Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:06:32 -1000 From: Robert Marella <rmarella@gmail.com> To: Andrew Fremantle <freebsd@skyhawk.ca> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Motherboard for new Socket 939 fileserver Message-ID: <20060315070632.0ac9027a@frankie.konav201.local> In-Reply-To: <44172AC5.8070400@skyhawk.ca> References: <44172AC5.8070400@skyhawk.ca>
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On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:42:45 -0800 Andrew Fremantle <freebsd@skyhawk.ca> wrote: > Hi all, > > I've been tasked with setting up a new FreeBSD network file server. > I've been spending the last day fighting an ASUS A8N-VM CSM > motherboard, and I've given up on that hopeless battle. The ACPI is > horribly broken, the ethernet and PATA/SATA aren't supported on > FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE, FreeBSD 6-STABLE recognises the disk controllers > but then hits a bug that prevents it from using one of the disks, > I've had enough. I was prepared to tough it out with the ATA/33 limit > on the generic controller support, until a future release properly > supports them, but this morning the machine started throwing "DANGER > Will Robinson" messages regarding the SATA drives. > > I have a preference for nVidia chipsets, but if there's something > else that will work and has decent FreeBSD support I'll take it. > > Here are my requirements > Socket 939 > At least four SATA headers > (preferably) At least two PATA headers > PCIe Gigabit Ethernet <snip> > > Any feedback would be much appreciated. I'm desperate to avoid > jumping to Linux on this one, because I know that will turn into a > huge pain in the ass later on. > > - Andrew Hello Andrew I am not sure if I can be of help but here goes. I purchased an A8N-VM in December and have been playing around with since then. I disabled APIC in bios and then ACPI performed somewhat better. Taking the system up to 6-Stable took the ATA hard drive from ATA/33 to ATA/100 and I was then able to install FreeBSD on them. Before that I had to use an old SCSI controller and disk. I only had one SATA drive to test with and it was the same story as the ATA. It showed up as /33 and would not perform. It now can be operated at /150. My user guide does not show the CSM designation so I am not sure of our differences. This system is not in production and if you would like me to perform any tests/experiments, contact me direct and I will be happy to oblige. I am dual booting at this time. I have AMD64 on the SCSI and i386 on a 120G Western Digital ATA drive. I hope I can be of some help. Robert
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