Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
What with all the various problem reports flying around for via chipsets, Ive lost track of the state of play as regards via northbridges and south bridges. I am thinking of buying a machine with a via chipset and I wan't to know how stable it is likely to be with Linux. I would appreciate it if someone who know's whats going on can give a report on the state of play as regards to all the problems and their current status with 2.2 kernels (and 2.4 if their feeling energetic). Possible machine are: a P3 machine with a ASUS CUV4X-E motherboard which uses the apollo pro 694X northbridge and a 686B southbridge. An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V motherboard which uses a KT133 (VT8363) northbridge and a 686A southbridge. An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V133 motherboard which uses a KT133A (VT8363A) northbridge and a 686B southbridge. Problems Ive been hearing about include DMA disk transfers between channels. Some reports say these only occur with Western digital disks. The 2 athlon boards listed include an onboard promise IDE controller. So I should be OK if I use this for disks, right? Any other problems I should know about? -- Robert Cohen Unix Support TLTSU Australian National University Ph: 612 58389 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
> Problems Ive been hearing about include DMA disk transfers between > channels. Some reports say these only occur with Western digital disks. Not the case > The 2 athlon boards listed include an onboard promise IDE controller. So > I should be OK if I use this for disks, right? Maybe. Consult your vendor and BIOS supplier. Given the current noticable absence of exact info in the public domain I'd be careful they will guarantee the VIA chipset problem fixes are in the BIOS. If they give you a blank look go elsewhere - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
Ugh why VIA? They have been a constant source of trouble for me on both linux and windows. I have my doubts about their ability to get a chipset right in the first place. Some other possible Athlon boards: Asus A7M266 (AMD chipset) Asus A7A266 (ALI chipset) On Wed, 9 May 2001, Robert Cohen wrote: > What with all the various problem reports flying around for via > chipsets, Ive lost track of the state of play as regards via > northbridges and south bridges. > I am thinking of buying a machine with a via chipset and I wan't to know > how stable it is likely to be with Linux. > I would appreciate it if someone who know's whats going on can give a > report on the state of play > as regards to all the problems and their current status with 2.2 kernels > (and 2.4 if their feeling energetic). > > Possible machine are: > a P3 machine with a ASUS CUV4X-E motherboard which uses the apollo pro > 694X northbridge and a 686B southbridge. > > An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V motherboard which uses a KT133 > (VT8363) northbridge and a 686A southbridge. > > An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V133 motherboard which uses a KT133A > (VT8363A) northbridge and a 686B southbridge. > > Problems Ive been hearing about include DMA disk transfers between > channels. Some reports say these only occur with Western digital disks. > The 2 athlon boards listed include an onboard promise IDE controller. So > I should be OK if I use this for disks, right? > > Any other problems I should know about? > > > -- > Robert Cohen > Unix Support > TLTSU > Australian National University > Ph: 612 58389 > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ > -- Gerhard Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED] <>< As a computer I find your faith in technology amusing. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
On Wed, 9 May 2001, Robert Cohen wrote: > From: Robert Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I am thinking of buying a machine with a via chipset and I wan't to know > how stable it is likely to be with Linux. > I would appreciate it if someone who know's whats going on can give a > report on the state of play > as regards to all the problems and their current status with 2.2 kernels > (and 2.4 if their feeling energetic). Hi Robert, Right now one of my boxes (gaming box) is running off of : OS : Linux Distro : Slackware 7.1 Kernel : 2.4.3 SMP Mother Board: MSI KT7 Pro 2-A Chipset : VIA KT133 Processor : AMD Duron 800 Mhz (Not OC'd and not modified) Hard disks : Maxtor 5T060H6 (60 Gigger / 7200 RPM / UDMA100) : Quantum Fireball SE2.1A (2.1G / ??? RPM / UDMA33) RAM : 128M DIMM, PC133 Video Card : Geforce2 GTS, 32M DDR Network Card: I forget what I put in there.. hrmm VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39 VP_IDE: chipset revision 6 VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later VP_IDE: User given PCI clock speed impossible (66), using 33 MHz instead. VP_IDE: Use ide0=ata66 if you want to force UDMA66/UDMA100. VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686b (rev 40) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci00:07.1 ide0: BM-DMA at 0xd000-0xd007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA ide1: BM-DMA at 0xd008-0xd00f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:DMA hda: QUANTUM FIREBALL SE2.1A, ATA DISK drive hdb: Maxtor 5T060H6, ATA DISK drive hdd: LTN403L, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 hda: 4124736 sectors (2112 MB) w/80KiB Cache, CHS=1023/64/63, UDMA(33) hdb: 120103200 sectors (61493 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=7476/255/63, UDMA(100) hdd: ATAPI 40X CD-ROM drive, 120kB Cache, UDMA(33) 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 0305 (rev 02) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 8305 00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super] (rev 40) 00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586 IDE [Apollo] (rev 06) 00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586B USB (rev 16) 00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586B USB (rev 16) 00:07.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40) 00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super AC97/Audio] (rev 50) 00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT86C100A [Rhine 10/100] (rev 06) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV15 (Geforce2 GTS) (rev a3) Module Size Used by NVdriver 628304 29 via82cxxx_audio17120 1 ac97_codec 7648 0 [via82cxxx_audio] parport_pc 22608 1 (autoclean) lp 5296 1 (autoclean) parport29312 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp] via-rhine 10272 1 All in all pretty stable. I have problems with lock ups but I believe that to be the on board sound card (AC97 crap) as any time it does lock (especially under Wine/Half-Life), errors are usually reported to the effect of the sound card timed out or something. That and it periodicaly locked up in windows too (when I was running it). Hope this answers your question. Just make sure you have the latest 2.4.x kernel as things are changing rather fast ... (so much for a feature freeze .. heh .. :) . btw, what ever happened to the idea of creating a database of what runs with what ? Personally I think redhat did it wrong with their update network thingy ... (it has NEVER been able to login successfully .. heh ...). But would giving the user an option to send an email off after an install / upgrade basicaly listing what their system is, be a good thing? Something like what pine does? - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
Mark Hahn wrote: > > > a P3 machine with a ASUS CUV4X-E motherboard which uses the apollo pro > > 694X northbridge and a 686B southbridge. > > I haven't seen any reports of problem with this; it's the duals that need > the noapic workaround at the moment. > > > An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V motherboard which uses a KT133 > > (VT8363) northbridge and a 686A southbridge. > > works fine. my main workstation is a gigabyte version of this, > and has never had any problems (and delivers great performance). > > > An athlon machine with an ASUS A7V133 motherboard which uses a KT133A > > (VT8363A) northbridge and a 686B southbridge. > > this is the one that has some kind of issue, for which there are several > workarounds. it's not entirely clear whether the workarounds make sense/etc. I was worried that the P3 machine with the Apollo pro chipset is using the 686B southbridge and might share the DMA problems. Anyone know if this is a problem? -- Robert Cohen Unix Support TLTSU Australian National University Ph: 612 58389 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: Question: Status of VIA chipsets and 2.2 kernels
Gerhard Mack wrote: > > Ugh why VIA? They have been a constant source of trouble for me on both > linux and windows. I have my doubts about their ability to get a chipset > right in the first place. > > Some other possible Athlon boards: > Asus A7M266 (AMD chipset) > Asus A7A266 (ALI chipset) > > On Wed, 9 May 2001, Robert Cohen wrote: > > > What with all the various problem reports flying around for via > > chipsets, Ive lost track of the state of play as regards via > > northbridges and south bridges. > > I am thinking of buying a machine with a via chipset and I wan't to know > I'm wary of using an Ali chipset. They are even less common than the VIA so just havent had the exposure to root out problems. Also the main feature I'm looking for is a machine with 768 Meg or 1G ram at a reasonable price. Hence I want to use 256 Meg dimms. I can't use an i815 chipset as this tops out at 512 Meg. The apollo pro board is one of the few that has 4 dimm slots allowing 1 Gig of memory. The athlons boards only have 3 dimm slots so top out at 768 Meg. I'm wary of using DDR dram. The chipsets havent been round long enough to have much of a track record. And the ram is too expensive. Also the A7M266 is using a VIA 686b southbridge anyway which I thought was the source of the problems. Anyway these boards only tend to have 2 DDR dimm slots and the biggest DDR dimm that crucial sells is 256 Meg. So I would be limited to 512 Meg. Maybe I have to bite the bullet and go with 512 Meg dimms. They only appear to be available in registered with ECC which makes them cost about twice as much per meg and which I wasnt sure that all boards support. What motherboards/chipsets to people recommend for machines with 1Gig+ ram. -- Robert Cohen Unix Support TLTSU Australian National University Ph: 612 58389 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
