MediaBridge on nVidia nForce Ultra

[JohnHind]

I was wondering if anyone could confirm/refute my findings regarding an incompatibility between MediaBridge and the built-in LAN port on the nForce Ultra chipset? (AMD Socket 939, Athlon 64 Processor)

The symptons are that the client discovers and connects to the server OK, but as soon as you actually try a transaction it disconnects again. In the standard CCF, the connection is dropped when you press the "Listen to Music" button and no album art image appears.

My media machine has a GigaByte GA-K8NXP-9 motherboard which has two 10/100/1000 ethernet ports. Port 1 uses the network interface built in to the nForce4 Ultra South Bridge chip and a Vitesse 8201 Physical Layer Chip. Port 2 uses a Marvell 8053 chip connected to the South Bridge via one of its PCI Express x1 channels.

Using Port 1, MB fails as described above. Using Port 2, it works fine. In case MB was selecting the wrong port, I tried Port 1 with Port 2 disabled in the BIOS, but it still failed the same way. As far as I can see, there is some incompatability between MB and the nForce NIC hardware or driver.

Does anyone have similar hardware which is working with MB, or alternatively, can anyone confirm my findings?

[avid]

John,

I had a vaguely related problem with a dual-NIC MB, an Asus A7N8X from about three years ago that is still in my HTPC. Both NICs worked, but I was getting periodic drop-outs when all applications stopped working for 0.1o 0.2 seconds. Monitoring showed bursts of DPC activity which is at a sufficient priority as to stop audio.

Ths occurred using the 3COM 3C920B NIC, but did not occur with the nForce NIC.

As I only need one ethernet connection, and I had an adequate work-around by switching NICs, I didn't investifate further. See http://www.promixis.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11373.

Brian

[JohnHind]

Thanks for sharing Brian!

Like you, I only need one NIC so switching is an adequate work-round. Interesting that it is the other way (i.e. the nVidia is the one that does NOT work for me!). However I'd not noticed any problems with any other app before switching, just MB and the MB thing was totally repeatible, not random drop-outs. However I could convince myself that DigiTV is less prone to drop-outs and loss of audio synch since switching.

- John

[Mastiff]

I can say that from my experience nForce motherboards are nice if you want to play games and overclock as much as possible. But if you want a stable system, then forget it. VIA is a lot more stable, and I have tried nForce 1 to 4. I currently don't use any of them, I have given them away or sold them, I don't need instability in addition to the normal complications of my systems! :wink:

[avid]

Tor,

I think you may be right. DPCs at the amount I was seeing are indications of serious problems in the MB, BIOS or lowest level of the driver. Maybe the machines are just not designed for stability, as you say.

For now I feel comfortable that there is *one* mode of working that is OK for me. But I would not feel happy recommending it to a friend.

As for John's problem, it is probably totally different, but more evidence to back up your dislike of nForce.

Brian

[theguywiththefunnyhair]

I have an Nvidia driven LAN port on my MB (MotherBoard) and i was planning to run MediaBridge as part of the system... Its running mostly ok so far, can anyone link me to any published evidence of this NF Ultra glitch?

[JohnHind]

I'd not be as ready as my friends above to join the nVidia lynch mob, though it is true that previous nForce chips had a mixed reputation. The recent nForce4 Ultra chips have reviewed well and I've had many fewer problems with my latest motherboard than with previous ones. The only app that had problems with the on-chip NIC was NR/MB (NR/Girder was fine), and I do not think we've gotten to the bottom of that yet.

Is your chipset definitely "NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra", with an Athlon 64 Processor?

[theguywiththefunnyhair]

Hey John,
My MoBo is a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 which is based on the nVidia nForce 4 Chipset. My CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+. NetRemote running on my girlfriends laptop connects to and controls MediaBridge just fine using the onboard Nvidia nForce networking controller. I am getting a few strange results with displaying coverart but i'm pretty new (2 days) with J River Media Centre so expect i will work that out soon enough.

[JohnHind]

Yea, that seems to have the same LAN setup as mine. But like mine, it has two Ethernet ports - are you sure you are using the nForce one rather than the Marvell Yukon? You can see in Network Connections. I have "Local Area Connection; Network cable unplugged; NVIDIA nForce ..." and "Local Area Connection 2; Connected; Marvell Yukon ...". This works, but if I move the cable to the other port, NR-MB does not work. I'm using WMP rather than J-River.

[theguywiththefunnyhair]

Yep.
Im sure it works with both ports.
I noticed you mentioned u use DigiTV, you wouldnt happen to have an unnoficial .gml for girder4/DigiTV would you?