ASUS M3N78-EM

[NJumlin]

I have bought a new computer for the purposes of using LinuxMCE. So dont tell me to switch over to Windows MCE bleh.

MB: Asus M3N78-EM AM2 GF8300 MATX

I started out by using the AMD64 rc2 DVD for installation. The screen went black after hitting "Start installation" - Lost video signal.
So I read some about geforce 8300 not being able to start installation cause the screen goes black. But they had success in installing with i386 rc2 DVD.
So I started to download the DVD i386 rc2. Installation did start this time.
New problems:
BIOS default settings SATA Mode select: SATA mode <- These settings doesn't work cause the installer couldn't find any hard drive.

Installation said:
Error: No hard drive found (Found this)

So I thought I go look in bios and change some settings. I changed from SATA mode to AHCI mode. This DID work. I managed to select hard drive for installing to and the hard drive started to format. The installation went on and started to "Copy DVD to Hard drive." After a while the screen went black (It didn't lost video signal) with a writing cursor blinking. After 10-15 minutes I forced the computer to reboot by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Grub couldn't load my installation.
Error 18

So I went back to BIOS to change from AHCI Mode to SATA Mode. Grub managed to boot from these settings. However the screen lost video signal when everything was booted and stuff. I'm lost now... Any advice greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Niklas Jumlin
Sweden

[NJumlin]

Update: The screen doesn't loose video signal, instead it just goes black and hangs up. I'm unable to do anything... it doesn't respond to num lock, scroll lock, caps lock or ctrl+alt+del. Does anyone have a suggestion for me? I'm desperate.

Niklas Jumlni

[skatingn330]

I'd try the 2 cd install, just to see if u can get kubuntu going first. I can't even run kubuntu 7.10 on my htpc because the core isn't supported, I got a no prossor scaling error every try. It runs 8.10 though.

[NJumlin]

I'm sorry, the 2 CD installation? Do you mean downloading Kubuntu 8.10 and then download LinuxMCE 8.10?

Edit: I found the 2 CD installation you were refering to. This includes downloading 3 CDs. If you count with Kunbuntu 7.10 CD.

Anyways, does 8.10 run fine? Is it usable as a media center?

[nite_man]

I have the same MB. I tried AMD64 but without luck. The situation is similar to yours. Using i386 solved that. Another problem with that MD was with SATA HDD. Installator didn't recognize it. Changing HDD mode (AH-something) sovled that it.

Finally I came to the point when AVWizard should start. But it didn't. So, tonight will install the latest nVidia drivers. Hope it'll be enough.

[skatingn330]

I already deleted my 0810, i played a 1080p movie great with overlay, but it didn t recanize my usbuirt and all kinds of other problems. I'm just gona wait until the offical release.

[Zaerc]

I already deleted my 0810, i played a 1080p movie great with overlay, but it didn t recanize my usbuirt and all kinds of other problems. I'm just gona wait until the offical release.

Yeah, thanks for all your "help".

[NJumlin]

I managed to get Kubuntu 7.10 running. I downloaded the desktop version of kubuntu 7.10 i386. Edited xorg.conf and changed driver "nv" to driver "vesa" to get the monitor working. Then I wrote startx to get X up and running. From there I simply clicked the Install-icon on the desktop. Installation went flawless.
However, when I inserted the first CD for LinuxMCE 0710 rc2 i386 I couldn't complete the installation cause the NIC wasn't installed. So this is where I am stuck at the moment.

I'm gonna try the steps explained on the link below, these are instructions for M3A78-EM and not for M3N78-EM to get the NIC working.
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Realtek_8168#Asus_M3A78-EM

Can someone confirm they are the same chipset? - i.e Realtek 8168?! I'm unsure how I can find that out.

[nite_man]

I installed LMCE 0710 from i386 DVD on the core/hybrid with that motherboard. Have a look here. There you can find a few tips which might help you with installation.

[NJumlin]

Thank you very much for keeping me update on your progress. I'm gonna try those steps instead of using the CD version installation. Did you get the integrated NIC to work as well?

[nite_man]

Thank you very much for keeping me update on your progress. I'm gonna try those steps instead of using the CD version installation. Did you get the integrated NIC to work as well?

I don't have internet connection at that moment in my flat. So, I didn't finish installation yet (I mean configuration part). Because during configuration some packages, like VDR, LIRC etc are downloaded from the repo as I understand. But I'll check if integrated NIC is up tonight when I'll be at home.

[totallymaxed]

Thank you very much for keeping me update on your progress. I'm gonna try those steps instead of using the CD version installation. Did you get the integrated NIC to work as well?

I don't have internet connection at that moment in my flat. So, I didn't finish installation yet (I mean configuration part). Because during configuration some packages, like VDR, LIRC etc are downloaded from the repo as I understand. But I'll check if integrated NIC is up tonight when I'll be at home.

If your installing from DVD everything is retrieved from the Cache... tere is no need for an internet connection at all for the basic install.

All the best

Andrew

[nite_man]

Thanks, Andrew, for clarification. Will finish installation tonight

[NJumlin]

Some updates on this case. I didn't manage to get the NIC working. So I couldn't go on with the LMCE installation. I found out the chipset was RTL8211CL. And there were no drivers to be found anywhere where I searched. Someone might have better luck with this though.

I figured I'd give 8.10 intrepid a try. Started of with CD version of Kubuntu 8.10. GFX & NIC worked out of the box. Sound didn't work until I updated the system. (205 updates)

FYI, I'm writing from the kubuntu-desktop now... waiting for mce-install.sh to complete.

Off-topic: The TV-card I have for the box is a hybrid analog/digital dvb-t card, Terratec Cinergy HT PCI which isn't found to be working either.

Let me know how you get along with your installation Nite_Man and good luck!

[nite_man]

Yes, the NIC is not recognized by system and there is no Linux driver on the ASUS site. Will see what can be done to fix that.