[mythtv-users] Foxconn NVIDIA ION system and 2G ram stick at newegg

Matt White whitem at arts.usask.ca
Mon Aug 23 01:43:37 UTC 2010


On 10-08-20 3:54 PM, Ozzy Lash wrote:
> The current shell shocker at newegg is a
>
> Foxconn NT-330I-A-B-NA-A NVIDIA ION Black Barebone Systems - Mini / Booksize
> and
> Rendition by Crucial 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
> Laptop Memory Model RM25664AC800
>
> for a total of $189.
>
> This sounds like it could be a good frontend system (need to add a
> drive/usb stick/or netboot and a remote).  Seems similar to the Acer
> Aspire Revo.  Anyone have any experience with these, good or bad?

Bad.  I bought one, and have had nothing but problems (if anyone has one 
working, let me know).  It works fine as a general computer, but as soon 
as you try VDPAU with mythtv, it locks up (complete hard lock, requiring 
power cycle) after a few ffwd/rewinds.

I've got a Zotac IONITX board that I'm extremely happy with, but thought 
this was a nice case and design.  It is capable of netboot, but the 
lockups basically render it useless for myth.

I initially tried with 2 GB.  They're not interested in releasing a bios 
that allows you to set the allocated vram - when I asked their technical 
support about it, they replied that they couldn't get it to work and it 
crashed a lot.  Not really inspiring confidence, there.  There is 
definitely something wrong - the BIOS reports 256 MB, /proc/mtrr shows 
256 MB, but the NVidia driver shows that it's detected 512 MB (and of 
course you can't override it).  So, I went and purchased a 4 GB sodimm 
(about the same price I initially paid for the barebones system) so I 
could use 512 MB of video ram.  Same thing happens - at least the memory 
allocation reported is consistent across BIOS, /proc/mtrr, and the 
NVidia logs.  Even if it did work, 4 GB for a mythtv machine is pretty 
excessive - I would have been very happy with the 2 GB if I could do the 
1.5 GB/512 MB split.

Speaking of technical support, that was the last I've heard from them - 
I've mailed back twice more in the past week with no response 
whatsoever.  The website is hit-and-miss, and I've never been able to 
access their forums at all.

Last Foxconn product I'll ever buy...As I said, I've had nothing but 
good experiences with the Zotac IONITX boards (bare motherboards), and I 
know that a lot of folks here are quite happy with the Acer AspireRevo. 
  Plenty of other machines out there to avoid a lemon like this piece of 
crap.

-- 
Matt White
whitem at arts.usask.ca
University of Saskatchewan



More information about the mythtv-users mailing list