How-to: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus with Linux - Overclock.net

Caedis · 05-16-09

If you don’t have my exact setup some of these hacks/tweaks may help if implemented properly.

My Specs:

OS: Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid” or Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty"
Motherboard: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus
GPU: Nvidia 9800GTX+
CPU: Intel E6600 LGA775
RAM: 2 GB Gskill DRR2 800

I realize this isn’t a top end gaming rig, but after I chose to sell my old gaming rig a few years ago to pay for my wife’s engagement ring I was left with nothing to work with. I needed a place to start and get my foot back in the door to high performance OCing and gaming, only this time I’m determined to go totally Open Source with Ubuntu Linux as my weapon of choice. I procured this setup for about 200$ from some long time friends. Many more parts were thrown in but they are not pertinent to the scope of this how to.

Problem: When installing with the standard desktop edition I was unable to boot into the graphical environment on the live cd.
Solution: I fixed this by downloading the alternate install disk which installs from the command line.

Problem: GDM (Gnome Desktop Manager, AKA graphical environment) would not start. The monitor flickered sporadically and nothing happened.
Solution: Compile the latest drivers from Nvidia for maximum performance

Press [Ctrl] +[Alt] + F6 through F8 (whichever gets you to a login prompt on the command line)

Login to the command line with your regular credentials.

On a separate computer with Internet access go to the Nvidia website and download the appropriate drivers for your Linux build.

Drop them on a flash drive.

Mount the flash drive on your command line only box:

Code:

sudo mkdir /media/usb
sudo mount /dev/sdb /media/usb  (sometimes it's labeled sdb1, so if sdb doesn't seem to work use sdb1)
cd /media/usb
sudo killall gdm (this kills X and GDM so the nvidia drivers can be compiled and installed without conflicts)
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-180.44-pkg2.run

Follow the prompts and your done.

Reboot

Code:

sudo shutdown -r now

Problem: Networking is not working
Solution: Force the networking stack into compliance with the nVidia MCP55

Open a terminal

Code:

sudo su
rmmod forcedeth
modprobe forcedeth msi=0 msix=0
/etc/init.d/networking restart

Now we want to make these changes permanent as this hack resets when the computer reboots.

Code:

sudo su
cd /etc/modprobe.d/
nano options

Add the following to the end of the file

Code:

#nVIDIA Corporation MCP55 Ethernet
options forcedeth msi=0 msix=0

Save the change to the options file

Now the boot image must be rebuilt

Code:

update-initramfs -u

After all that you should be running perfectly with no performance hang ups.

This setup has proven to be the most problematic I have ever dealt with. Most of the computers I’ve built with Ubuntu work out of the box with no hacking or tweaking, I just happened to get the least compliant of every version. Oh well, nothing a little command line wizardry can’t fix. I expect to be playing Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, Spore and even Crysis shortly.

This guide was from my blog at Caedis.net

thiussat · 05-17-09

Caedis, you are going to be a Linux forum rep master (up there with the legendary, but now departed, error10) pretty soon if you keep posting these tuts.

Nice job.

Caedis · 05-17-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by thiussat

Caedis, you are going to be a Linux forum rep master (up there with the legendary, but now departed, error10) pretty soon if you keep posting these tuts.

Nice job.

Thank you! I'm flattered

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How-to: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus with Linux

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