I have several systems using both sets of motherboards.
Yes there is a problem, how it impacts you is for you to decide. Many non Wintel motherboards including the ones you listed, utilize the Winbond clock timer chipset which is severely brain damaged. The clock timer intervals are not consistent, which in turn results in a creeping clock, off by as much as 15-40 minutes a day, and other effects. This also fouls up voltage and fan detections (aka sensors), etc. Linux (unlike Winblows) does try to do something about this and "corrects" the timer chip whenever it notices an event such as this occurring. In turn you'll normally see a message in the logs about the clock timer and an error during boot up. (see dmesg's output) It would be nice to disable the log entries in the timer.c code so that the kernel does not keep interrupting to generate the log message. It's simple to do but no one has so far. This problem also manifests in Winblows. For more info check out the timer.c and timer.h code in the Linux kernel source (I actually read it, sheez...) The problem is not with AMD or the motherboard manufacturer, but rather Windbond who have failed to provide fixed modules to the manufacturers. They seem unwilling to acknowledge the problem, probably because it would bankrupt the company... Otherwise the motherboards work well, albeit with the caveat of AGP compatibility settings on marginal systems... This is not normally a defect in design, rather a marginal MB which escaped testing... The end result are the freezes which people report using certain AGP video addressing modes that tend to push the systems... I.E. Sidebanding, Fastwrites, etc. -JMS |-----Original Message----- |From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] |[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Alan |Wilter Sousa da Silva |Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 6:08 PM |To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] |Subject: [expert] A7A or A7M? Both work with MDK 8.0 and 8.1 | | |Hi people, | | Is there someone using MDK 8.0 and/or MDK 8.1 with Asus |mobo A7A (Ali chipset) and/or A7M (AMD chipset)? I intend to |mount a Athlon 1.4 with DDR memory and I want to be sure it |will work fine. I would use a RIVA TNT graphic card too. | | Both chipset are unknown to me (but I know VIA pretty |well to not want it anymore). | | I did not decide if I'll use MDK 8.0 or 8.1 (the ideal |would be a 8.05 :), so that's why I would like to have a |up-to-date computer, but stable and compatible. | | I would thank any suggestion. | |Cheers, | |Alan Wilter | | |
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