Chamberlin

Crazy thing for me is that I can reset the CMOS and get into the BIOS etc, and as long as I don't play with the type of display settings, it will save and exit and show the windows loading progress bar, but as soon as normal desktop would come up, the video goes away and the Zenarc shuts off. I can reboot just fine all day long, and use the computer blind: keep in mind, the OS does load, and I can blindly start programs and stuff, just no video output. Tried it on my 4th board now also, same crap. And board number 3 had been working for a month or so previously with no problems. Called MITXPC today, but they told me to call Jetway first... I am hoping they have had a rash of other J9F boards with video problems and they either have a solution, or will refund my boards somehow.

I am willing to keep trying for a while as I think this board is great when it is working, but damn it has been a long and expensive road. I am also going to look into the newest BIOS rev.

-C

HiJackZX1

Well, I finally decided on the board of my dreams, but it isnt INTEL or VIA, I decided to go with a IEI KINO-690S1 AMD Turion X2 MoBo. I have never really cared for INTEL. When i went to LogicSupply to see if they had the MSI Fuzzy in stock, I figured I'd browse through the 3 AMD boards they had. The KINO seems to have everything I want and tons of overkill extras. It only supports 2 GBs of RAM, but its a CarPC, who needs more then that. I also love ATI and love that it is intergrated into this board. It handles dual view and has HDTV, HDMI and so on. It also has alot of USB ports, 8 to be exact, so that gives me a few more ports for future add ons. It also has 4 serial com ports. Turns out my install will really need the extra ports, the HD Radio and XM Direct both run off of com ports, so to have 2 more just incase brings ease to me. I also like the pricing of thier processors, the one I ordered was a Turion X2 TL-56 1.8 GHZ for $102.00, brand new, includes tax and shipping....

My road too was expensive, and towards the middle I closed my eyes and just let the money flow out my pockets, then I wanted to give up, but now I have regained hope, started budgeting again and settled with a company I really trust and have used in the past. Only thing I dont get is why AMD does not play a bigger role in the mITX market, like INTEL does. My original budget was $1,400.00, i am now at $2,432.00, with a ending final balance of $3975.00..... to finish the CarPC faster, I have taken on a 3rd job just to blitz the thing out. I have to say this is a very very expensive hobby. Unfortuantely, when I finish it, i have to focus on engine, and body upgrades, which will probably over shadow this in money costs..... D@mn Bush for making the value of the dollar go down!!!!!!! lol....

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Chamberlin

thanks for the heads up on the IEI boards...
In order to utilize my RAM and processor, I might look into this one.... it has the miniPCI slot I am looking for, although one less RS232 port.

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/kino_9452

I will check back later when I have more time

-C

HiJackZX1

LOL, I was trying to get people to switch to AMD, not buy another INTEL based board, LOL!!!!!

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Chamberlin

hahaha, well I am still a big AMD fan, and I'm still using an old 4200+ x2 in my gaming machine if it makes you feel any better! I am actually pricing FX-60 chips for the heck of it as I am too lazy to rebuild my big water cooled gaming rig from the ground up.

Jistari

Well, I didnt get very far when I asked in this thread
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gene...bernation.html
(can see the details of my video problem and hardware there)

but, I'm still trying to make this work.

In short, J9F2 connected to a Xenarc 700 IDT, everything but video works great.

Problem = about half the time when booting (either from hibernate or from a full shutdown) get no video on Xenarc (not even post) PC boots and runs fine, just no video.

If I hook up a crt, I can see video and see the Intel driver saying that it cant set to "Twin Display" until second display is connected. Reattach Xenarc = everything works fine for a while (often can get a few reboots with video working fine on Xenarc).

I would like to try fooling the MB into thinking that there are two displays connected at all times. Yes I know, this is a bass ackward way of doing things, but it may work.

I do realize that its probably not a "software driver" thing per say, due to the fact that I dont even see the post when it happens, but hooking up a crt cures it. The Intel driver in windows only has two choices for monitor. The default is "Monitor" which is CRT and what it flips back to when I have the problem; the only other choice is "Twin Display" which allows you to select "CRT + LCD". It works on Twin, but doesnt stay set that way reliably. When it wakes up set for "Monitor" or CRT I get a white screen on the Xenarc with artifact (like its set to the wrong frequency) and I can hear the PC running fine, touchscreen works, centrafuse running in backround.

Problem is that the Xenarc (even though its an LCD and therefore digital) has a VGA connector, so I have to connect it to the VGA port. I would replace the cable and try it through the DVI D port on the MB but the Xenarc only has one connector on the back, the custom cable that comes with it splits into VGA, AV and the USB for the Touchscreen, so Im kinda saddled with using the cable that came with it.

I have tried setting the bios on the MB to "auto" "lcd" "lcd+crt", all work for a while then same problem.

My question : how does the MB know that a monitor is hooked up to a connector? When you have a monitor connected (instead of just a cable with no monitor) what would the difference be as read at the MB connector ?

What Id like to do is just plug something into one of the other connectors, the backplane has VGA (which the Xenarc must go into) DVI D, and HDMI.

Can I easily modify a DVI D or HDMI cable so that when I plug it in to the backplane the MB will think a second monitor is attached?

Thanks in advance for any input.

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2k1Toaster

Are you sure it is the 2nd monitor that will fix it, or can you (1) unplug the xenarc (2) plug in CRT (3) change resolutions/frequencies (4) unplug CRT (5) plug in xenarc, and will that work?

If that works, then you have the same problem that I have. It drives me nuts. I have found that it is the Intel video drivers. If when shutting down they dont close properly, the next boot they corrupt and never work again. Only solution is to delete those corrupt inf files and replace with good ones. So I keep 4 restore points on my PC of "good video drivers" and when it goes blank, I shutdown, go to VGA mode (which works because it is using XP standard drivers) restore to a good point. Then make a new restore point. Only creating restore points or copying from the CD will save the inf files from hell.

This happened on my Commell board (Intel 845 chipset) and now on my MSI Fuzzy (Intel 945). If I uninstall the video drivers, I can boot and reboot all day long just fine no problems. But I cant go into standby because it needs the video drivers for some stupid reason. So I either have to install the video drivers and get random driver flake-outs or leave the drivers uninstalled and not be able to standby or hibernate... It actually happened to me earlier tonight but after a restore it works again. It is driving me crazy. If only we could get standby/hibernate without using Intel's crappy drivers.

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HiJackZX1

Thats why I like ATI, hehe............... So how has the Fuzzy worked out for you? Any issues besides this one? I just recieved my KINO-690S1, but cant test it till I get my processor fan.

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2k1Toaster

THe board works perfectly. It is just Intel's bad driver design for the mobile chips.

And since AMD bought out ATI, I haven't used them. Intel is the clear winner in CPUs for the meantime and they dont make many intel boards with ATI chips.

There is the RS400 but that is for LGA775 (not good for the car) or the older Xpress 200 but I wanted the Core 2 Duo which comes with no ATI video chips on any itx board that I know of.

I still use my ATI Radeon 9000 All in Wonder Pro in my home non-gaming desktop. 64Mb of DDR rules!

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HiJackZX1

I think its cool AMD bought out ATI, I would assume it would make the chipsets better, because they can really focus on compatability. My laptop has Intel graphics, and its OK, and I hate Nvidia with a passion, so the only logical step is go for ATI, which I have never had issues with. I just really prey that this board does not flop like the last one. I do not want to add any riser cards or anything. So I hope that it can handle Extended Windows with no issues. I also hope the 2 GB max out will help. Im kind of jealous though that the Fuzzy has 4 GB and mine only 2 GB.

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Chamberlin

I finally got my jetway board to work....I changed it out with my backup (pain in the ***) but the same ****e happened... called jetway a bunch of times... no real help other than they thought it was the intel drivers too. upgrded the bios to A05 (correction: may have been A04) and didn't F with anything video related in the bios.
everytime I did on the old bios it would go black. but eventually I did adjust the settings in bios for 800x600 etc. it has been working for a while now, but keep in mind I do full startups/shutdowns in my setup, no sleep or hibernation.

2k1Toaster

If you dont sleep or hibernate, ditch the intel drivers. Just use the regular XP drivers.

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Chamberlin

Or Vista drivers in my case

Jistari

Yup, just connect the crt, then unplug it and reconnect the Xenarc, poof, display works. No changing anything.



I also feel its the Intel driver, I just cant understand why when it happens you dont get any video in POST? I mean there are no "drivers" loaded at that point, I would assume there is "firmware" stuff that comes from the hardware, but if thats bad, it would either work or not work, not work sometimes. I mean anything written to the hardware shouldnt change from boot to boot. All the stuff in the bios seems to stay the same.


Hmm ? didnt know that. The Post on the board seems pretty fast, and a full load of windows (full install Win XP Home SP2) from a regular full shutdown seems to load in a reasonable amount of time. If I start it, it post's, windows loads and Centrafuse is loading before I get out of my garage, hit the door close and pull out of the drive way.

Not sure how I would "uninstall the intel drivers", do you mean just do it in add/remove programs ? Wont Windows just go to reinstall them the next time I boot?

If there were other drivers I could use, I might forgo the hibernation if I could be assured of a trouble free reliable boot?

2k1Toaster said:
If you dont sleep or hibernate, ditch the intel drivers. Just use the regular XP drivers.

Can you give me a short description of how to get this done?

Chamberlin said:
upgrded the bios to A05 (correction: may have been A04) and didn't F with anything video related in the bios.
everytime I did on the old bios it would go black. but eventually I did adjust the settings in bios for 800x600 etc. it has been working for a while now . . .

Hmm? havent screwed with the bios yet, maybe I should go see what version Im running.


Thanks.

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Chamberlin

You are probably on version A01. Even the two replacement boards that I received, that had different color connectors and seemed updated, still came loaded with A01.

The easiest way to upgrade the BIOS (since there is no floppy!) is to use a USB card reader and create a boot disk on a CF card, along with awdflash.exe and the A04 bin file.

There definately is some wierd crap going on with the BIOS and also the intel driver thing, or maybe a combination of the Xenarcs with this MB, but now I feel that it is a solvable problem, as I have been running great for over 3 weeks now. Get the new BIOS and report back... if you need a copy of the awdflash and bin files let me know, but you will also need some HP utility out there that can turn a CF card into a bootable device... but I forget what it is at the moment...