i810 output is blocky/pixelated [solved- bad hw]

danomac · Last edited by danomac on Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have an AOpen miniPC, which basically uses a laptop chipset. Right now the TV Output is the only thing hooked up to my TV.

For the life of me, I can't get Xorg working and readable. The screen is really blocky and is impossible to read. It seems that all output is like this, even playing a dvd, etc...

The problem is not present in i810-1.7.4. Anything higher than that and the problem persists, even on the new 2008.0 livecd. Of course I've discovered something that needs the new drivers, and I can't get it to work properly.

Anyone else have issues like this?

danomac · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject:

Okay, after more testing I'm finding out that drivers > 1.7.4 fail direct rendering. X still loads up but gives the horribly distorted screen.

Has anyone else had issues with this? Next I'll try hooking it up to a monitor.

danomac · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:06 am Post subject:

Well, that's interesting. I don't even get a screen on a monitor. How weird. I don't have time to deal with it now; I'll deal with it later and get more information.

Eltharion · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:30 am Post subject:

I also use the i810 chipset and I found out, that everything works with best settings without an xorg.conf! Try removing yours. Check your kernel settings and /var/log/Xorg.0.log

I installed this and it worked out of the box. Only the custom keys of my keyboard needed to be adjusted:

danomac · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:49 pm Post subject:

I finally found my problem, although it isn't Xorg/i810 related.

It turns out the store I bought my miniPC from didn't put any thermal paste (or tape, etc) between the northbridge/cpu and heatsink. Gradual use slowly barbecued the CPU and northbridge chip. There's bubbling from heat stress on both chips.

It has gotten to the point now where using any accelerated driver fails. Even the rock-solid 1.7.4 drivers. It won't initialize on the TV display or on a CRT/LCD. VESA drivers still work but are stupidly slow.

Time to go look for a replacement, I guess...

szczerb · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 4:38 pm Post subject:

I'd say it's time to get your money back...unless it's over the warranty period.

danomac · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject:

It's a little over two years old. I'm honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did...

I'll be looking around for a small form factor replacement. I priced out getting another AOpen vs. getting a mac mini, and now there's hardly any difference in price( only around $40.) When I bought it then it saved me almost $600. Apple finally came to their senses. :roll:

I'm going to take pics of the BBQ'ed chips and post them up later. I've never seen that kind of heat damage on processors before. (To be fair, the thing still boots every 1 out of 10 tries.)

Edit: Picture

Edit2: It actually appears the CPU might be OK. The northbridge on the right is not so good...

szczerb · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject:

Personaly I'd build something myself. With a mobo like this:
http://www.albatron.com.tw/English/product/mb/pro_detail.asp?rlink=Specification&no=239
and this amd cpu (if/when it's available...):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Atom-Athlon-Efficient,1997.html

It's a small factor board with support for a real CPU's wich can be quite powerfull and really efficient.

danomac · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject:

I've been looking around, but all the cases are too big. I want to stay with it's existing footprint (16.5cmx16.5cm). So far the smallest mini-itx case is 24cmx28cm.

The newer ones don't use pentium-m CPUs, they use Core2Duo processors which are an order of magnitude faster than the one I have now...

Around here it looks like it'll be a tad over $300 for a case and motherboard, plus the processor. More than one core is a must. That puts me around $500 already, plus RAM (which is cheap) and HDD (cheap-ish.) Probably 700-800 anyway, why not spend the extra $50 and get something that's a fraction of the size...