Installation problem

[Lucio M Nicolosi]

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 7:10 PM, Alan Duval <amoht at westnet.com.au> wrote:
>  > I had a ASUS M3A MB and AMD 64 Athlon X2 CPU which I hadn't used and
>  > decided to make a PC using it. It will install WIN XP but Ubuntu 8.04,
>  > 9.04, Linux Mint 7, 32 bits, Linux Mint 8 KDE 64 X86, Fedora 10 Live,
>  > and Knoppix 6.21 all have problems namely when I open Open Office or
>  > Firefox the screen freezes. GOS is the only OS that works without
>  > freezing and that was originally installed on a removable HD on another
>  > computer with a different MB. This is all strange as GOS is based on
>  > Ubuntu 8.04. Does anyone know why opening Open Office or Firefox should
>  > cause the system to freeze with the other operating systems?
>  >
>
>
> Thanks for everyone's advice. I have interspersed my replies above.
> This is a strange motherboard. I can probably get by using GOS which as
> I said is installed on a removable HD and was originally installed when
> on another computer with a different motherboard. However even it froze
> on one occasion and as this computer is to be installed in an office
> with access to another computer I really don't want any problems.
> Perhaps I should replace the motherboard but how would I know whether a
> new motherboard would allow installation of Ubuntu?
>
> Alan

Although not a memory problem, it still seems to me a hardware issue.
(But I'm not sure)

Perhaps you could check:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=pt-BR&q=ASUS+M3A+linux+compatibility+bug&lr=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

for issues concerning your MB.

Or try to install the latest version of a Linux release (say Lucid,
why not, still a lot of bugs, but very nice) that should have the
latest drives available.

If not a driver issue, then: could it be the processor's fault? Does
it overheat? Does this MB has any chip that stays so hot that you
could fry an egg on it? Are your fans performing well? Is your power
supply supplying adequate power to your system? Is it properly
grounded?

If you really intend to go for a new MB and keep the same processor,
you could use the tools on the AMD site to check for motherboard
compatibility (w/ AMD processors of course). It is a good start. Then
perhaps you may check with your preferred hardware store for the
availability of brands/models suggested by AMD. I trust they (AMD)
won't suggest you a complete piece of crap. Then you could google for
instance, [mb brand/model]+linux+compatibility+bug.

A new released board might be prone to driver issues with Linux much
more than "old" boards. Nevertheless, usually in short time new
drivers became available and the issues are solved.

It happened to me. Some time ago I bought a nice (just released)
motherboard that turned out to be rather incompatible with the Ubuntu
install procedures. I  should have googled for it *before*, didn't :-(
. It took me more than a whole weekend to figure how to make that damn
thing work with Ubuntu, almost sent it back to the supplier. But in
due time new BIOS versions were released, Ubuntu bugs were eliminated
and the MBoard is working perfectly well, better and better, and I'm
still very pleased with it (for the record it is a XFX 8200 - NVidia
chips based MBoard - inexpensive, but very reliable and fast).

Making the long story short: Except for plain crap or very peculiar
and exquisite pieces of hardware, Linux tend to support  most PC
hardware, (eventually) given an adequate amount of time.

IMHO, of course.

L.


-- 
L M Nicolosi, Eng.
Lat.:  23°34'4.79"S - Long.: 46°39'59.53"W
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