View source for Board:asus/a8n e

[[Image:Asus a8n e.jpg|right|thumb|ASUS A8N-E, rev. 2.00]]

This HOWTO explains how to use coreboot on the '''[http://www.asus.com.tw/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=171&l4=0&model=455&modelmenu=2 ASUS A8N-E]''' board.

== Status ==

{{Status|

|CPU_status = OK
|CPU_comments = Tested: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+.
|CPU_L1_status = OK
|CPU_L1_comments = CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
|CPU_L2_status = OK
|CPU_L2_comments = CPU: L2 Cache: 512K (64 bytes/line)
|CPU_L3_status = N/A
|CPU_multiple_status = N/A
|CPU_multicore_status = Untested
|CPU_virt_status = N/A

|RAM_EDO_status = N/A
|RAM_SDRAM_status = N/A
|RAM_SODIMM_status = N/A
|RAM_DDR_status = OK
|RAM_DDR_comments = Tested with one DIMM in slot DIMM_B1 (see manual).
|RAM_DDR2_status = N/A
|RAM_DDR3_status = N/A
|RAM_dualchannel_status = Untested
|RAM_ecc_status = Untested
|RAM_ecc_comments = The board supports ECC according to the manual.

|IDE_status = OK
|IDE_comments = Tested: Primary IDE (master and slave) and secondary IDE (master and slave).
|IDE_25_status = N/A
|IDE_CF_status = OK
|IDE_CF_comments = Tested: Primary IDE (master and slave) and secondary IDE (master and slave).
|CDROM_DVD_status = OK
|CDROM_DVD_comments = Tested: Mounting a CD-ROM from the Linux command line. The '''eject''' command line tool also works fine.
|SATA_status = WIP
|SATA_comments = Port 3 ('''hde''' in FILO) and 4 ('''hdg''' in FILO) on the board work fine. Port 1 and 2 don't seem to work, this is being investigated.
|USB_status = OK
|USB_comments = Tested: USB keyboard (on each of the 10 possible USB ports).
|Onboard_VGA_status = N/A
|Onboard_ethernet_status = OK
|Onboard_audio_status = Untested
|Onboard_modem_status = N/A
|Onboard_firewire_status = N/A
|Smartcard_status = N/A
|Onboard_CF_status = N/A
|Onboard_PCMCIA_status = N/A

|ISA_cards_status = N/A
|AMR_cards_status = N/A
|PCI_cards_status = OK
|PCI_cards_comments = Tested: PCI VGA card in all three PCI slots.
|AGP_cards_status = N/A
|PCIE_x1_status = Untested
|PCIE_x2_status = N/A
|PCIE_x4_status = Untested
|PCIE_x8_status = N/A
|PCIE_x16_status = Untested
|PCIE_x32_status = N/A
|HTX_status = N/A

|Floppy_status = Untested
|COM1_status = OK
|COM2_status = N/A
|PP_status = OK
|PP_comments = Tested: '''modprobe ppdev''', further tests were not performed.
|PS2_keyboard_status = OK
|PS2_keyboard_comments = use Rev. >=3610
|PS2_mouse_status = WIP
|PS2_mouse_comments = Doesn't seem to work yet, this is being investigated.
|Game_port_status = Untested
|IR_status = N/A
|Speaker_status = OK
|DiskOnChip_status = N/A

|Sensors_status = OK
|Sensors_comments = Tested: '''sensors''' reports K8 core temp. (kernel module '''k8temp''') and various other values from the IT8712F Super I/O (kernel module '''it87''').
|Watchdog_status = N/A
|CAN_bus_status = N/A
|CPUfreq_status = No
|CPUfreq_comments = Needs (at least partial) ACPI support.
|Powersave_status = N/A
|ACPI_status = No
|ACPI_comments = There's no ACPI implementation for this board.
|Reboot_status = OK
|Poweroff_status = No
|LEDs_status = OK
|LEDs_comments = There's a green LED on the board which is enabled when the board is powered-on. Works out of the box, no special coreboot support required.
|HPET_status = OK
|HPET_comments = The hardware [http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/10/19/226 supports it], but you currently need the '''hpet=force''' Linux kernel parameter. Reduces the number of wakeups in powertop ''drastically''.
|RNG_status = N/A
|WakeOnModem_status = Untested
|WakeOnLAN_status = N/A
|WakeOnLAN_comments = The on-board ethernet device doesn't seem to support WOL (also not mentioned in the manual).
|WakeOnKeyboard_status = Untested
|WakeOnMouse_status = Untested
|Flashrom_status = OK
|Flashrom_comments = Works fine when booted with BIOS and also with coreboot.

}}

== Before you begin ==

The '''ASUS A8N-E''' is an Athlon64 Socket 939 board (nforce 4 ultra) with socketed BIOS sold around �120 (mostly out of stock in 8/2007; used items at eBay ~ �20-35). It already boots coreboot. Latest legacy BIOS is from May 2006 v.1013. Socket 939 Athlons do not have Pacifica Virtualization.

The '''ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe''', an "nforce 4 sli" board probably shares the same PCB design with more solder pads populated (please confirm), and is also out of stock mostly.

The '''ASUS A8NE-FM/S''' has initial support in the form of [http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2007-July/023029.html a patch].

Hot plugging a BIOS chip was successfully done (pull out chip with glued-on handle while running Linux), so you don't necessarily need an external EPROM programmer, just a spare working 49LF004 chip. 8 MBit SST 49LF080A was also successfully flashed and booted with legacy BIOS (two images concatenated).
The PLCC32 BIOS chip is of type SST 49LF004B of which you need a spare programmed piece. You might reflash an empty or used one plugged into your A8N.

Enable Serial Console for debugging. It will come up at 115200,8n1 option SERIAL_CONSOLE
The revisions 3000 and up work, but don't expect anything to see on the POST card. The serial Terminal will show whether LB manages with your RAM. 

run targets/buildtarget
then run make in the A8N-E directory. you get a 512KB image.
abuild may come up with a 508KB image, which is not working.


in bash you may type
svn co svn://coreboot.org/buildrom
then type "make menuconfig" but the A8NE is not supported there yet.

== Known issues ==

* this tutorial is not as complete as the one for Gigabyte M57-SLI, so please look there for info on building the image.

* Currently PS/2 keyboards do not work, but USB keyboards do. --> this was fixed with Rev.3610
* Single DIMM support only : the blue DIMM_B1 socket should be populated only.
* The MAC address is stored in flash for almost all CK804/MCP55 boards. All of these boards flashed with LB probably have the same MAC address. See src/southbridge/nvidia/ck804/romstrap.inc and src/southbridge/nvidia/mcp55/romstrap.inc for details. On some of these boards, the MAC address is stored in a separate EEPROM, but you can't count on that.

== TODO ==

If you can help out with this, please join the [[Mailinglist|mailing list]] and let us know!

{{GPL}}