Its been quite some time that the Intel i830 chipset has been out and it has been quite obvious that the present bios in a number of HP models (ie. xe3-gf) do not work with the present BIOS for Linux!
Why does HP not: --------------------
a) Fix this problem b) respond in any way to this problem?
I like HP products but because of this issue I am being forced to warn people away from buying these products.
Please don't respond to this by linking the driver upgrade site.
Hi there. A BIOS upgarde is not, what you are looking for ( i think ). What you need is drivers for the different parts of your computer ( mobo chipset, graphics card etc ). Linux does not care for the BIOS that much. I have Linux running on dozemds of machines of various types without a problem ( 386, 486, Pentium I, Pentium II, AMD K5, K6, K7, Socket A Athlons etc ) with partially parts, that could belong to a computer musuem.
The BIOS works as follows : It loads a basic operating system for a minimum set of devices ( floppy, harddrive, display adapter ) from the boot roms. If problems appear at boot time, you should check your hardware.
If you have problems after booting, then Linux does not support a specific part of your computer ( drivers for this part ). This problem mostly appears with brandnew parts like Geforce 4 adapters etc. For older parts it should be ok.
Rgds Alexander M. Ermes
.. and all these memories are going to vanish like tears in the rain! final words from Rutger Hauer in "Blade Runner"
Thank you for the reply, but coming from the chipmakers mouth (ie. Intel) a BIOS update is exactly what I need. This is a well known problem with the BIOS.
Its a problem with the i830 chipset for the x3e-gf. The chipset needs 8Mb of stolen memory to work properly however the cheap BIOS only supports 1Mb. And no option to change this.
Please do not reply to this post unless you are someone from HP.
This is not a question of how do I fix this, its a question of when will the people responsible fix it?
