Building a LAMP Server Round 1

Well over the last couple of days I’ve been wanting to build myself a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server at home for my web developing needs and finally was able to pick up the last parts I needed; case, PSU, video card and CPU Heatsink.

For the guts of the development server this is what it will have:

• A generic case with a generic 450W power supply
• Asus A8N-e Motherboard
• AMD 64 3200+ (2GHz) CPU with a Zalman fatal1ty heatsink
• 1 GB DDR2 Memory by Crucial
• eVGA GeForce 7100 PCI-E Video Card

The OS of choice will be Ubuntu because Linux is far better than Windows at being web server.

So after piecing all the parts together and getting everything nice and snug I decide to plug it in and turn it on. Everyone works great, the fans spin up, the hard drive spins up and things are good to go!

I load in my Ubuntu 7.10 Server disc and have it do the CD Integrity check and it passes, so far so good. Then I try and go to do the install and WHAM it stalls with a flashing prompt and nothing else. I reboot the computer and what happens next drives me insane.

Bios Checksum Error

What? Why am I getting a BIOS checksum error? I reboot a couple times and it continues to do this. Thinking it’s a BIOS setting error I reset the CMOS and it continues to have this annoying checksum error. I read multiple forums and some people suggest it could be the CMOS battery. Well the A8N-e motherboard is not old and I don’t think the battery could be dead, and besides I don’t have a spare. I read in another post that it could be that some of the hardware could be not seated properly or that the CPU is overheating. I plugged in the mini speaker for the motherboard and it gave me the Award error beep that run infinitely which means the CPU is overheating. I thought this was odd since I have a Zalman fatal1ty heatsink (has a 120mm fan with large pure copper fins) installed but I shut the machine off and take it over to a table to remove all the parts anyway.

After I put everything together I also added 2 80mm fans on the back of the case to help create a negative-cooling system. Negative cooling is when you suck out the inside air without bringing in outside air. Once I put everything back into the case I booted it up and the machine is able to POST properly. It just started hanging on the ACPI Controller in the PCI Device Listing. I read some more forum posts and find that it could possibly be the SATA drive I am using. I unplug it and reboot. The machine is able to POST into the Ubuntu CD. I change the boot order to Removeable – CDROM – Harddisk and plug the SATA drive back in. So far so good but now it hangs after I try to install Ubuntu; black screen with just a flashing prompt now.

Loading of Windows XP

I thought it could be the CD I am using for Ubuntu (which was working at work on previous machines) so I decided to test the machine by installing Windows XP for the time being. The machine was able to POST, and load up the Windows Setup. So far so good! It’s been running for about 10 hours and has no issues yet so I am concluding that the media I am using for my Ubuntu install is corrupt or damaged and I will just burn a new copy and try again this afternoon.

I don’t want to have yet another windows machine and I definitely do not like Windows running a WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) setup because none of the web servers I do work on are Windows based. Linux all the way!

Hopefully this will work and I have no more BIOS checksum errors. I really don’t want to look at buying a new motherboard and adding to the cost of my development server since I have had no previous issues with this Asus A8N-e Motherboard. So wish me luck!