Finding the Correct Kernel Setup for the nForce2 Chipset

General Information

• MSI's product specification for the K7N2 (MS-6570)
• Tom's Hardware Guide on the nForce2 Chipset, the MSI K7N2 motherboard

Other people's efforts:

• nVidia nForce2 boards and Linux

My own trials:

• kernel 2.4.19 with preemptible kernel patch and config-2.4.19-heebs.1.5 : works (since Jan 28, 2003), does DMA for IDE, but feels a little jerky at times.
• kernel 2.4.21-pre7 (needs patches to even configure(make xconfig)/compile in my case. I've lost track of who provided which patch. This is the result of browsing the March/April kernel mailing list) with config-2.4.21-pre7-heebs-k7-1gb : kernel panic
• kernel 2.4.21-rc1-ac3 with config-2.4.21-rc1-ac3-heebs.1 : works with APIC+ACPI, with DMA on IDE, so far no luck with ALSA (modules load, devices are there, but I get no sound - must be some configuration problem). Also USB devices are not correctly detected. They show up briefly but disappear (in /proc/bus/usb or rather with the usbview tool). With ACPI I get system information which seems correct (mostly informational, but the temperature shows variations and ranges comparable to those displayed at the BIOS setup tool).
• kernel 2.4.21-rc1-ac3 with config-2.4.21-rc1-ac3-heebs.3 : works without APIC+ACPI, with DMA on IDE. Alsa and USB work too. I will test this a bit (starting May 1, 2003). Unfortunately, without ACPI I don't get system information like temperature. hddtemp still works though. I don't miss APIC much, as XT-PIC works just as well.
• kernel 2.5.68 with config-2.5.68-heebs.1 : stops after decompressing at the "Now booting kernel." prompt.