suppose you performed a "cat /proc/interrupts" when X was not running, right? Therefore you will not see the 'nvidia' module in your results.

I've seen a similar problem a lot of times with CDE on Tru64Unix. With that platform it might be caused by erroneous settings in /etc/resolv.conf or in /etc/hosts. I am running Gnome 2.2 myself, and my /etc/hosts looks like this:

peter@Solarstriker:~$ cat /etc/hosts
# For loopbacking.
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 Solarstriker

# End of hosts.


As you can see, you need at least the entry with 127.0.0.1 with the name 'localhost' and also with your current hostname (for me it is 'Solarstriker'). Please make sure you have such lines in your /etc/hosts file.

Regards

Peter.

[kurachi.m]

Hi Emphroon,

Thanks for your advice.
in advance, i am at work now so i cannot follow your advice right now.:angel2:

as to /proc/interrupts output, i cat from X but which using "nv" driver. yes i know its not a correct way to let you know the situation but i got the same irq output after i modprobed on fb console. i couldnot see "nvidia" on IRQ 5.

i am posting this at my office so i cannot chek, but i remember /proc/pci said that Display Adapter(GeForce3Ti200) has its IRQ as 5.

i am afraid still something is wrong with my irq assignment...
:confused:

but regarding network configuration, i believe your advice can help me a lot.
Thanks in advance!

Regards,
kurachi.m

[kurachi.m]

Hi all,

How can i know my mobo revision?

i believe my chipset revision must be C18D 'cause i can see "nForce2 Ultra 400 Support" on boot screen after i flash my bios with 7 May 2003 release...

And if my mobo revision is Rev 1.1, can i try flashing bios with 29 Jan 2003 one, without killing my mobo?

Why i am asking this is that, changing any bios setting adviced in this thread did not solve my problem...

> Emphroon,
i modified network setting as you said, but the situation got worse... X mouse cursor did not apear anymore after doing that...
but thanks anyway...

One more question to who has succeeded is, which distro are you ALL using, and which kernel version?

Thanks,
kurachi.m