ASUS M4A78T-E Freezes with 9.04

[HighlyDubious]

I'm having trouble installing Ubuntu 9.04 (x64) on a new system I'm building.

Specs are:

• Mobo: ASUS M4A78T-E (BIOS v2105)
• CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4Ghz
• GPU: ATI 4650 (OEM Generic)
• RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 (DDR3 1600 CAS 9)
• HD: 500GB Maxtor (SATA)
• CD: TSST Corp CD/DVD RW SH-S204N (SATA)
  
• PSU: 750 Watts (Generic)

I posted before on this topic (here), but either it got buried under the flood of newer messages, or I was too verbose in my post, so I'll keep this simple.

The system is working perfectly under Windows 7 & XP (both are x64). I've tried 6 times to install variants of Ubuntu (x64), and each time the machine froze at some random point during the installation. Even just running from the Live-CD I've had programs and processes randomly crash.

And no, I'm not trying to use the proprietary ATI drivers.

Does anyone know of incompatibilities between this motherboard board and Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Kubuntu/etc? Or, perhaps known problems with the AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset that the mobo is based on?

All advice and tips on how to get this working will be appreciated.

P.S. Even if you don't know the answer to help me, please check the parts of the poll which apply to you. Maybe the aggregate info from the poll will tell me something useful about the Mobo or chipset.

[HighlyDubious]

bump

Just to update, I've tried installing the 9.10 beta, but experienced the same random locking up during the install process.

After several attempts, I was able to get Xubuntu 9.04 to fully install. But once installed, it also had random crashes.

For example, things like the System Monitor, or Firefox, or a terminal window just suddenly stopping/closing for no obvious reason. Or other times X resets and dumps me back at the log-in screen. These things happen even if the machine is just sitting there and has not been touched for several minutes. It's totally random, and totally weird.

For what it's worth, I've run Memtest86+ v4.0 for 3 full cycles, and I've also run Prime95 (under XP and Windows 7) for over 30 mins. This tells me that my RAM is good, and that the CPU is not crashing due to heat or flakiness. Everything I can test under Windows XP and Win 7 tells me that the memory, CPU, and mobo are completely stable and solid. But when I try to run Ubuntu, I get weirdness every time.

Earlier today I did successfully install PCLOS (I had the disk laying around from a prior install on another machine). But that is x32 only, and if there's any way possible I'd prefer to not lose more than half of my 8GB of memory by going down to x32. I'd also prefer to not be forced to another distro if I can avoid it. It's hard enough to learn the in's and out's of Ubuntu. Trying to learn the quirks of another distro is simply not appealing.

If it turns out that this mobo and this BIOS are just flat out not going to work with Ubuntu, then I'll probably buy a new mobo.

With that in mind, I'm asking for comments from ANYONE who is currently using any x64 variant of Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/etc with any AM3/DDR3 mobo. (Yes, I know that AM2+ is compatible with AM3, but I'm really only interested in mobo's that are truly AM3/DDR3)

So, if you are successfully running any x64 variant of Ubuntu on an AM3/DDR3 mobo, please just leave a comment here telling the mobo mfg and model. Or, if you are having problems running x64 Ubuntu on an AM3/DDR3 mobo, let me know that as well, and it will help me to AVOID the same problems.

Maybe if I get enough comments I can figure out which mobo to buy in order to replace this ASUS M4A78T-E.

Thanks in advance!

[vtk]

You and I have almost identical configurations, but I have 4 gigs of Corsair RAM and a slightly less meaty PS, a 550W from Seasonic.

I get the same thing, sporadic lockups, I mean *SOLID* no telnet, no nothing.
It could happen during install of an OS, it could happen browsing the web. It frequently happens when formatting a drive. I do have one thing I think I may have stumbled upon last night though. I have 4 drives, 2 IDE and 2 SATA, and on installing Debian to see if it was something in Ubuntu breaking the system, the same thing happened, while formatting an IDE drive.

Just wondering if anyone else had any ideas...
V

[HighlyDubious]

You and I have almost identical configurations, but I have 4 gigs of Corsair RAM and a slightly less meaty PS, a 550W from Seasonic.

I get the same thing, sporadic lockups, I mean *SOLID* no telnet, no nothing.
It could happen during install of an OS, it could happen browsing the web. It frequently happens when formatting a drive. I do have one thing I think I may have stumbled upon last night though. I have 4 drives, 2 IDE and 2 SATA, and on installing Debian to see if it was something in Ubuntu breaking the system, the same thing happened, while formatting an IDE drive.

Just wondering if anyone else had any ideas...
V

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

Yes, I've experienced the same problem. During the install it freezes solid. *NOTHING* works after the hang. And the fact that it's doing it from the Live-CD (which is supposed to pretty much work on any platform) is not a good thing.

As mentioned above, my system is just 1 HD, (I've edited my OP to mention that it is SATA). And also a CD/DVD RW that's SATA. (no IDE devices). I've also added a 3rd party card-reader that is connected to one of the motherboard USB ports, but I don't think that's the problem.

One other thing. This weirdness happens no matter if I try to install from CD, or from a USB flash drive.

Your experience with Debian freezing could be a strong clue that the problem is deep inside Debian itself. Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, and both Debian and Ubuntu are not working on this mobo for us, then it could be something about Debian.

As mentioned above, I have successfully installed PCLOS 2009.2 (x32) on this mobo, and although I've not tried to "stress test" it, I can say that after several hours of use, I didn't see any problems. PCLOS is based on Mandrake Linux, and so it may well be that whatever is different between Debian and Mandrake could give us a clue on this.

Unfortunately, I'm still mostly a newbie, so I'm totally over my head trying to figure out what the differences are between Mandrake and Debian that are causing our problems.

Regardless of all that. Thanks again for taking the time to post and tell your own experiences!

[vtk]

I'm going to try a few other things tonight, see what happens. I am going to check all of the hardware connections again, set the BIOS back to default(in the process of trying to find out what was happening I changed some settings) and some other things.. I'll let you know what happens in the AM.
Peace,
V

[neontrailer]

Old AMD gamer here! I would pull out two sticks of that 1600 memory and then try it. That board should only handle 1600 MHz memory with a BIOS overclock on (one stick per channel) its just to much memory and its defaulting to 1333MHz with four slots full.......

[cascade9]

I'd rip out more than just 2 sticks-

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-02-12/60a.jpg

Maybe this issue is fixed under windows and some linux distros but not under debian and deb based systems?

[HighlyDubious]

I'd rip out more than just 2 sticks-

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-02-12/60a.jpg

Maybe this issue is fixed under windows and some linux distros but not under debian and deb based systems?

WOW! I'm astonished at how resourceful people can be. I would have *NEVER* found that information! Wow!

Ok, my understanding of that link is that I have two choices:

1. Rip out 1/2 my RAM (down to 4GB -- One stick per channel)
2. Reduce the RAM speed down to 1066Mhz

If I'm reading that correctly, either one of those should work.

As far as I'm concerned, the first is not even an option to me. I've made the switch to x64 on all my machines for all OS's (WinXP, Win7, Linux), and I did it so that I could access more than 3 1/2 GB's of RAM. I also paid $200 for a full 8gb of DDR3. And since this machine is used primarily under Windows, I'm not about to penalize Windows for the few times I run Linux.

So, I guess my only real option is to cut my memory speed by 1/3. It's certainly NOT what I want, but if it will work, then that's what I'll do. Fortunately, my mobo supports saving different BIOS settings "Profiles". Switching between them only takes a few extra keystrokes after a reboot. So maybe I'll make one BIOS settings profile for use with Windows (1600Mhz RAM), and one for Linux (1066Mhz).

Just one other random thought... It might be that if PCLOS was available in an x64 version, I might be experiencing the same problem. But since it's only x32, then I'm only accessing 1/2 my memory, and therefore (in effect), only accessing 1 DIMM per channel.

In other words, if I spent a lot of time trying x64 distros, I might find the same problem with all of them.

On the other hand, maybe if I were to stick with the x32 version of any distro (even perhaps Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives), then maybe the system will be perfectly stable.

Hmmm... I'm almost curious enough about that to take the time to test the theory. (Or, at the very least, test Ubuntu x32) But for actual final set-up, I'll probably stick with the slower RAM setting, and not accept the reduction to 3.5GB.


Oh, wait... I just went back and re-read this whole thread. VTK has the same board, but only 4GB of RAM. He didn't say, but I'm guessing he's only using 2 sticks (2x2GB). He also didn't say if he's using x32 or x64, but again I'd make the guess that if he has the same CPU and mobo as me, then he's probably trying the x64 version. I notice he also didn't mention what speed his RAM is. In other words, there may still be some flakiness here that is in addition to the problem mentioned in the above link.

How about it VTK, wanna fill us in a bit more on your specs? Number of sticks? RAM speed? x32 or x64? Name of your 4th grade music teacher? (LoL)

[HighlyDubious]

Old AMD gamer here! I would pull out two sticks of that 1600 memory and then try it. That board should only handle 1600 MHz memory with a BIOS overclock on (one stick per channel) its just to much memory and its defaulting to 1333MHz with four slots full.......

Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond, and for bringing this limitation to my attention. It's already giving me some good ideas for things to google and try to find other people with similar problems -- and maybe other solutions as well!

Thanks again!

[cascade9]

WOW! I'm astonished at how resourceful people can be. I would have *NEVER* found that information! Wow!

Ok, my understanding of that link is that I have two choices:

1. Rip out 1/2 my RAM (down to 4GB -- One stick per channel)
2. Reduce the RAM speed down to 1066Mhz

If I'm reading that correctly, either one of those should work.

As far as I'm concerned, the first is not even an option to me. I've made the switch to x64 on all my machines for all OS's (WinXP, Win7, Linux), and I did it so that I could access more than 3 1/2 GB's of RAM. I also paid $200 for a full 8gb of DDR3. And since this machine is used primarily under Windows, I'm not about to penalize Windows for the few times I run Linux.

So, I guess my only real option is to cut my memory speed by 1/3. It's certainly NOT what I want, but if it will work, then that's what I'll do. Fortunately, my mobo supports saving different BIOS settings "Profiles". Switching between them only takes a few extra keystrokes after a reboot. So maybe I'll make one BIOS settings profile for use with Windows (1600Mhz RAM), and one for Linux (1066Mhz).

Heh, I found that image by luck, I wasnt looking for it.

There is one other option- move your 2nd ram stick to slot 3, so you have 2x4GB but only in single channel mode. I'm not sure about single vs dual channel memory speeds with newer PCs, but in older machines it single channel mode normally makes less than 10% difference compared to dual channel mode.

BTW- 1600 Mhz? err..are you running an overclock?

Just one other random thought... It might be that if PCLOS was available in an x64 version, I might be experiencing the same problem. But since it's only x32, then I'm only accessing 1/2 my memory, and therefore (in effect), only accessing 1 DIMM per channel.

In other words, if I spent a lot of time trying x64 distros, I might find the same problem with all of them.

On the other hand, maybe if I were to stick with the x32 version of any distro (even perhaps Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives), then maybe the system will be perfectly stable.

Hmmm... I'm almost curious enough about that to take the time to test the theory. (Or, at the very least, test Ubuntu x32) But for actual final set-up, I'll probably stick with the slower RAM setting, and not accept the reduction to 3.5GB.

I doubt its 'only accessing 1/2 the memory so its only 1 dimm per channel'. It would still be accessing as dual channel, but only using 1/2 the ram chips on the stick. I would guess that whatever hack work around Ati/Asus has used is fine with windows and at least some linux distros, but debian based distros just dont deal with whatever they have done to the memory subsystem. Maybe a call procedure was dropped, and when the OS doesnt get a reply from the call, it makes the system unstable?

It would be interesting to see if any of this hardware that goes flaky with debian/ubuntu works with another (64bit) distro.