SN25P CPU Fan is a hurricane ... Bios Y runs but I cant get into CMOS-Setup :-((

Terravita

n00b
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
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6
Hello,

after 10 days of troubleshooting I finally am frustrated with my new Shuttle XPC SN25P - I have no idea what to do now so I hope for your help.
Two weeks ago I bought a new SN25P with Athlon 64 3500+ (Venice, E6 Stepping), 2x 512MB MDT Ram, Samsung Spinpoint 200 SATA2 HD and a WesternDigital 320GB HD).
After putting all parts together everything worked fine the first day - the SN25P was silent running.
But since the second day the CPU Fan is running at full power and I am sitting here in front of my PC with an Ear-Protection ( no joke :( ).
Since then I did many searchings in several forums and supportlists and tried out any hints and infos I found all over there:
I flashed the Bios to Version Y, installed the newest NForce Drivers (6.66, but without IDE-Driver), the latest Athlon 64 Drivers from AMD and so furth and so on...
Nothing helped: If the SN25P is turned on, the Rear Fans (on the backside) run at Full Speed for one second and then go down immediately (so these fans work as they have to). But the CPU Fan stays at full speed. So I think that the problem is about the temp-recognition inside the Athlon 3500+.
I then took the complete PC into its parts again and even took out the 3500+, cleaned it from the thermal compound and spread a new layer (extra thin) of the thermal compound on the CPU. I pulled the ICE-Heatpipe-Screws as firm as possible. But nothing helped to solve the problem that the CPU Fan makes a hurricane so that papers are flying over my desktop :eek: .
I use the program "Speedfan"(Version 4.26) and it is showing me the following: Fan1: 3444 RPM (thats the CPU Fan running at full speed - sounds like a starting jet), Fan2: 1671 (thats Ok). Temp1: 36C, Temp2: -55C, Temp3: -55C, HD1: 36C, HD0: 29C. I am able to control the Rear Fans on the backside of the SN25P (Fan2) with speedfan, but the CPU Fan does not react to whatever I try with speedfan.
Nvidia Ntune is showing absolutely no temperatures (although every options concerning this are checked) and the Software "Everest home edition" does not show any CPU-temperatures but only the harddisc-temperatures.
So I think that it is indeed a problem with the CPU-Temp-Recognition.
But now to the main-problem that sticks together with the whole issue: The SN25P is running perfectly with Windows XP and boots up without problems, but since the second day it is impossible to get into CMOS Setup. Whenever I put the "Del"-Button only a blinking Cursor appears in the upper left corner of a black screen - the keyboard is dead - only a complete reset helps.
I then tried to repair the Bios: Cleared CMOS - with the Clear CMOS button on the back of the SN25P; with Jumper-setting to clear cmos and even with taking out the battery for over 15 hours. After rebooting it then says "CMOS checksum error" so the CMOS-Clearing seems to be successfull. But it helps nothing - can not get into CMOS-Setup.
So I flashed back older Bios-versions - version O, version K and others... nothing helped. I flashed with the program "Winflash" and later I made a bootable CD and flashed with the program AWDFLASH trying out all given options like "/py" "/sn" "/Wb" "/cd" "/cc" "/cp" "/LD" "/Qi" "/cks" in different variants, so that the bootblock has been deleted and rewritten, the DMI-Pool was built up again and and and. I think that I flashed the Bios over 10times until now (formidable that the Bios-Chip took part in this permanent load) - BUT NOTHING HELPED - I SIMPLY CAN NOT GET INTO CMOS SETUP and the CPU Fan is noisy as hell (a wonder that my neighbours havent yet called the police ;) )...
And after all I can not understand that - because the PC is running with no proplems under Windows - so the Bios works perfectly! But as long as I can not get into the CMOS-Steup I am not able to change the SMART-FAN-Configuration or to verify whether the CPU-Temperature is detected right in the bios.

...*** PLEASE HELP ***...
 
Welcome to the world of Small Form Factor computers... if this is your first one that is.

It is good to hear that, well for the most part, your computer is working well.

It does sound like the BIOS update did not complete sucessfully - If you cannot get into the BIOS to make changes to various settings, then you are not up and running 100% even though basic operations are functioning.

Whenever we "fix" something, and then we discover that something else is not running correctly, most often we later discover that the "FIX" did not come off as it needed to.

In this case, it appears from your message, that the BIOS flash did NOT complete 100% accuratly. In fact, since you cannot clear the BIOS through the standard methods, I would hazard a guess that your BIOS needs re-flashing, but since you have tried that... you may need to pick up a fresh one.

I hear that Shuttle will sell you another BIOS for a nominal fee - Won't quote the price since I don't really know - You should be able to get them to send it to you with the most recent revision on it.

That would be the reasonable thing to do... you have performed every step I would have done... time to bite the bullet and call Shuttle either for an RMA of the system, or to some how get a fresh BIOS with the most recent revision on it.

HTH! and good luck!
 
Thank you - indeed it was my first post at hardforum.

Are you sure that a bioschip can be corrupted meanwhile windows works perfectly? I also guessed that there is something wrong with the bios-chip itself but I am not sure whether the guarantee on my SN25P will be lost if I start to change the bios-chip ... (is it difficult to pull the chip out and to push a new one inside? Is soldering necessary for that?).

And what about flashing - in an other forum somebody told me that guarantee is lost if one flashes the bios - but I cant believe that???

And what if not the bios-chip is faulty but the temperature-diode of the Socket 939?

I am a little confused with this issue :confused:
 
kews84 said:
Have you tried the bios from http://www.xpcbios.com ? I just tried it today ant it all works fine to me. use the O, not the Y version.
Why would you want to use a BIOS from anywhere but the manufacturer? And based on the file names, those are the exact same BIOS available on Shuttle's website.
 
Since you can't even get into the BIOS from pressing DEL then I'd say it's time for either an RMA or a new bios chip.

I don't have speedfan in front of me now but if you go to the "Fans" or "Speed" tabs click on either Fan04 or Fan06 which are the 70mm intake and 80mm exhaust fans, respectively, and set the max speeds to 60 and 50, respectivly. Then make sure you check mark the "variable" box to the right of the percentages. Or you could download a speedfan config and just unzip the config into your speedfan folder and voila it should work. If that doesn't help then RMA time.

Here is a link to Brevald.dk's Speed Fan CFG File. Tweak it to your liking.
 
asianguy80 said:
Since you can't even get into the BIOS from pressing DEL

DEL is the only button (asfa i can remeber) that i have pressed to enter my CURRENT pc's BIOS.
 
Thanks for suggestions - recently I tried out the config-file for Speedfan - no result: there is no Fan04 and no Fan06 :-(

The temps are Temp1: 93F (34C); Temp2: -67F (-55C); Temp3: -67F (-55C); Temp: 32F (0C); Temp1(a second one): 104F (40C); HD1: 88F (31C); HD0: 86F (30C).

Whatever I try, none of the fans do react to any control. The only thing that works is that the percentages of fanspeed are automatically controlled (the numbers change according to the above temperatures: But physically the fans do not react but run at full speed further on.

Another thing that makes me wonder is Temp2 and Temp3 (what temperatures ever that may be - think these are the CPU Temps) - I know that a cold CPU is a good CPU, but at these temperatures of -67F (-55C) there must be some snow in my PC (I havent found some yet ;-)).

I know that Bios-Version O corrects an issue with temperatures, but I had flashed the O Version a few days ago - the problem still persisted. I also tried Bios Version K (and older ones whos letters I forgot). Under no Bios Version I could get into CMOS-Setup and CPU Fan running full speed. Now I returned to Bios Y, but thats not even better (I compared my bios-file to the one you can find at xpcbios.com - its exactly the same but it does not work for me). Think I have to change the bios-chip completely as it seems to be a schizophrenic chip that works properly on windows but goes completely crazy if asked to open CMOS-Setup...hmm...hmm...hmm :rolleyes:
 
Terravita said:
Thanks for suggestions - recently I tried out the config-file for Speedfan - no result: there is no Fan04 and no Fan06 :-(

The temps are Temp1: 93F (34C); Temp2: -67F (-55C); Temp3: -67F (-55C); Temp: 32F (0C); Temp1(a second one): 104F (40C); HD1: 88F (31C); HD0: 86F (30C).

Temp2 and Temp3 aren't in use I think so that's why it gives off such a strange reading. Temp1(first one) I believe is the system/case temp and the second Temp2 is your CPU temp. I'd say RMA the entire system if you can but it might cost more to ship it out vs buying a new bios chip so FWIW it's up to you.

If you do order a new bios chip the only way to do it is via FAX Machine from rwhat i've read over at www.sfftech.com You call shuttle CS and tell them you need to order said item and they'll fax over an order sheet for you and then you fill it out and fax it back with whatever info is needed, IIRC. Good luck with fixing your problem and update us with any info. :)

edit:
tanjO said:
DEL is the only button (asfa i can remeber) that i have pressed to enter my CURRENT pc's BIOS.

I think the DEL key is the ONLY key in any mobo that lets you get into bios. I was just pointing it out because on the shuttle's splash screen it doesn't say "press DEL to get into bios" like my other mobo's have when the splash screen is enabled.
 
just rma it. sounds like a defect to me. my sn25p has given me 0 problems and runs quiet.
 
Except the fact of desktop-storming my system runs well too, so I can not complain about the product - Bios-problems one can have on any system under the sun.

Thanks so far for help, I think I choose to order a new bios-chip - that way I can use my SN25P further on until the chip arrives.

I will let you know what happened with this issue - maybe it will take some days for the chip to arrvie...

Greets
 
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