SN25P User's Guide

Few questions:

1) Do i need install somekind SATA drivers when installing Windows XP with SATA 2 hard drive?
2) Does Envy 24 support EAX 1,2,3,4...?
3) Which one is better processor to SN25P, A64 3000+ E3 Venice or A64 3000+ E6 Venice?
4) Which dual memory kit i should buy to SN25P?
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL3 Kingston (KVR400X64C3AK2/1G)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 Twinmos Dualpack (M2G9J16A-TT)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 Corsair (VS1GBKIT400)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 OCZ Pre (OCZ4001024PDC-K)
5) SN25P have nForce 4 Ultra or just normal?
 
Balance said:
Few questions:

1) Do i need install somekind SATA drivers when installing Windows XP with SATA 2 hard drive?
2) Does Envy 24 support EAX 1,2,3,4...?
3) Which one is better processor to SN25P, A64 3000+ E3 Venice or A64 3000+ E6 Venice?
4) Which dual memory kit i should buy to SN25P?
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL3 Kingston (KVR400X64C3AK2/1G)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 Twinmos Dualpack (M2G9J16A-TT)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 Corsair (VS1GBKIT400)
- DDR-RAM 2 x 512MB PC400 CL2.5 OCZ Pre (OCZ4001024PDC-K)
5) SN25P have nForce 4 Ultra or just normal?
Click to expand...
1. no
2. i think its eax 1 and 2
3. i don't think it makes a difference
4. i'm using ocz. just use good memory and not the cheap stuff and you'll be fine.
5. they're all supposed to be ultra's now, but the originals shipped out with vanilla nforce4's. as long as you don't have ancient stock, you'll get an ultra.
 
Only Kingstons site tells that those memorys are compatible with SN25P so it think i get Kingstons or...?
 
Quick question for everybody here...

How do I exit the splash screen on boot so that I can see the POST results, etc?

Thanks!
 
Unplug your keyboard before you power up the PC. It will stop with a keyboard error and you'll be able to see the POST screen :)

(hopefully there is a more conventional method, but I haven't found it yet)
 
kevdoggx said:
Quick question for everybody here...

How do I exit the splash screen on boot so that I can see the POST results, etc?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hold down ctrl+tab when you turn on the computer. You can also turn off the splash screen in the BIOS.
 
Thanks theacoustician...

Just curious though, could you point me in the direction of the setting in BIOS? Thanks
 
kevdoggx said:
Thanks theacoustician...

Just curious though, could you point me in the direction of the setting in BIOS? Thanks
Click to expand...
I can't recall off the top of my head since I'm not sitting in front of it, but under Advanced BIOS Features there were two options Enable Quick Post and Display EPA logo (this is all the way at the bottom). I think it was when I disabled both of those it always booted up the way you want. But since my box is just about done with burn in, I went ahead and switched it back to quick post. I'll try and remember to look tonight.
 
Are you burning in at stock speeds right now? Cuz I'm having mine burn at 275HTT which is just under 2.5GHz and wondering if I should throttle it down.
 
The OP recommend using the 66.53 nforce drivers but makes no mention of the 6.66 set released recently. Is there a problem with the newer revision or has the guide just not been updated to reflect that yet? I'm planning on buying this system and I want to make sure I can get past these issues before I drop the cash for one. Any info would help. Thanks.
 
I have commented on the newest chipset driver within the Q&A below ;)


Q: Are the new nForce4 chipset 6.66 drivers good?

A: In terms of NAM fixes, no, you will still BSOD when trying to use ActiveArmor™, don't even bother trying unless you are very bored. The IDE Driver are still flaky, random freezes are still present within the driver. Highly recommend to avoid it still. The SMBus Driver's version has not changed from 6.53 and the Ethernet Drivers seems to be working fine as well though no noticable changes from 6.53. I generally recommend staying with 6.53 as it seems to be the most stable driver of the series.
Click to expand...

Ald
 
kevdoggx said:
Are you burning in at stock speeds right now? Cuz I'm having mine burn at 275HTT which is just under 2.5GHz and wondering if I should throttle it down.
Click to expand...
I always stress it at stock first just to make sure that I don't have faulty components. Plus that gives the thermal compond time to melt in and get your cooling stable. You should also run bunchmarks at stock just to compare to what you end up with when you're done with the OC. I'm now done with that and moving on to the OC phase. Once I get that puppy stable, I'll let you know what I end up with.
 
I sure had a nice experience the other night with the power supply on the SN25P and the after effects was similar to what people has experienced either in this forum or other in Sudhian so I thought I share this. I was working at my computer and all of a sudden, the computer powered itself off (the SN25P is on a battery backup / surge protector and nothing else went off). So I thought nothing more of it and went to turn it back on.

Here is what most users will experience and now I know what they are talking about. All fans spin up, all full throttle, but no Shuttle splash screen. So, I just went ahead and turn the power supply off and let my computer sit for about 30 seconds. I powered it back on and it's been working fine since Wednesday. So, if you encounter the same problem, perhaps try what I did and it will also work for you. I'll definately keep an eye on the PSU now though ;)

Ald
 
Aldoria said:
I sure had a nice experience the other night with the power supply on the SN25P and the after effects was similar to what people has experienced either in this forum or other in Sudhian so I thought I share this. I was working at my computer and all of a sudden, the computer powered itself off (the SN25P is on a battery backup / surge protector and nothing else went off). So I thought nothing more of it and went to turn it back on.

Here is what most users will experience and now I know what they are talking about. All fans spin up, all full throttle, but no Shuttle splash screen. So, I just went ahead and turn the power supply off and let my computer sit for about 30 seconds. I powered it back on and it's been working fine since Wednesday. So, if you encounter the same problem, perhaps try what I did and it will also work for you. I'll definately keep an eye on the PSU now though ;)

Ald
Click to expand...

I've had a similar problem but not exactly as you stated. My 25P hasn't shut down like you said, but I have had problems starting back up after restarting Windows. Like you say, the computer will have the fans spin up but no Shuttle splash screen. I have to do the same thing and shut down and turn the power supply off before it will boot up properly. It doesn't happen all the time, but just once in awhile.
 
I had the exact same problems when I flashed up to the "o" bios. However after completely clearing the CMOS, it's been fine since (restarts and all). Before it would hang at every warm boot with no spash screen. I noticed it after I had updated the bios. So I reflashed "o" and then cleared the cmos with the button the back of the case.

My SN25P has been rock solid. I love this system. I'm going to have a hard time ever building a full size computer again. It's just so quiet! I have a Venice 3200+ at 2.5ghz, stock volts.
 
I read that you should avoid the nForce ide drivers, are these seperate to the Raid drivers?
I've extracted the Raid drivers from the reconmended pre 6.66 driver set and put them on a floppy, I'm planing to install XP to a Raid 0 pair of sata drives.

Final bits for my box should arrive tomorrow...
 
First, Thanks for all the info. To find all of this stuff with out the links would take forever.
Now, I was wondering...
You mentioned that the IDE drivers were rather flakey...
I'm having trouble using an IDE hard drive (just untill Hitachi sends me mine back...eta of 2 months :(
I eather get a
"Nvida Raid IDE ROM BIOS 4.71
Copyright (C) 2004 Nvida Corp.
Detecting Array ..." error on boot-up or
it freezes and then gives the BSOD.
Could this be the result of the bad IDE drivers?
 
I haven't seen many user's complain about the nForce Raid driver's personally so you would probably want to install that when doing Windows setup.

Regarding A1C Bob's problem, you should run a hard drive check with your manufactur's software and see if it's not the drive itself dying.

Ald
 
FYI there are new audio drivers posted to the Shuttle website. Dunno if its any different/better than what's up at Via, but I'll check it out this weekend and report back.
 
I looked at the INF file briefly of the newest released VIA Audio driver's by Shuttle and the driver number seems to be the same as the 451C. I don't think there should be much of a difference between the two but let us know :p

Ald
 
Just adding my input to the thread... as I said before, the guide was excellent and helped during the setup of my new SN25P system. I want to note for people, however, that the SATA cables that came with my system *ARE* defective. I ordered mine around 8/21/2005 from newegg.com, which should have been very new stock, but it would cause random freezes. Upon replacing the SATA cable with one I had ordered just in case the cables were bad (I am using one SATA HDD), the random freezes vanished.
 
i'm using the sata cables that came with my SN25P

haven't had any problems yet
using 2 160 sata hd's atm
 
Aldoria said:
I looked at the INF file briefly of the newest released VIA Audio driver's by Shuttle and the driver number seems to be the same as the 451C. I don't think there should be much of a difference between the two but let us know :p

Ald
Click to expand...

I did a file compare and there's no differance in the XP driver dir but there was a date differance in one of the control panel files (newer in the shuttle zip) and a couple of extra INI files in the root (might be relating to the NT dir which is extra in the shuttle zip).

So yep probably the same.

How have people got on with support in games like BF2, HL2 and other Source engine stuff?

I'm using 4 speakers and can't get anything better then Stereo to work in these. I've switched on the 3D game support in the Envy panel and have 4 speaker enabled (Qsound tests work from the panel). In BF2 it becomes very unstable sound wise and I have to go back to Software 2 channel. In Source engine stuff if I switch to 4 channel I end up with 4 channel mono!

I've only installed a few things so far, I think UT2k4 worked & Diablo2 was crack/pop city. This is trying the various Hardware/3d/eax rendering options in most games.
 
Maxxx- said:
i'm using the sata cables that came with my SN25P

haven't had any problems yet
using 2 160 sata hd's atm
Click to expand...

I've not noticed any problems with mine, running a Raid0 pair of new Samsung SP2504C's.

Might it be handy to post a couple of pics of dodgy cables? Are they all the red, right angled ones with seperate insulated cables? The only other SATA cables I've got I think are blue, straight angled with a single insulating cover (end on looks more like "II" then "8").
 
ailean said:
Might it be handy to post a couple of pics of dodgy cables? Are they all the red, right angled ones with seperate insulated cables? The only other SATA cables I've got I think are blue, straight angled with a single insulating cover (end on looks more like "II" then "8").
Click to expand...

That is what we all should be doing. I've heard many problems of SATA cables but since installing my OS last night i haven't run into problems *crosses fingers* but we should probably post pics of the color cables and such. my cables are the blue ones. Right angled and T shaped. one end is the connector and the other end is a handle looking thing.
 
ailean said:
I did a file compare and there's no differance in the XP driver dir but there was a date differance in one of the control panel files (newer in the shuttle zip) and a couple of extra INI files in the root (might be relating to the NT dir which is extra in the shuttle zip).

So yep probably the same.

How have people got on with support in games like BF2, HL2 and other Source engine stuff?

I'm using 4 speakers and can't get anything better then Stereo to work in these. I've switched on the 3D game support in the Envy panel and have 4 speaker enabled (Qsound tests work from the panel). In BF2 it becomes very unstable sound wise and I have to go back to Software 2 channel. In Source engine stuff if I switch to 4 channel I end up with 4 channel mono!

I've only installed a few things so far, I think UT2k4 worked & Diablo2 was crack/pop city. This is trying the various Hardware/3d/eax rendering options in most games.
Click to expand...

Just to add to this if anyone else is having issues, in a desperate move I thought I'd try a pair of Medusa 5.1 USB headphones. Being USB they have there own soundcard so completely bypass the Envy (I've not had much luck with USB sound in the past but for under £40 from Play.com I thought I'd give it a go).

CS:Source and UT2k4 worked great first time but BF2 was choppy in hardware mode (worked fine in Software), I went to the Speed Link site and downloaded the latest Medusa drivers and BF2 Hardware+EAX worked great!

Positioning isn't as defined as with well placed speakers but it does work in 5.1 with the main titles I'm using at the moment (which the Envy couldn't manage) so will keep me happy till a PCIe X-Fi card appears! :D
 
Very informative guide... will come handy when my SN25P arrives.

Just a question though. What is the difference between V1 and V2 of the Shuttle?

Thanks

M.
 
Finally out of my busy schedule, I have gotten a chance to update the guide!

Updated: 10-03-2005

* Updated Step1/Step3 to reflect Disabling/Re-Enabling USB device is another option.
* Updated Step2 to reflect DirectX 9.0 compatability issues.
* Updated Step4(a,b).
* Updated link for latest Nvidia Graphics Drivers.
* New Q/A which talks about setting memory voltage to 2.8V and disable of spectrums.
* New Q/A concerning no splash on boot.

Ald
 
Updated: 10-15-2005

* Updated guide to reflect new VIA sound drivers 4.73b
* New Q/A that concerns performance issues in regards to X2 CPU.

Submitted final copy to SFFTech for posting as well.

Ald
 
My buddy is having a hell of a time with his SN25P:
Athlon X2 4400

The BIOS reports his CPU temp as 160-260c, obviously wrong, the system is stable and the air off the CPU is fairly cool.
After installing the AMD driver/untilities for the X2, this software reports the CPU temp as 40c. We have flashed this box to the new y BIOS (fn25s01y.bin).

I problem here is that the fans are always on MAX, as per the incorrect BIOS temp which is obviously triggering max cooling. This box sounds like a harrier jet, I cannot find any fan utils, including fanspeed that will turn this puppy down. The system sounds like my old T-bird X2. Is that where the X2 name came from? :)

After checking out a variety of review, it seems that most people that review the system with the X2 reported extreme noise, yet other review using non X2's reported acceptable sound, as the fan scaling was working properly.

Conclusions:
1. My buddies shuttle is faulty, the socket thermistor is busted.
2. The Shuttle BIOS does not report X2 4400 temp correctly.

Any ideas?
Thx
 
I'm not sure what fanspeed is, but have you tried speedfan? This should allow you to fine-tune the fans to a desired speed. Also, is the fan set on SmartFan within the BIOS? Have you tried another setting say... Mid - Noise? Though, I doubt this will work since it will probably just go max again since the BIOS temp is detecting differently but it is worth a try.

Ald
 
Sorry Speedfan is the one we used. Have you used Speedfan sucessfully with the SN25P? For me it didn't seem to properly detect the fan controllers and change the fan%s did nothing.

We have tried various fan presets in the BIOS including Smart Fan, Ultra Low etc. still no luck. The box is back at the store being tested, I'll keep you updated on their conclusion.

Thanks for the guide BTW

Update 1: I found the speedfan profile for the SN25P, I will give it a shot when we get the box back from the store.

Update 2: Apparently the orginal SN25p wa faulty, it has been replaced and we're picking it up tonight. Case closed I think.

Update 3: The new SN25P works perfectly, nice and quiet. The org. Shuttle was faulty. His 4400 x2 sits at a cool 40c.
 
Updated: 10-27-2005

* Updated link for latest Nvidia Graphics Drivers.

Updated: 11-05-2005

* Updated Step 5 for new nForce chipset driver 6.70.
* Added new Q/A concerning slow boot times and error in Event Log.
* Updated Q/A concerning the new nForce chipset driver 6.70.
* Updated Q/A concerning BSOD, added checking of SATA Spread Spectrum jumper on hard drive. (Thanks Joe)

Ald
 
is there a shuttle specific forum somewhere? I just got my sn25p and I want to see others mods/OC's etc etc.
 
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