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Page 1 of 1 pages for this article Shuttle SN25P User Guide by Aldoria
Published: 09/13/2005
I’ve received many PM’s and have seen many threads asking about common topics regarding the SN25P on many forums so I’ve decided to write a little guide for the new users as well as a FAQ for the current users. The information are taken from personal experience and research from various websites.
SN25P User’s Guide Contents General Troubleshooting Procedures
Here are some of the steps to take to ensure a successful installation as well as a stable SN25P system. All steps are recommended and in no way mandatory to follow these steps. 1. Remove/Disable Media Card Reader - On special occasions, a chance for the media card reader to be recognized by Windows as C:\ drive could occur. This would impact the proper installation of Windows XP so it would be safe to remove this connector before hand. Disabling the USB device is done within the BIOS. 2. Install Windows XP w/ SP2 - It is important to install the SP2 patch prior to installing the chipset drivers as it requires DirectX 9.0 and also you may encounter USB related issues without it. 3. Reconnect/Re-enable Media Card Reader - After fully updating Windows, connect/re-enable the Media Card Reader and reboot for Windows to assign appropriate drive letters to the Media Card Reader drives. 4(a). Install AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP - This is only applicable to people using the X2 processors and simply enables Cool’n’Quiet. AMD Athlon 64 users go to 4(b). 9. Optional Step: Flash BIOS to latest Y version (fn25s01y.bin) - This BIOS fixes the USB2.0/X2 problem. The download and guide are below. From XPCBIOS XPCBIOS
General Troubleshooting Procedures Memory Test - Run Memtest86+ to ensure both stability and error freeness of your memory module. CPU: Idle (27 - 45) These numbers are just a good range and of course, the high end numbers will seem a bit high but are all reasonable.
Q: My computer is randomly freezing and I’m using Shuttle’s bundled SATA cable! A: Switch out your SATA cables immediately! Those have caused people lots of problems and time due to the poor quality of the cables. Though, Shuttle representatives have went through and replaced all new SN25P in the warehouses with better quality cables so perhaps a few weeks down the road, this problem will disappear. Q: My computer is randomly freezing and I have a X2 CPU.
A: This is still under investigation. Supposedly, there is some bandwidth issues concerning the Dual Cores and the USB devices. There are workarounds for this. You can either go into your BIOS and disable USB 2.0 support which means your USB 2.0 devices will run a lot slower or you can edit the boot.ini file and add /onecpu to the entry but this would mean to negate the whole purpose of having Dual Cores. I have personally never had this problem. Update: There has been a newly released BETA BIOS version Y. Some people has had success in which the BIOS solved their USB headaches. Use anything that is labeled BETA, especially BIOS at your own risk! Update2: Shuttle has finally moved the BIOS version Y to final release. You can find it here.
A: This is a known issue and Shuttle has finally released a BETA BIOS to resolve this problem. Flash at your own risk!
A: Go into device manager and make sure all your USB related devices and hubs have no check mark by the “allows the computer to turn off this device”. Like wise, I recommend doing the same if you encounter problems with a certain device.
Q: My computer is freezing or it keeps getting BSOD MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and I do have the nForce IDE Driver installed! A: This is caused by your nForce IDE Drivers, uninstall it from add/remove and problem should be solved.
Q: I get BSOD (or corrupted downloads) on connection of Ethernet cable, on browsing of webpage, or downloading. A: There’s two way to solve this. One is to uninstall NAM / ActiveArmor which is the simplest solution. The other is to disable ActiveArmor, but some will still have internet stability problems and BSODs but on a less frequent occasion.
Q: I get random BSOD or random freezes and I have tried everything! A: Many users seems to have success when tweaking their memory voltage to solve these issues. Try to set this under Ratio/Voltage Control -> RAM Voltage Select -> 2.80V. Also, you may try to disable CPU Spread Spectrum, SATA Spread Spectrum, and PCIE Spread Spectrum as this will not effect performance. Also, check the jumper setting on your Hard Drive to make sure the SATA Spread Spectrum jumper correspond to what is set within BIOS. On both “Fail Safe” and “Performance” settings within BIOS, the SATA Spread Spectrum is enabled by default.
Q: My games / programs are stuttering or feeling sluggish and I have Cool’n’Quiet enabled, what’s wrong? A: Cool’n’Quiet sometimes does not clock your CPU appropriate to the workload sometimes and will cause applications to behave oddly. Easy solution to this is to turn off Cool’n’Quiet.
Q: My games / programs are stuttering or feeling sluggish and I have a X2 CPU, what’s wrong? A: Microsoft has released a hotfix that concerns the possible performance decrease when using a X2 CPU. You may find the Microsoft article here:
Q: My fan is pulsing and I have smartfan enabled within BIOS. A: Set fan setting to Noise - Mid or use speedfan to manually control each fan in your SN25P.
Q: When booting my computer, everything lights up and my fan spins at full speed but no splash screen. A: Flip the switch on your power supply and then disconnect your power cord. Wait for a minute and try to reboot.
Q: My computer has slow boot time or shows hard drive write errors within Event Log. A: This is caused by the nForce IDE Driver. Try uninstalling it and see if the default Window’s driver fixes this problem. Otherwise, drivercleaner or even a reformat might be needed to ensure the removal of everything. Here is an article that raises this issue as well and dicussion on the topic.
Q: My World of Warcraft is lagging, help! A: nForce4 chipset are known for this and the solution is to go into device manager, go to your nForce4 Gigabit Ethernet card, disable checksum_offload.
Q: I can’t get MIC boost to work! A: Some users have had problems when installing the VIA drivers that comes on the Shuttle CD. I recommend either installing drivers provided by VIA or the latest ones on the Shuttle’s webpage. Both seems to work fine. On a sidenote, the Shuttle drivers seems to have all options enabled regarding Immezio 3D Sound (QSound) while the VIA version does not. Another note is that people who have installed the VIA drivers from the Shuttle CD and cannot get the MIC boost option might require a reformat (depending on uninstallation of driver).
Q: My display is displaying a blank screen even though I know Windows is loading. A: If your video card comes with 2 DVI output, some users has issues to get anything to display on one of the DVI ports, try to switch output and see if it works out. For DVI / VGA graphics card users, try the other port and see if this problem is resolved.
Q: My display seems to be lagging/sluggish. A: Refer to the previous answer. These two issues seems to be semi-related.
Q: Are the new nForce4 chipset 6.70 drivers good? A: (nForce4 chipset 6.66) 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 is 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 noticeable changes from 6.53. I generally recommend staying with 6.53 as it seems to be the most stable driver of the series. A: (nForce4 chipset 6.70) NAM is still flaky in terms of generating BSOD, but people has had better luck with it actually working without corrupting downloads. If you are feeling lucky and can’t live without NAM, then install at your own risk, otherwise, I would stay away from it and simply use another program. Concerning the IDE Driver, it still has issues. Some are experiencing slow boot up times or even hard drive write error within Event Log. The performance gain with the IDE Driver’s are minimal at best and if you want complete stability, I would avoid this as well. The networking driver is still the same version but the SMBus driver has been updated. More discussion of the nForce chipset 6.70 driver can be found here:
Q: Should I uninstall previous nForce4 chipset driver before update? A: The general population would answer yes. Some even take extreme measures and use drivercleaner to make sure everything is cleaned off before applying an updated nForce chipset driver. So, it is generally a good idea to uninstall all previous nForce chipset driver to ensure integrity of your system.
Q: Is SN25P really a nForce4 Ultra chipset? A: The nForce4 vanilla was only released at initial launch. All current SN25P’s are of the Ultra chipset and supports SATA II.
Q: Can I fit the 7800GTX in a SN25P? A: Yes, however people have either put it in with the card bending a little due to the air duct or people (like myself) have taken out the air duct altogether. Others went as far as to cut a little strip out of the air duct to fit the card. The bottom-line is, the simple approach is to take the air duct off and it will fit with ease. Update: Ozoneman found a way to install the BFG 7800GTX along with the air duct without any bend. If you want to take the time to do this, here are his instructions. Careful with that capacitor however!
Q: Should I flash to the latest BIOS? A: No problems has been detected in the O version and it’s recommended. Fixes some important issues such as Cool’n’Quiet and some fan tweaks. Update: The latest BIOS is now version Y. Not enough users has tried the latest BIOS to recommend a flash immediately, however, if you are encountering an USB issue, then this is probably a worthy flash for you.
Q: How do I get Cool’n’Quiet working? A: Right click on your desktop, go to properties, click on screen saver tab, click on power and from the power scheme drop down, select “minimal power management”.
Q: Why does my Hard Drive only show as 127GB / 130GB when it is a lot more? A: Prior to Windows SP1, the registry for Hard Drive LBA is not enabled and thus any drive above the 127GB / 130GB threshold will not be detected. However, on installation of either Windows SP1 or SP2, the registry is enabled and this problem should be resolved. This should only affect users installing with an old Windows XP CD that does not come with any SP.
These are issues that are being monitored and has not yet been fully confirmed. However, these are posted based on problems experienced from the user. nForce Chipset Driver 6.66 - On installation of nForce chipset driver 6.66 with IDE Driver, the nForce IDE Driver fails to show up on add/remove program list. nForce Chipset Driver 6.70 - On installation of nForce chipset driver 6.70 wih IDE Driver, the system experiences slow boot times. I will update this guide as more issues arise and newer updates become available. Hope this little guide helps answer most of people’s questions and problems.
Updated: 07-24-2005 * Added Step 2(b) for all Athlon 64 users regarding drivers. Updated: 07-25-2005 * Modified question regarding nForce IDE Driver trouble to be more general. Updated: 07-27-2005 Updated: 08-03-2005 * Updated USB and X2 status. Updated: 08-05-2005 * Reorganized guide to better assist users. Updated: 08-08-2005 * Updated question concerning the 7800GTX. (Thanks to Ozoneman) Updated: 08-09-2005 * New step of disconnecting Media Card Reader has been added to ensure success of installation. (Thanks to Samboca) Updated: 08-10-2005 * Added new section listing issues of concerns. Updated: 08-11-2005 * Updated USB2.0/X2 to the final release of BIOS version Y link. * Updated flash of BIOS to include steps from pure DOS. Updated: 09-01-2005 Updated: 10-03-2005 * Updated Step1/Step3 to reflect Disabling/Re-Enabling USB device is another option. Updated: 10-15-2005 * Updated guide to reflect new VIA sound drivers 4.73b. 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. Updated: 12-01-2005 * Updated link for latest nVidia Graphics Drivers. * Updated link for latest nVidia Graphics Drivers. Updated: 02-16-2006 * Updated audio driver to 5.00a. Updated: 03-20-2006 * Updated audio driver to 5.00b. Updated: 04-24-2006 * Updated guide with live version content.
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