Is it safe to buy a M4-ATX yet?

shatteredzman · 05-12-2009, 10:00 PM

I am working on my new carpc build and I need a power supply. I'm thinking about getting a M4-ATX but after doing some research it seems it has had a few problems. Have these problems been fixed yet? If people are still getting bad M4-ATX's I guess I will just get the DSATX 220 watt instead.

Bugbyte · 05-12-2009, 10:03 PM

Get the DSATX.

blk02si · 05-12-2009, 10:20 PM

No problems here on 2 different M4's.

jpntaka · 05-13-2009, 12:56 AM

Did anyone connect the m4-atx with a touch monitor?
Does it power the monitor well?

ZoLtRiX · 05-14-2009, 10:15 AM

yeah powers mine with no problems

WuNgUn · 05-14-2009, 11:23 AM

Just don't even think about running any PCI audio cards...or probably ANYTHING PCI for that matter!

blk02si · 05-14-2009, 01:55 PM

Why not? I am running a MOXA 4 port serial PCI adapter, and a Rosewill 2 port serial PCI adapter on one of the builds and the M4 is pushing it just fine. I'll say this yet again, 95% of the Mx series problems are related to user error, mostly in the wiring.

WuNgUn · 05-14-2009, 03:36 PM

I wouldn't even risk the chance...OPUS buddy....

blk02si · 05-14-2009, 04:03 PM

What chance, what are you even talking about? Have you ever owned an M4?

My current M4 build is pushing an M3A asus motherboard, with a 65w dual core processor, 4Gb of corsair ram, 32Gb SLC SSD, 8 channel audio out, optical audio out, digital video out, and the two PCI cards I mentioned before. So far it's rock solid on the output side as observed by my multimeter and the M4 USB monitoring program, with my 13.5v power supply and a 24v boat circuit.

The M4 would not be mass produced and sold if it were not ready for production use. The problems come about when people with little or no formal electrical training attempt to install and use it.

Here's some pics of my SUCCESSFUL use of the M4, note the solid aluminum ATX form factor shield I fabricated to relieve stress from the input terminals.

Bugbyte · 05-14-2009, 04:12 PM

I product tested 3 of them several months ago. Review is here.

Two units did not function properly due to buggy firmware. The third unit worked for about 2 months and then quit.

Hopefully, the current generation of M4's is problem free.

WuNgUn · 05-14-2009, 06:44 PM

I have plenty of posts about the TWO M4's and the M2 I had my hands on...none of them positive.
1 stick of 1GB RAM, a single core AMD 3200+ and 1 HDD was all it was powering. 1 board had a lowend ATI AGP card...the other board, onboard video. Not even any fans!!(water cooled) Everything else was powered from a seperate PSU or a 12V regulated distribution block.
Long story short, I'd get nothing but static from my 2 Xonar PCI cards (on 2 seperate motherboards no less) and the display was full of 'noise'...
RMA'd the first one (Express ship which wasn't cheap!), they sat on it for a month and then sent me a replacement that did the exact same thing...
Not to mention Mp3Car didn't want ANYTHING to do with it after purchase...
Not to mention the many, MANY emails sent back and forth with MiniBox trying to solve the problem...

As soon as I bought the OPUS, ALL those problems went away...

"The M4 would not be mass produced and sold if it were not ready for production use."
Hahaha...that's ****ed up if you believe that. Just look at all the issues/RMA's and firmware updates. The basic design is weak..simple as that.

Any chance I get to offer my opinion on an M4, this is what I tell them..."don't even bother". Of course, your free to tell them whatever you want as well, so...

will1384 · 05-14-2009, 07:41 PM

Mine died, just up and died, no burnt fuses or nothing, I still have not
sent it back, Guess I am lazy, I am thinking of not using in a car,
if I get it fixed, maybe more of a UPS or power for a back-up computer
during power failure, witch happens out here a lot, but I wont depend
on it for anything.

It did mess up on me a few times, and did strange things like turning on in
the middle of the night, and not wanting to turn on when it should have,
but 98% of the time it worked fine.

I believe from what I have seen, is that its good hardware, but
buggy firmware.

Oh well

blk02si · 05-14-2009, 10:36 PM

For what it's worth I am running the newest firmware on my M4, which was shipped that way from mp3car.com. I waited a year before purchasing mine so thay could work the bugs out.

I also only use the M4 as a power supply / regulator, I DO NOT use the startup & shutdown controller, nor do I use the amp turn on. I do use the usb monitor feature.
Again I conclude most problems come from improper wiring or general instability on the on/off controller and amp turn on circuits, which, when running an embedded OS , are a joke anyway. My M4 on/off and amp controller circuits are still virgin, and they always will be. I gave up on those types of circuits long ago, pretty much since the main stream production of solid state storage and embedded operating systems. Perhaps my M4 success can be attributed to my usage.

Oh yes, for those that don't bother studying the M4 PCB before installing here is some helpful info:

These corners are primary input positive circuit conductors. In other words, don't use conductive metal standoff's for install, or you can short the IC against ground resulting in sudden death.

will1384 · 05-15-2009, 01:45 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by blk02si

For what it's worth I am running the newest firmware on my M4, which was shipped that way from mp3car.com. I waited a year before purchasing mine so thay could work the bugs out.

I also only use the M4 as a power supply / regulator, I DO NOT use the startup & shutdown controller, nor do I use the amp turn on. I do use the usb monitor feature.
Again I conclude most problems come from improper wiring or general instability on the on/off controller and amp turn on circuits, which, when running an embedded OS , are a joke anyway. My M4 on/off and amp controller circuits are still virgin, and they always will be. I gave up on those types of circuits long ago, pretty much since the main stream production of solid state storage and embedded operating systems. Perhaps my M4 success can be attributed to my usage.

Oh yes, for those that don't bother studying the M4 PCB before installing here is some helpful info:

These corners are primary input positive circuit conductors. In other words, don't use conductive metal standoff's for install, or you can short the IC against ground resulting in sudden death.

Notice something different on mine, I think mine was a newer version.

If you notice there is a cable hooked up to the reset jumper, I had a reset
switch for the power supply, after 3 or 4 times of it turning on at odd
times or not turning on when it should I put it in, but even in dumb mode
it did the same thing

will1384 · 05-15-2009, 01:58 AM

I took some quick photos of my M4-ATX

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