View source for ASUS A8N5X

This HOWTO explains how to use coreboot on the '''[http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=596&l1=3&l2=15&l3=207 ASUS A8N5X]''' board.

As of 2008-11-20, a [http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2008-November/042305.html small patch] is needed for RAM access to work properly.

== Status ==

{{Status|

|CPU_status = OK
|CPU_comments = Tested: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+.
|CPU_L1_status = OK
|CPU_L1_comments = CPU: L1 Cache: 128K
|CPU_L2_status = OK
|CPU_L2_comments = CPU: L2 Cache: 512K
|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), and with two DIMMs in slots DIMM_B1 and DIMM_B2.
|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).
|IDE_25_status = N/A
|IDE_CF_status = Untested
|CDROM_DVD_status = OK
|SATA_status = Untested
|USB_status = OK
|USB_comments = Tested: USB keyboard
|Onboard_VGA_status = N/A
|Onboard_ethernet_status = OK
|Onboard_audio_status = No
|Onboard_audio_comments = It didn't work with proprietary BIOS either (using Linux/ALSA)
|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 = No
|PCI_cards_comments = Plugging any PCI card almost always result in crash when something attempts to access the PCI bus (although, specific cards were found not to produce this error, YMMV)
|Mini_PCI_cards_status = N/A
|PCIX_cards_status = N/A
|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 = No
|PCIE_x16_comments = Doesn't seem to be detected
|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_mouse_status = Untested
|Game_port_status = Untested
|IR_status = Untested
|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 = Untested
|Powersave_status = N/A
|ACPI_status = Untested
|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
|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.

}}

== Building coreboot ==

Note: you can use the same target as for the [[ASUS A8N-E]] board. At the time of writing there's no specific target for the ASUS A8N5X.

 $ svn co svn://coreboot.org/repos/trunk/coreboot-v2
 $ cd coreboot-v2/targets
 $ ./buildtarget asus/a8n_e
 $ cd asus/a8n_e/asus_a8n_e

Now place your payload in this directory and name it '''payload.elf'''. Complete the build with:

 $ make

The resulting '''coreboot.rom''' file (512 KB) can now be flashed using e.g. [[flashrom]].

== Known issues ==

* The MAC address is stored in flash. All A8N5X boards flashed with coreboot probably have the same MAC address. See '''src/southbridge/nvidia/ck804/romstrap.inc''' for details.

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

{{GPL}}