Asus P5B mobo.

**MrGreen** · 08-10-2006, 02:08 PM

Hi,

Just got a new pc .... based on asus P5B deluxe mobo

Booting Knoppix livecd I get dropped in to reduced shell ;-(

The ide channel on board is of a jmicron type which I do not think is supported under linux

From what I have read I may need ide-generic module (but could be wrong!)

Anyone else got this type of mobo & can they run knoppix?

TIA

MrGreen

**sczj** · 08-16-2006, 03:02 AM

I got a Asus P5W DH mobo and I am getting the same issue.
I am using Knoppix 3.3, and I don't have a hdd installed on my machine, booting off an external DVD-Burner.
so I don't know if that makes any differenc.

**yarchie73** · 08-18-2006, 06:59 AM

Me too, I have recently built a new pc around the ASUS P5B. I was hoping to dual-boot Windows and Linux but now I find out that I cannot get ANY Linux distro to boot ...

I started out by trying Debian 3.1 for AMD64, which did not work at all as it could find neither CDRW nor DVDRW. Then, when I had heard Ubuntu comes with a better installer, I tried that one, too, but equally without success. Next, someone suggested I gave Knoppix a try as it might provide a workaround. I guess I should not even have bothered. I keep getting the "can't find filesystem" error, no matter what I try. I have checked and re-checked md5sums, have burnt and re-burnt CDs and DVDs, have booted from both internal disk drives as well as an external one, tried about any boot parameter imaginable, copied part of the files onto a FAT32 HD, experimented with a floppy disk, with BIOS settings ... It is all hopeless and as I have been at it for over two weeks now, I am more than a wee little bit pissed off (excusez l'expression) with Linux because nothing, nothing seems to get it properly booting at last.

At first I thought the problem was with the CDRW and DVDRW (both NEC) because Debian keeps nagging that it requires some drivers for them. But now that I see that there are plenty of people with the same problems and an identical mobo, it seems more likely that the prime suspect is the ASUS indeed.

Anyway, I recently posted on another forum and I was told that yes, it was likely that part of the hardware is not supported at this time and that it could well be months before such support does become available. Wow, was I ever happy to hear that ...

[/i]

**Wuffty** · 08-22-2006, 01:25 PM

yes, I had the same problems. I didn't find any Linuxdistribution without those problems (Knoppix, Redhat, Suse, Debian of course)
Booting until the CD-Filesystem is mounted, then: nada, dropping you to reduced shell

The chipset obviously is a little bit 'too young' :-/

Cheers,

-Udo

**MrGreen** · 08-22-2006, 06:47 PM

Managed to get DSL up & running but I had to put knoppix image on a pendrive & fromhd=/dev/sda1 ... but my sata drive & dvd drive still do not show up ;-(

Hoping that 2.6.18 fixes this issue ... but Its not much help to me if I cannot use my beloved Knoppix DVD lol

Thanks for your help

**yarchie73** · 08-22-2006, 07:28 PM

Here is what is wrong with the ASUS P5B series: the JMicron PATA/IDE controller is not yet supported under Linux. Two or three of the people in charge of building/maintaining the Linux kernel have now admitted that they made a "stupid error" overlooking the JMicron.

Patches are already out and anyone interested should google about a bit for "Linux JMicron patch".Whether these are of any use will obviously depend on your level of technical expertise. If you are very much a newbie as I am, they are merely, as we say in Dutch, "a patch on a wooden leg". So all I can do for now is wait for the final version of 2.6.18. I hear that it will feature in the next Ubuntu but then that one is not expected to come out before the end of October. So only two more months to go...

I am getting a bit impatient so I will now have a try with a floppy or a hard disk install. No cd/dvd required in those cases but for all I know the Jmicron issue may still pop up some way to ruin the only remaining option. By the way, does anyone know a good site which explains floppy and/or hd-install?

**MrGreen** · 08-23-2006, 11:26 AM

Going to try 2.6.18-rc4 see if they are in there ....

As you say building kernel is not something I want to do ....

google whats that rofl .... yes I did have a look around not the only one with the problem but not being able to boot knoppix upset me (not Klaus's fault!)... you can please some people some of the time but not all the people all the time ....

keep you posted ...

**yarchie73** · 08-27-2006, 06:37 AM

Well, I've finally managed to get a distribution installed, in spite of the Jmicron issue with the Asus P5B. I think it was on a Dutch or Belgian site that someone pointed out that it was perfectly possible to install Fedora Core 5 so I gave it a try and - HECK YES - it works! Not out of the box but you need only the following boot parameter:

all-generic-ide irqpoll

(the irqpoll suppresses the error messages generated by irq17 when you go all-generic-ide).

One other thing to remember is that Fedora Core 5 does not have support for the Realtek Gigabit on the mobo but you can download a driver from their site. It has taken me some time to figure out how to get it working but it now does. And yet another: the all-generic-ide works only during install; whenever you reboot Fedora and you want it to discover your CD/DVD, you need to use the boot parameter again. There must be a way of setting once and for all but I am still looking...

As for the Knoppix fans, I am afraid that this boot parameter will not be of any help - unless you manage to get a copy that has a kernel older than 2.6.17 (check out the download page). The reason that installing Fedora Core 5 succeeds is that it still uses a 2.6.16: apparently the "all-generic-ide" workaround somehow got lost after after that, something to do with SATA support I understand. Anyway, I cannot promise that my suggestion is sure to work but I may be able to find out as I still have a commercial Knoppix CD that came with a book that was publised in 2005. I do not know when 2.6.17 was first introduced but given some luck, my CD still has an older kernel. I'll let you know (unless someone beats me to it...)

**yarchie73** · 08-27-2006, 06:39 AM

Woops,

erratum:

the full boot parameter for Fedora should really be: linux all-generic-ide irqpoll

**MrGreen** · 08-27-2006, 07:58 AM

add it to grub .... kernel line or in lilo append maybe?

Realtex may be the r1000 stuff which I may have

your lsmod output may help me if you do not mind

built 2.6.18-rc4 which should have jmicron stuff in it

thanks for your help