Linux on nVidia C51/NV44 (nForce 4x0/GeForce 61x0)
Just FYI, short blog entry here. I installed Fedora Core 4 x86_64 on a nVidia C51/NV44 (nForce 4x0/GeForce 61x0) chipset system. There are a couple of issues.
PCI IDs Change
One is the fact that the PCI IDs are changed from earlier nForce4 chipsets (bad nVidia!). That means the installer doesn't autodetect the "nv_sata." You'll need to manually select the driver (near the bottom).
If the installer detects another storage device -- possible a SCSI or USB storage -- then that could cause issues if your BIOS is set to boot SATA first and/or you wish it to be /dev/sda. The workaround is to use the "noprobe" installer boot prompt option, and manually select the "nv_sata." Yes, this means you'll be without a lot in the installer.
I guess in nVidia's defense, Fedora Core 4 is over 7 months ago, and pre-dates any C51 info. Although the nForce4 was largely PCI ID compatible with the nForce3 and even nForce2 -- so I'm not sure why nVidia had to change things up.
Forcedeth Revision
Another thing I ran into is the seemingly slight variations in the 10/100[/1000] MAC. On Fedora Core 4's installer/initial 2.6.11 kernel, it didn't take to the GPL "forcedeth." However, the new nForce 1.0-0310 drivers on nVidia's site does provide a "nvnet" driver that works.
Fortunately, once I upgraded to it's updated 2.6.14 kernel, the "forcedeth" driver does work. This could also be related to PCI IDs as well (again, bad nVidia, bad!).
Cool AMD64 GRUB Splashscreen
I wasn't installing Fedora Core 4 x86_64 for any end-user usage, but on a pair of nVidia GeForce 6100 chipset mainboards with the AMD Sempron 64 2800+ that will be running Windows XP (32-bit, of course -- 64-bit XP is a nightmare, long story). I'm putting 8GB partition at the end of their 250GB disks means I can have a have a diagnostic/recovery partition.
The text-only Fedora will all the tools I'd want runs about 600MB. That leaves a good 6GB for a GNU Parted virtual disk image of the C: drive, which is a 32GB FAT32 (the rest is D:). I always recommend a 32GB or smaller C: drive with Windows XP -- dual-boot or not (unless you go NTFS -- then you should go Dynamic Disk as well, long story).
To hide the fact that Linux is dual-booting on the system, I label the Linux boot as "AMD64 Diag OS" and put it to this splashscreen ...
The same site has several other GRUB splashscreens available.
2 comments:
FYI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 6 installed without issue. Although being an older kernel 2.4 relase, you'll need the nForce platform drivers with the nvnet network module (newer forcedeth backport soon?) and nvsound OSS module (because 2.4 doesn't have ALSA).
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