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General => Installation issues => Topic started by: seth on December 03, 2008, 02:17:13 pm

Title: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: seth on December 03, 2008, 02:17:13 pm
 ;D
Hello all. I have seen some posts about this motherboard, and there is the wiki entry http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Asus_M3A78-EM (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Asus_M3A78-EM) which I will be updating, as I get things going. Last evening I sat down and decided to resolve the issue I was having with my new Living Room MD System Board.

The problem I was having was the NIC (Realtek 8111B/8111C) was using the r8169 driver on a tftpboot. This was fine, the image loaded right up, and then prompty reported "eth0:link down" not unlike a lot of posts concerning the Asus Eeepc boards/systems, as well as some of the Atom systems. So I immediately hit up the forums and the wiki for the answer. I found the excellent wiki entry by totallymaxed http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/R8168 (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/R8168) and the unrecognized NIC wiki http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC), and decided that I should start the process. I went out and downloaded the latest Realtek drivers from http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#2 (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#2) and followed the wiki. But after it was all finished up. I got the same results. And even a couple of times I got the kernel panic device not found error seen in these forums.

So here is how I solved it:

First I manually created the Media Director from the Web Admin page. Did not want it to build an AMD64 image, wanted to stay with i386, and I knew the MAC address of the new MD onboard NIC. Ran "Setup Diskless MD" when that completed I clicked the "Rebuild Image" for the new MD. While that was running I completed the next few things.

I went to Asus' web site and downloaded the drivers for linux for my board the M3A78-EM. The file was called "LinuxDrivers.zip" and contained the LAN as well as the VGA (ATI HD3200) drivers in the archive file. So I downloaded it, http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M3A78-EM (http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M3A78-EM) extracted it to my core's /usr/src folder, and then went into the LAN directory it created. From there I followed the 8168 wiki entry, and completed the steps.

Code: [Select]
sudo su
cd /usr/src/LinuxDrivers/LAN/r8168-8.003.00/r8168-8.003.00
make
cp src/r8168.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/
mv /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/r8169.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/r8169.ko.not
depmod -a
/usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_BuildDefaultImage.sh

Fired up top on the core to verify that the image was done building, no random bzip2's running and what not, and then...

Next I copied the driver from Asus over to my MD's filesystem:
Code: [Select]
cp /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/r8168.ko /usr/pluto/diskless/<moon #>/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net
vi /usr/pluto/diskless/<moon #>/etc/initramfs-tools/modules
added r8168 and saved
cd /usr/pluto/diskless
chroot <moon #>
depmod -a /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/r8168.ko
cd /boot
update-initramfs -uv
(scrolled up to verify the new module was added it was at the top of the output)
for S and G's ran depmod -a again
exit out of the chroot

Now I went into the living room and powered on the system. And it booted without a hitch. To my pleasant suprise, I was eventually greeted by Sarah, asking me if I could see and hear her  :)

Some info on this system, with current prices:

Motherboard - Asus M3A78-EM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131324&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131324&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-)
CPU - AMD64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

These were on a combo deal for $114.99 free shipping as of last week. Excellent buy, and now with this info it will boot  ;)

Memory OCz Platinum 2G 2x1G DDR2 1066 (Makes use of the native 1066 on the Motherboard) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227178&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227178&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-)

This is currently on sale for $28.99, but there is shipping  :(

So the next thing I will be doing is using the Asus Drivers for the ATI card (HD3200) and see if I can get that working, wiki update to follow there as well.

Well I hope this helps someone. It sure made my evening.

Regards,

Seth

Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: hari on December 03, 2008, 04:43:33 pm
same for the GA-MA78GM-S2H and the board in the TEO-X.

br, Hari
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: noltenp on December 03, 2008, 07:38:44 pm
I will be watching your progress closely, as I just purchased an ASUS M3A78-EM and A64 X2 6000+ for an HTPC.  While I'm not new to Linux, I have not used LinuxMCE yet.  From what I've looked at I think it would meet my needs well, provided I can get the full capabilities out of it.  I would want to use the onboard video and the HDMI output.  I also have a Sony Blu-Ray BDUX10S that I would like to use but I have to research compatibility.  My other option for OS if LinuxMCE does not pan out is Vista Premium (perhaps 64 bit), but saving $100 means another terabyte of storage or a nice case!

If I dig in and get anywhere with anything, I'll you know.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: seth on December 03, 2008, 07:55:15 pm
 :)
Yes, I will be tackling this before the week is out. I am not sure if I will use the provided Asus ATI driver or getting the latest Catalyst from ATI.
Since I tried the latest Realtek driver for the LAN card, and failed, I may just start out with the Asus provided driver, as that worked swimmingly with the board. You can also find these drivers on the support DVD that came with the board.

I think the combination of Integrated HD capable video, and on board spidf optical, and the CPU's it supports make this board a good candidate for a core or an MD. I use it as an MD, but the CPU I got with it, X2 5000+, would be more than capable of core requirements as well.

At any rate. I will continue to work at this. I am confident that the next release of LMCE with Kubuntu 810, extra steps won't need to be taken to make it work on first install. I know everything works Out Of The Box with 8.04.

Regards,

Seth
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on December 19, 2008, 05:27:35 pm
Seth-

Have you tried using this as your Core?  I tried:  http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5995.0  before, and haven't since.  But want to can my system and get the gigabit card working.  Process would be a bit different than configuring a MD, but probably not that different.  Maybe I'll try with a different harddrive and keep the working system accessible.


For anyone else thinking about this board- I have had excellent experience.  I've been running this as a core straight (no reboots that I can remember) since 8/18/08:  http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Asus_M3A78-EM
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: seth on December 20, 2008, 01:14:11 pm
 :)
I have posted the instructions to get the on board GigE NIC working on this.
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Realtek_8168#Asus_M3A78-EM (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Realtek_8168#Asus_M3A78-EM)
Summed up below:

Install system like normal. (I assume you have already done this)
Get some means to download and store http://dataless.jeromenet.org/r8168.ko (http://dataless.jeromenet.org/r8168.ko), as you may not have internet (no 2nd nic)
I used a pen drive.
Once you have this file, boot the system in Safe Mode, using option 2 in grub (press ESC when system starts to get to grub)
after the system comes up, you will have your dcerouter# prompt. Insert pen drive, mount it some where: I did
Code: [Select]
mkdir /mnt/temp
mount /dev/sdx1 /mnt/temp (insert your letter for "x" in this, you can find it with dmesg
cp /mnt/temp/r8168.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/
depmod -a /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/net/r8168.ko
vi /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
add r8168
cd /boot
update-initramfs -uv

Now reboot, and you should have it sorted.

Best of Luck and Regards,

Seth
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on December 22, 2008, 05:17:58 am
Thanks Seth-

I can confirm that this works.  I setup the Core using the above instructions- pen drive, esc, safe mode, copy, restart method and now I have the core with 2 nics- 1 onboard and one pci.  This gives room to put a pci tuner in the core.

I will update the wiki
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: seth on December 22, 2008, 01:22:37 pm
 :)
Excellent!!

Now I have another tip for you, if you can spare $20 US. This gigabit card works Out of the box (although I could not get it to PXE boot), in the PCI-E 1x slot that you have:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166019&Tpk=33-166-019 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166019&Tpk=33-166-019)

It's $14.99 US, Uses the r8169 driver packaged with 710 release of LMCE. This allowed me to free up the second pci slot for an additional tuner card. I currently have it connected to my modem, and the on-board card connected to the internal gigabit switch I have.

This makes this board complete as a core, as now I have 2 tuner cards in it.

Just a thought.


Regards, and Happy Holidays,

Seth
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: Marper on December 23, 2008, 12:46:29 am
Just purchased this board and using it with SATA drives and am currently getting error "busy box" and the system halts.  Here is config:

ASUS M3A78-EM
4X 1gb SIMM chips
Video XFX 6200 (worked in last system that was intel based 0704 & 0710)

Disabled on-board NIC
Disabled on-board Video (I guess as it does not really say enabled or disabled, provides options for the type of video card in system)

I've tried to install 0710 i386 and AMD64 with no sucess.

I've followed a number of threads here, with each getting a little closer to the issue.  This thread by Seth and another that indicated I should hit F6 and add:

acpi=off at the beginning of the line
nosplash at the end

taking the above two steps really got me further than I was, at least I'm not seeing the busy box any further.

I want to use this system as a Core - If it's not good for that, so be it and I'll buy another - however, I see the very same issues using this board as a MD, so I'm looking for help and direction.  No longer afraid to dig into Linux, I'll try anything you guys think might get me a little further.

Any advice as to what config or changes to make to help this system install ?
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: seth on December 23, 2008, 03:22:28 am
I am using this board with 2 SATA drives. 1 WD 500 G - Main and TV recording drive, and I threw an extra 80G SATA disk in there, also Western Digital. They are SATA 3 drives and the jumpers are set for spread spectrum, or what WD considers "Option1" or the default option. It is possible the drive(s) you are using may need to be jumpered to eliminate extra features like that. Also I am using the i386 version. I have never had much luck with the AMD64 version, and according to the devs, you do not gain any additional performance using it, so I would try again with the i386 version. Mine installed flawlessly. Only hiccup I had was the on board LAN card. But I posted here how to resolve that issue.

I would try the i386 version. I the long run, you will not regret it.

 ;D

Happy Holidays, and Regards,

Seth
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on December 23, 2008, 05:15:47 am
Marper-

After Seth's postings, I got another harddrive and reinstalled LMCE and I ran into the same issue- I figured it was a bad disc, so didn't pay a lot of attention.

I got mine installed by when the bootscreen first appears you will see the three options ("Install..., Memory..., and Boot from first...") and at the bottom it has F1 through F6.  I pressed F6 at which time a bar opens up that starts with "Boot Options" followed by a bunch of info.  I deleted the "quiet slash --" part from the end of that command and pressed enter.  The installation then proceeded without a hitch.

Coincidence?  Maybe, but that's all I changed and the installed went smooth.

Also, thanks Seth for the Rosewill info.  Makes me 1 step closer to have a server closet with essentially everything in it and md's around the house streaming the media.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: Marper on December 23, 2008, 06:19:42 am
Thanks guys - I used the F6 Option with some optional commands:  ACPI=off and Nosplash - and the system installed. 

I have 3 WD500AA drives and it will only read 2 of them with the Optical drive.  Maybe Seth is correct I need to check the jumpers to ensure they are set correctly.

Thanks again, you guys were a huge help.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: slow_learner on February 22, 2009, 07:25:46 am
hi,

i've been following this post with much interest because i recently built my first dedicated lmce system using the asus m3n78-em board and want desperately to make it work. 

i've gotten through the alsa driver problem.  i'm now onto the onboard nic not working.  Seth, I've followed your directions (i thought) to the letter on how to update the r8168 driver and get it set up to load on boot.  but somehow i'm still screwing up.

everything seems to be in place where it should be, but when i run the update-initramfs -uv command, i don't see any reference to the r8168 module when i scroll up.  in the /etc/initramfs-tools/modules file, using the vi command, i've added the r8168 line under the example lines many different ways.  i've added it as:

# r8168
r8168
r8168.ko

then done the update command, but nothing seems to change.

can you give me any ideas as to where i might be screwing up? might there be some reason why the /etc/initrmafs-tools/modules file is being missed as part of the boot sequence.

if you need more info of my system to help diagnose, please let me know.

thanks,

slow
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Sol
Post by: seth on February 22, 2009, 07:21:54 pm
 :)
Hi. I am wondering if you are running the initramfs-update script from /boot ?

As long as the r8168 entry has been added to 'modules' file you should see it at or near the top of the output.

Regards,

Seth
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: slow_learner on February 23, 2009, 07:54:43 pm
Dear Seth,
I finally did see the module show up when i ran the update.  I'm a newbie, and i was doing this work from a prompt in recovery mode.  when i ran the upate, and then scrolled up to see if it loaded, I couldn't scroll all the way back to the beginning because that much history wasn't showing.  when i did the update from a terminal window off the desktop, i could scroll all the way to the beginning and there it was.

However, still no joy on the NIC working from boot, after seeing the module there.  running ifconfig at recovery or looking in the device manager in the desktop, no eth0 present.

Is there a boot log i could look at, or maybe post here that someone could look at, that will help me diagnose what's wrong?  I checked in the bios already and everything seems enabled.

thanks,

shane
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on February 23, 2009, 10:24:01 pm
I have this board as well and can confirm that Seth's method works.  Something I found, however, was after making the mistake of letting the system boot to the AV Wizard on the first boot without making the NIC changes.  I completed the AV Wizard and house setup and then rebooted the system to change the NIC.  LMCE would not accept the new NIC and after about 30 min of fighting with it, I just reinstalled with the DVD (if I had opted to go straight to this option, probably would have saved me 10 min  (30-20=10)).  DVD installs are great....

At any rate, if you didn't do this, I would start there.  TO CLARIFY:  after the DVD installation, there will be the black screen with the blue lettering prompting you to remove the install media before hitting enter.  Do this and allow the system to restart.  Now, when the GRUB menu loads, there are 3 seconds??  to press ESC and make the modifications Seth mentioned.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: slow_learner on February 24, 2009, 01:10:58 am
I'll give it a rip tonight, and post my experience . I definitely don't want to go down the road of trying to upgrade the kernel to fix this.  Thats over my pay-grade these days. :D

shane
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: slow_learner on February 24, 2009, 06:44:14 am
dear masters of the universe,
still striking out on getting my m3n78-em boards nic chipset to work with lmce.  i tried the latest suggestion which was to reinstall the i386 dvd and, post install, go straight to recovery mode and run the entries to add the r8168 module to the system and reboot.  tried that route and failed again.

here's my setup

mobo: asus m3n78-em
cpu: amd phenom 8750 64 bit quad 4
memory : 8 gigs ddr2 1066
2 sata3 hard drives, one for op system, one for media
6000 series nvidia pci card
hauppage pvr150
2 lite-on litescribe dvd r/rw

things to note on install:
- probing the bios portion of install takes a long time, result is some kind of failure but text on screen says this issue is harmless.
- i do not get to final screen post install that tells you to remove disk and reboot.  install freezes at point where there is a flashing cursor at top left of screen, but nothing else, cannot eject disk.  had to restart pc to get disk out.  when letting it load normally however, it does reach the avwizard and i can set up the pc.
- in watching the system boot in recovery mode, when it says "mounting local filesystems" displays a red [fail] result.  this however does not stop the system from booting.
- also get message that apparmor failed to boot properly.

from there i can run through the avwizard and through the initial setup. but without an internet connection its not work it.  without the onboard nic working i can't use this setup as a core/hybrid, which was the intention all along. 

If anyone has any ideas as to what to try next, please let me know.  I've been stuck here for 3 weeks now and am about to dump the board and try another one.  i don't want to b/c the capability of this board is big, i think.

thanks in advance for any tips,

Shane :) ???
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: greenhornet on March 24, 2009, 08:57:51 pm
Is anyone successfully using the onboard video with this mobo?

I went out and bought this board.  I built a diskless MD with it.  I can confirm that Seth's fix for the Realtek drivers did in fact work.

However, I can not get the onboard video to stay up for more that 5 minutes.  It is, after all an ATI chipset.  This is somewhat disappointing.  I would prefer to not have to go buy additional hardware.  Any suggestions?  If not, what cards are you guys using?
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: greenhornet on March 29, 2009, 05:54:12 pm
bump
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on March 30, 2009, 03:53:04 pm
I have an n-vidia 8500 gt- it's fanless but my core is currently very well ventilated  (don't think either of the sides are currently attached).  I tried the onboard for 1 install I think before the 710 was officially released and nothing since.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: UNi on April 03, 2009, 06:55:40 pm
For anyone who's got this board running successfully, do you see these messages in your syslog / messages?

"rtc: lost some interrupts at 1024Hz"

** They seem to be harmless, but annoying for sure.

-UNi
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: jimmejames on May 01, 2009, 10:31:22 pm
Well,  810 is amazing- great job devs.

The onboard ATI Radeon HD 3200 works out of the box.  I ran through the installation as described here:  http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LinuxMCE-0810_alpha2- really just installed kubuntu 810, ran aptitude update and aptitude dist-upgrade.  After the reboot I activated the only listed ATI drivers and proceeded to install LMCE 810- the latest alpha.

I'm exporting the video to a 52" rear projection Panasonic tv via a DVI port.  This tv's manual specifically says that the DVI is not for connecting a tv.  I have a refresh rate issue trying to use UI2 with overlay.  I think this is because the tv only displays a picture at 65Hz- maybe with a different tv the overlay would work.  With UI2 and no overlay the UI is very responsive- like I experienced with 710 and an 8500GT.

I'm in the process of converting over the whole house and will try to update as I experience.

BTW- I'm using the 32bit version, M3A78-EM, 4gb of ram, and a AMD AM2+ 4000 cpu.

I had trouble with a busy box error when trying to install kubuntu with a pata hdd and cd/dvd drive on the same cable-  this question was asked in another threat.  I didn't play with it at all, in instead connected a sata optical drive and used that to install.  Probably coincidence that it worked, but maybe worth noting for anyone else that experiences this- although again, this has been discussed previously.
Title: Re: ASUS M3A78-EM - Great for a Core, Great for an MD - Realtek 8168 Gigabit Solved!
Post by: nite_man on May 22, 2009, 10:58:22 pm
That's great! As I know people face with problems when they try to use HD 3200 and LinuxMCE 0710. If 0810 will change that situation it'll be really good.