stumonky

I’ve been running into similar problems on my system. I thought I had the problem licked but it seems the ‘freezing’ has arrived again and is occurring quite frequently.

System description:
Running XP SP2
Shuttle XPC G2 Chassis
SS30G2 FS30 Mainboard
Intel Pentium D 820 2.8 GHz
1024MB-533MHz DDR2-533 PC2-4200, 240p DIMM
ATI Radeon 256MB (at work, can’t remember the model)
80GB 5400RPM Western Digital Hard Drive
250GB 5400RPM Western Digital Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW Burner (again, can’t remember the model)
200W PSU with active PFC

Let me describe the freeze – you are working normally (not any major load on the CPU/Memory) and the hard drive light will go solid orange and stay lit. The system freezes in whichever process (or none at all) you happen to be in, including the mouse cursor.

Before I begin, initially I thought this may be a Shuttle issue since these cases are so compact and I have a cat in the house that sheds hair. So I have had to clean the unit a few times. I thought it might be a Windows issue so I reinstalled XP twice. It seemed to fix the problem at first but it returned shortly thereafter. I thought it might be a hard drive issue but did several test on both my hard drives and they tested fine. I even had a status screen up once when it froze so I don’t believe the hard drive are the culprits. This lead me to believe it may be a CPU issue. The system by default uses a fan control setting where the speed will increase or decrease according to the computing process. I noticed in the BIOS the CPU temperature was in the upper 50s and bouncing near 60c. After pulling the specs on the D 820, the max temp is in the low 60c range. So I immediately thought with the small casing, the D chip (that runs hot normally) and the cat hair issue this could be my problem. I did several test where I overrode the fan control to ‘full’ and/or ‘mid’ I ended up settling at ‘mid’ as it seem to keep the CPU in the high 40s and sometimes low 50s range. Of course ‘full’ keeps it even lower. I notice my hard drive temps come down as well with these settings as well (to be expected).

SO, as I mentioned, I thought I had the problem licked, when it returned this weekend. The only fix I have come up with is if I leave the fan on ‘full’ it seems to stay up fine. However, if the system freezes and you reset the fan to ‘full’ in the BIOS directly after a freeze it may fail again. The system will need to cool off first.

So my question is, am I on the right track – does this appear to be a CPU problem or have I miss took this to be a power supply issue (something I have not explored much)? My gut feel is the CPU has been damaged some and I should replace the D with a 4 (with a higher max temp and lower operating range). If so, I don’t think Shuttle has done good engineering on these systems to allow such a small case with the D chips (everything you read on these chips say they run extremely hot).

I am tentatively planning to order a Pentium 4 641 3.2GHz and new heatsink and fan. Other suggestions would be appreciated.

-stumonky

stumonky

For another update, I left the system on this morning with the fan set to 'full' and my wife sent me a text a few minutes ago and the system froze again.

So I am bit worried now, not sure if I should replace the power supply and/or CPU? Problem being with the power supply because these units are mini, I don't know if there is much to upgrade to. I may take the system apart tomorrow and clean, and leave the shell off and see if this makes any difference. I've been reading a lot this morning and it sounds like this problem is a frequent one. I appreciate any guidance.

Stu

dai

your not going to run that with a 200w psu more like 550w

stumonky

Please explain?

I understand it's a low watt psu, but it has run fine for two years up to this point. I don't believe Shuttle uses anything higher than a 250w in their power supplies.

Further to my post yesterday, I left the computer off since yesterday, booted this morning with the fan on 'full' and it froze maybe 5 minutes later. Heat couldn't play issue in this short of time, unless of course the chip is trashed.

In regards to my question yesterday, IF this is a power supply issue wouldn't the fan be running abnormally? IE, when the fan is set to 'full' this thing LOUD and blows hard. It doesn't see logical that the power supply is bad when the fan is functioning normally.

dai

as m/b get older they draw more power
as psu get's older it supplies less power
your planning on upgrading and my comment was including that
some of the psu manufacturers are now lifting the wattage of their micro supplies so higher wattage is available
redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

stumonky

Changed processor to P4 3.2, problem solved.

For others with Shuttle XPC who may be considering power supply, heat sink issues play close attention when ordering replacement parts as the fan and power supply are designed specific for these small cases. Most OEM fans and heatsinks will not fit. Luckily I had to change neither.

Also, be prepared to gut almost everything to get to the processor. It's really hard to work around such a small case.

dai

glad you have it sorted