Shuttle ST61G4 - Stability Issues.

[DJWillis]

Hi,

Has anybody here had big stability issues with this shuttle?

Starting to think it was one of my worst buys ever as I just can’t rely on it to be stable unlike my other shuttles.

Hardware Specs:

I am using mine with a 3.0 Northwood, 512Mb TwinMos 3200 C2.5 (1 DIMM), LeadTek 4800 and a 120 Western Digital PATA HDD. All these non-shuttle parts where pulled from a working system that would Prime 95 for weeks and weeks so I know the non-shuttle parts are good (all have been retested in the old rig).

Software Specs:

Windows XP Pro SP2 and SuSE 9.2 Pro - Both have similar stability issues. XP used in the bulk of testing. Latest drivers, patches, kernel etc. etc.

Symptoms:

System will often hard lock occasionally shortly after boot up and seemingly randomly.

However if the system gets into the OS fine it could be left running 3DMark 2001SE or Prime 95 for days and stay up fine. Same situation if I use the on board 9100 GPU. Seems really hit and miss when it will lock. No pattern and no tell tale hot spots.

Temperature issues are not the root cause of the stability issues. This shuttle is well within specs and is my 5th shuttle so I have a good grounding in doing the builds. CPU rarely above 57 under load, Northbridge up to 55 under load also. I changed the fan for something a little better then the crappy Sunon but that’s not helped stability.

Other Interesting titbits:

If I upgrade the BIOS to any of the 2 latest releases (ending 02*) then the system will post just fine however anything that seems to call a non VESA video mode will cause the PC to blue screen then turn off (yes, just power down).

Returning to a 01* BIOS removes that problem but leaves me with stability issues that I can only put down to the chipset/board that I hoped the BIOS upgrade would fix .

Used the latest drivers, firmware etc. for all components. Also tried with Shuttle OEM drivers with the same results. Done the usual tricks of eliminating as much hardware as possible. Even used my spare 256Mb Hyinx 3200 stick with the same results.

I know it's a long shot but does anybody have any ideas?
Driving me nuts and shuttle just tell me that it HAS to be other hardware in the box and they have has no reports of stability issues with the ATI based shuttles (despite some web reviews stating otherwise (that will teach me to buy a shuttle without days of reading up on it)).

[Apex]

Have you tried with winxp sp1 and not sp2 ? i know it's a long shot and prolly not what is casuing it but still

other than that, am a bit stumped has to why your having problems and the fact that linux is having probs also raises a few issues.

btw don't let shuttle fob you off, if you have tried with a different hdd, ram and gfx then theres not much else part from the mobo it's self that could be at fault.

[DJWillis]

Have you tried with winxp sp1 and not sp2 ? i know it's a long shot and prolly not what is casuing it but still

other than that, am a bit stumped has to why your having problems and the fact that linux is having probs also raises a few issues.

btw don't let shuttle fob you off, if you have tried with a different hdd, ram and gfx then theres not much else part from the mobo it's self that could be at fault.

Not tried XP SP1 but I have tried XP without an SP and that was no better . Fairly sure it's the shuttle as it is so odd with the BIOS upgrades that it leads me to think the board is smurfed.

[Apex]

could be the bios updates are getting corrupted when you apply them.

i'll try to dig out a guide for making sure the update is done proper.

[DJWillis]

i'll try to dig out a guide for making sure the update is done proper.

That would be great if you could. I use AWDFLASH bios.bin /Wb /cc /cd /cp normaly as I like to make sure the CMOS settings, DPMI and boot block are cleared when I upgrade a BIOS, normaly that gives me less problems.

I did check the file against Shuttles FTP a few times but they don't provide MD5's .

Edit: Just as well I have still got my eye on a 85G4, AMD64 goodness .