Are you referring to those bios saviors?.... they require a socket.

If you're just going to swap out minor bios components (ie not the main sjd4.bin component, boot block or vga bios) there's no component that will brick your machine that can't be recovered with a VGA cable and a bootable usb-flash disk...

As always if you're not confident I can test the bios for you... subject to the availability of free time on my part. PM for details...

Thanks ymboc,

I will certainly need some guidance, and am releived to know some BIOS components are "safe". Still waiting for that vga cable though.

_________________
HP-ProLiant N40L 8GB WHS2011
HP-EX470 4GB Athlon-X2-BE-2350-(Stepping G1) Windows 8 (server build)

I have 2 mediasmart servers bought at least 6 months apart. On the latest one I have never had a shut down with LE-1640 or the 3800+ EE SFF and they passed the Orthos test. I had exercised the machine very hard with a 4050e and BE-2400 both of them shutdown frequently. The 4050e in the beginning shut down after an hour or so but as time went on, it shut down less and less frequently. Before I switched to the 3800+ the machine was up 6-7 days at 80% fans. I dopped the fan speed from 100% to 80% in small increments and overall temperatures remained the same. This is with 3 1TB WD and 1 seagate 500 GB drives. The other machine, when I switched to an LE-1640 it shut down every 3 or 4 days but as time went on the shutdowns got less frequent until it quit shuting down at all. I'm not sure what this means but with my machines it appears that the harder they were driven with different cpu's things got better as time went on and both machines are rock solid now with full compliment of harddrives.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

Argh... there's that way of looking at it as well.

Yeah, I forgot that the Orthos test is cranking on the FPU and not the CPU. But then, maybe that's an "ok" thing. (that'd be me not wanting to believe that something's broke ).

_________________
:: Mark

Hmm... Okay, raise your hand if you know about the Xbox 360 failures and the "fix" being to wrap the machine in a towel so that it bakes itself into being fixed. (the processor die was hosed, the increased heat from the lack of ventilation melted the solder and reseated the chip)

_________________
:: Mark

too much fun.

i cant get a 1640 to run- maybe i should break out the heat gun I use to strip paint.

kidding aside- that is interesting for sure.

There's a school of thought that believes in CPU break in. Some people claim that 100 hours of S&M lowered their CPU temps. One person wasn't even using thermal compound so he rules out TIM break as the cause. I don't know what to believe.

anyone with a cpu problem also have the stock memory or did you all also upgrade memory at the same time?

"CPU problem"? Do you mean the failure with Orthos during small FFTs?

Yes, I do... I originally had the failure with a 2gb stick, then went back to the stock 512mb stick and the problem happened in the same spot/space/time.

_________________
:: Mark

Upgraded both at the same time.

Just thought I'd post the latest on my switch to the 3800+ EE SFF. I have nothing but good things to say about the 3800+. It is rock solid with no shutdowns or bumps in the road. It runs cooler than the LE-1460 and uses less power than anything I have had in the mediasmart. I can run a MacAfee scan and still view movies, access shares and run a mail server. A very responsive CPU and is truely a set it and forget it operation.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

@erail Do you have a fan on your Northbridge? Your Northbridge temps are about 10 dgrees cooler than mine and most others.

_________________
HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

fwiw, my Northbridge is currently at 51*C with a fan... My other temps are inline with erail, though my core is at 36*C.

_________________
:: Mark

I get shutdowns with just a 1640-

whats the speculation of trying the 3800+ EE SFF?

is it possible that might be better for me or if the 1640 craps am I out of luck?

Yes, I have a fan on the northbridge. It's pretty cool here up in the north(72F) so I think that explains the 49C Northbridge. When it's working pretty hard the Northbridge will run at 51-52C. As far as the 1460 goes, the 3800+ EE SFF does use less voltage and runs a little cooler. I'm not sure you wouldn't have a problem because my 1460 ran ok in my machine. One thing I looked at was the stepping level MIGHT have something to do with the shutdowns. The BE-2350 G1 doesn't seem to have a shutdown where the G2 does. The LE-1460 has G2 stepping while the 3800+ EE SFF has F2 stepping. If you can find a 3800+ 35watt cpu it might be worth a try. The cpu socket runs anywhere between 34C and 38C depending again on how hard it's working.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server