Support for Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe

[Michael Cassaniti]

Hi,
Answering the following questions from the FAQ, I have the following:

Board Vendor: Asus
Board Product Name: M2N-SLI Deluxe
CPU Model: AMD Athlon 64FX, Socket AM2
Northbridge: Nvidia nForce 570 SLI
Southbridge: Nvidia MCP55
Link to specifications:
http://www.asus.com.au/product.aspx?P_ID=szSFtrap7crpBaQE

Attached are the outputs of lspci, superiotool and flashrom.

I noticed that a similar board (Asus M2N-E) is supported. I was hoping that
porting to this board would not require major rework.

Regards,
Michael Cassaniti

[Peter Stuge]

Michael Cassaniti wrote:
> Board Product Name: M2N-SLI Deluxe
> CPU Model: AMD Athlon 64FX, Socket AM2
> Northbridge: Nvidia nForce 570 SLI
> Southbridge: Nvidia MCP55
> Link to specifications:
> http://www.asus.com.au/product.aspx?P_ID=szSFtrap7crpBaQE
>
> Attached are the outputs of lspci, superiotool and flashrom.
>
> I noticed that a similar board (Asus M2N-E) is supported. I was hoping
> that porting to this board would not require major rework.

Give it a go. You may be lucky and it may be very simple. But keep in
mind that there is absolutely no documentation available for the
NVIDIA chipset, so if you run into trouble doing this then there's
not much help to get.

//Peter

[Michael Cassaniti]

On 6 January 2011 00:59, Peter Stuge  wrote:
> Michael Cassaniti wrote:
> > Board Product Name: M2N-SLI Deluxe
> > CPU Model: AMD Athlon 64FX, Socket AM2
> > Northbridge: Nvidia nForce 570 SLI
> > Southbridge: Nvidia MCP55
> > Link to specifications:
> > http://www.asus.com.au/product.aspx?P_ID=szSFtrap7crpBaQE
> >
> > Attached are the outputs of lspci, superiotool and flashrom.
> >
> > I noticed that a similar board (Asus M2N-E) is supported. I was hoping
> > that porting to this board would not require major rework.
>
> Give it a go. You may be lucky and it may be very simple. But keep in
> mind that there is absolutely no documentation available for the
> NVIDIA chipset, so if you run into trouble doing this then there's
> not much help to get.
>
> //Peter

My next question, how to proceed with fitting another LPC BIOS? I am under
the impression that I can source any LPC BIOS chip to replace substitute my
current one, use AWG30 wiring to connect the new chip over my current chip,
and connecting the OE# pin of both to a switch of some sort.

The difficutly is that LPC runs at 33MHz, and the chip is a 32-pin VSOP. I
am not sure what mode (FWH/LPC) the device operates in when booting. This
may help to eliminate some connections if using LPC mode. There is mention
of an A/A Mux mode, but I believe this is used for an EEPROM programmer, not
a computer (normally).

Looking more closely at the data sheet, it may be possible to tie some pins
to a fixed logic voltage (e.g.: TBL#, WP#, IC, possibly GPI pins, R/C#, AD
pins). Any help suggesting how to proceed with retrofitting a second BIOS
chip to the board would be very helpful.

Regards,
Michael Cassaniti