Summary

This system was released in August of 2006 (I think), and uses the new core 2 Duo, and I believe a new Intel chipset. Not surprisingly, there are some problems using it with versions of Linux released before that time.

Ubuntu 6.06 will load on the system, and most functions did appear to work. However, the onboard ethernet controller (an intel gbit interface) is not detected. I was able to get the system working with an older PCI ethernet card.

I also tried test release Ubuntu 6.10 Knot 3. This correctly found the onboard ethernet card, so I assume the official 6.10 release will be fine when it comes out.

Sound and USB worked fine.

The DVD drive seems to work, but I had a lot of trouble getting the system to boot from the drive. I usually had to hit F12 to go to the boot menu, then tell it to boot from the DVD, which would always fail at least once. If I tried it multiple times, it would eventually work. This may be a problem with my system, I find it hard to believe this applies to all systems.

Go into the BIOS and change the SATA operation from RAID only to auto-detect. My problem, same as yours, went away instantly.

The system installs fine under Fedora Core 6. The Nic is recognized, as is the RAID.

However the fan runs at top speed (noise), and must be slowed down by the OS.
Any ideas how this could be accomlised under Linux?

Fedora Core 6 installed without any issues. I also have problems with it recognising the on-board ethernet, I assume I'll be able to fix this as others have by adding an older ethernet card. Everything else seems to work well.

OpenSUSE 10.1 doesn't recognize the network card.

FC6 has no problem though.

I have got a few issues with my Fedora Core 6 installation, which I probably could have avoided - but did not out of pure ignorence. May this help others:

1/ BIOS disk setting:
When BIOS disk setting is on autodetect, on FC6 with the standard 585 or 686 kernel, I get a "ATA4: SRST failed" error when booting. The kernel is trying to access the high SATA ports, but fail. This means that I have to wait for 30 seconds and then cannot view my second (home-installed) hard drive.
The issue is solved by reverting back to factory setting (RAID BIOS), but then I had to re-install the whole system. I could view the partition, but not boot. Reinstalling grub was not enough.

2/ Graphic driver:
My Dimension 9200 shipped with an ATI Radeon X1300, which is not known by the open source Radeon driver. With the vesa driver I cannot get my monitor to 1600x1200 / 85Hz. I can only with the ATI proprietary frglx driver - but then the current driver fails if I start X without turning off my monitor... It's OK if I turn it off, and then back on!

3/ /proc/mtrr:
I had to use the fix_mtrr trick (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1333981360&postcount=18 for instance) to get graphic acceleration working. Else /proc/mtrr was reporting much more memory than what I had.

4/ alsa_mixer:
For some reason, I get some error messages from the alsa_mixer library, but it does not **seem** to have much of an impact - yet to be investigated.

All else is fine, so far. The Ethernet card and card readers where recognized automatically (with FC6, as opposed to my older Knoppix disk). Sound was OK, when I found how to change the default 0% setting.

Good luck!
Yannick

Could not install the following versions of RedHat Enterprise Linux: RHEL 3 update 3/4/8, RHEL 4 original release & RHEL 4 update 3

RHEL 4 update 4 installed ok, but without the drivers for the onboard Network interface.
downloaded Intel redhat quickstart kit & extracted the driver for the e1000 interface (RPM).

Did not bother with Nvidia drivers for the 7300LE,
redhat uses the default nvidia driver which is fine for the resolutions we work with.

I hope this helps...

Assaf Beneli

SuSE 10.2 installs OK but Yast can't configure the nVidia graphics so you have to do it by hand.

The worst problem is the fan running constantly at full speed. This system has a big fan and it turns the footwell of my desk into a wind tunnel. In fact, the noise and cold draft have made it intolerable and forced me to use Kubuntu, which I don't like much but at least it controls the fan properly.

I have had nothing but problems with this machine. FC6 installed successfully, but it keeps getting kernel panics. Seems to be triggered by heavy disk activity, but also happens sporadically when the box is idle.

Tried FC5, with the same results.

CentOS 4.4 x86_64 installs okay, but doesn't install Ethernet drivers okay.

They can be sourced from:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000/

With Fedora6 x86_64 installed
Always encounter
BUG: soft lockup detected on CPU#0!
BUG: soft lockup detected on CPU#1!

regularly. Today upgrade to BIOS Firmware 2.4.2 still have the same problem.

Dell issues few BIOS firmware upgrade recently (three upgrades in 3 months). Do they recognize these problem ?????

Under ubuntu 7.04 I find that the system will not reboot. If I turn the graphical boot stuff off, and reboot, it gets to the point of printing "Restarting system", then locks up.

I also sometimes have problems with artifacts on the screen using the binary nvidia drivers, regardless of which version of the drivers I use. These don't always appear, but they usually do.

Actually, I can get ubuntu 7.04 to reboot on this system, but only if I boot with reboot=b. (You put that in the grub configuration).

The nVidia card needs the proper nVidia drivers installed to control the graphics fan otherwise it runs at full speed constantly which is noisy and windy!

Everything else works perfectly except the sound which I'm having odd problems with. I think it's just being incorrectly identified but I need to investigate. It worked OK on Kubuntu.

Installing Suse 10.1 a real problem. USB mouse and keyboard not recognised so text installation necessary. Suse could not partition hard disk - you have to use the Vista shrink facility. During this ethernet card, graphics card and TV tuner not recognised. Cannot access internet on it because of ethernet problem so cannot get upgrades!! Trying to resolve graphics card via ATI driver using my laptop.

Gentoo Linux 2007.0 were installed without any major problem. Now I have a full working system, SATA is working (the chipset is Intel ICH), Sound is working (module is snd-hda-intel), ethernet is working (module is e1000), usb and firewire are working great and finally my nVidia card is working (I use the proprietary drivers provided at nVidia.com)

If you are interested in my 2.6.20 linux .config file, you can download it at:

http://crazyjoke.free.fr/config_linux/

Ubuntu 8.04 (AMD64) installed fine. Does not recognize RAID, but I understand that's no surprise. Sigmatel & ALS audio is a little funky; 90% of the volume control is in 10% of the slider. Can't run 2 programs that use audio; first takes priority and 2nd has no sound. I'm using a nVidia 8800GT and used Envy to install the latest nVidia drivers without a hitch. No problems with NIC.

Installed Ubuntu 9.04 (2.6.28.15-generic)
ATA-ST3500320AS (500GB HD)
Sony DVD+-RW AW-Q160S
GeForce 7300LE (PCI-E 16X)
USB & Sound
Onboard Ethernet, all USB's and sound (output)

All Work Fine!

I did not try sound input (I have no mike)