[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