Hi!

Thanks for the info, I guess I misuderstood the h55 manual where it stated I needed a floppy boot disk in order to flash the bios (got flashbacks to 1994)

Also, I was worried that the onboard audio/video would be used even if I popped in the i3. If I read the manual correct, the board has onboard audio and video (not counting the i3)

check page 5 in the manual "onboard graphics features" and page 4 "audio". I guess these features turn off automatically when u pop in the i3. I just wanted to confirm this.

 

kind regards

Henrik

Henrik, You can definitely flash from a floppy or USB thumb, but doing in WIndows using the Windows Utility does work equally and I found it much easier to do. I flashed the BIOS twice using this method without any issues. The only change I needed to make in t eh BIOS for audio was to enable HDMI. Rather silly, but HDMI audio is set to disabled initially (although I think the latest BIOS may have it set to enabled, but I had already enabled before I flashed)

Regarding H55ITX pci-e tv tuner incompatibility issue, a few minutes ago I wrote this on hardforum and quoted here.

Here it is. Anybody can compare this with his H55ITX?



I confirm that this specific board, loaded with the latest bios, works fine with any of these tv tuners: Hauppauge HVR-2200, HVR-1700MC and BlackGold BGT3510. All these cards were detected by Windows 7 - (64bit) and worked with no issues in MC.
Even tried a Highpoint RocketRAID 2300 SATA II controller on Zotac's PCI-E and worked too! Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to test i5-6xx turbo boost feature on this board.

So what you think? Is it a new, probably fixed revision of the board, or Zotac support just said nonsense when they claimed that PCI-E slot doesn't support anything else than a graphics card?

Hi guys!

 

I have now built my first mini-ITX HTPC, the components are as following:

Nexus Psile HTPC Case

Zotac H55 motherboard

Intel i3 530 CPU+GPU

2 GB DDR3 KIngston Memory

Intel X25 40 GB SSD

 120 W PicoPSU

Panasonic slot in DVD reader/burner

The installation worked okay, the picopsu didnt have a 5,25" 4 pin power cable, so I had to make one myseif, from an old PSU I had. Worked fine.Also, in the Psile, there is not a lot of room for the sata and power cable for the dvd, I was very worried I couldn't fit it. The sata cable has a bit of tension on it but I guess it is fine. a 90 degree turned sata cable wuld be a nice thing here...

After everything was put together (with tiny screws) I powered it up, and it worked like a charm. The stock fan was not exactly quiet, but I turned down the fan settings in the bios, and now it is super quiet. It is also sizzling fast, I installed Windows Vista, didnt have any Windows 7 home at the moment. I installed the follwowing drivers

 - Intel network 100 driver from the zotac h55 cd

- Intel HD graphics drivers from Intels website

- Intel chipset inf drivers from zotac website

I still have one exclamation mark in the device manager, but I guess this is the mini-pci express wifi card I removed. The device is called "simple communications controller". Perhaps I missed any driver? I tried to run the utility off intels website but got an error. There is a thread here about it

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-NZ/w7itprohardware/thread/03526059-7940-4aed-9471-2fe11e72b87f

 

So far so good, when I get the firewire pci express card I will test the tv tuner also.

kind regards

Henrik

Two important things to do: 1- Update your SSD firmware; 2- Install the Intel SSD Toolkit (and setup a schedule to run)

MrNorth

Hi guys!

I still have one exclamation mark in the device manager, but I guess this is the mini-pci express wifi card I removed. The device is called "simple communications controller". Perhaps I missed any driver?

You have to install Intel Management Engine driver.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18532&ProdId=3144&lang=eng

BTW did you notice any kind of "coil-noise" on load peaks? My Zotac H55 suffers from such noises coming primarily from CPU fan, and I've noticed this issue on a friend's Zotac H55 too.

Also, how well behave your system with the 120W PicoPSU? Did you experience any startup or wake-from-S3 problems with it? I'm using Zotac with an Origenae M10 case that comes with its own 150W PSU and 150W brick and I've noticed both issues. CPU stock fan emits "coil-noises" on load peaks and board doesn't wake from S3 when using a PCI-E tuner card. Using a regular uATX PSU fix the wake issue although coil noises remain.

The same hardware but with an Intel DH57JG board instead Zotac works just fine using M10's PSU, with no noises, vdrops or wake issues.

Hi!

 Thanks for the link, I found it too, have no idea what its for...

 Well I have had problems with the intel i3 stock cooler. For some reason only two of the four legs will attach properly to the motherboard, and I think I don't have 100 % contact between the heatsink and motherboard.When I started watching an mkv movie, fan became reli loud and then the pc shut down, I rebooted and checked core temp, it was 101 C. Ouch!

I did some testing with the ms remote and s3, so far no problem. I use the picopsu120 with an 80w brick. Works like a charm even under load.

I don't hear any coil noise, the only noise comes from the stock fan. I will remove it and put a heat zink in there instead, and then use the nexus fan that came with the chassi (psile). Hopefully that will blow the hot air out from the box while keeping the cpu cool.

seems like a nice motherboard to me, and nice cpu also.

/Henrik

So nice it works for you, Henrik!

Unfortunately I experienced a number of serious problems with Zotac H55ITX. Problems like pci-e TV-tuners incompatibilities, coil/VRM noises during load peaks, increased consumption compared to other H55 ITX boards, and now this nasty wake-from-S3 issue. I tried many times to contact Zotac support, reporting all these and asking for help, but I never got any reply for them.

Finally I gave up with Zotac and replaced it with the rock-stable Intel DH57JG. I'll miss some of Zotac's features though, especially the mini pci-e slot!

Hi!

Im sorry you didnt want to stick with the Zotac board. Keep in mind that it is smoking hot from the factories and new bios and driver updates are bound to come out. I experienced two issues recently, don't know why. Also, now I can't make it to wake up from S3 anymore.

 

1) S3, can't wake up with remote. F*ck! And this is without the tv card like u described

2) When turn on the 50" samsung plasma and leave the htpc in media center mode, and then turn on the tv again I get the "found new hardware" sound and the screen resolution is bad!. I ahve to turn of media center and turn it on again to fix this problem. What is happening?

 Yes, the mini pci express slot was the primary reason I bought this card too.

/Henrik

MrNorth

Hi!

Im sorry you didnt want to stick with the Zotac board. Keep in mind that it is smoking hot from the factories and new bios and driver updates are bound to come out. I experienced two issues recently, don't know why. Also, now I can't make it to wake up from S3 anymore.

 

1) S3, can't wake up with remote. F*ck! And this is without the tv card like u described

2) When turn on the 50" samsung plasma and leave the htpc in media center mode, and then turn on the tv again I get the "found new hardware" sound and the screen resolution is bad!. I ahve to turn of media center and turn it on again to fix this problem. What is happening?

 Yes, the mini pci express slot was the primary reason I bought this card too.

/Henrik

 

Are you using a USB IR Receiver? For whatever reason I found only certain USB ports would allow me to wake up from S3. I think the latest BIOS flash was supposed to fix this. Once I moved the IR Receiver around I was able to wake up via my Harmony remote

Hi!

 Yes I suspect this is the issue also. I used the usb port that allow me usb keayboard in bios, I suspected it was a "primary" usb port. But I will move them around and see what happens. I already have the latest BIOS.

 

Mikinho: I assumed that the native driver in Windows 7 send TRIM commands if the drive supports it? I have flashed with latest firmware.

 

kind regards

Henrik

MrNorth

Mikinho: I assumed that the native driver in Windows 7 send TRIM commands if the drive supports it? I have flashed with latest firmware.

Yes it does but not as efficiently as the Intel drivers will. I'm late for a meeting but I'll update with a link to a whitepaper I read on the performance of different drivers with the X25-M.

 

How do you find it with your SSD drive?  Getting to the point where I need to re-install, and considering getting one...

 

Tony

Hi!

It is very fast and certainly gives the Media Center a boost in performance, navigating through menus, load times are much improved. Just need to run the Intel Toolbox every week to TRIM the device, otherwise strange things might happen, such as the disk think it is full when there is lots of space.

 /Henrik

Guys please can you help me out.. I am having issues with my HTPC and my Onkyo 608 AV Receiver...

 

1 - When my HTPC is on and windows 7 is loaded if I play a movie in Windows Media Player on the Onkyo it says MULTI CHANNEL and HDMI logo is on.. after a few seconds the HDMI logo flashes and the sounds cuts out and comes back .. this repeats itself over and over again..

2 - The only way when I press the Movie Preset button on the control to get it to actually output my .mkv (DTS) files to actual DTS is via XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) I go into the settings in XBMC and set the audio out to digital and receiver which supports AC3 and DTS is checked and when I play a movie in XBMC it now says DTS on the Receiver with the HDMI logo displayed but as above again it only lasts a few seconds (maybe 20-30 seconds) then cuts out again and the DTS sign dissapers and the small HDMI logo on the top left of the Onkyo 608 Visual display flashes and then comes back and the DTS is displayed again.. and this repeats its self over and over again..

Please see attached some screen shots which I took just to show you of some of the settings on my HTPC and Onkyo 608.. on the link : http://forum.blu-ray.com/receivers/145543-onkyo-608-hdmi-issue-help.html

Maybe I am doing something wrong.. There is obviousley some kind of handshake issue between the intel i3 HD graphics or the Zotac H55 ITX mother board HDMI output and the receiver.. please help me solve this issue it is driving my looney

I would really appreciate if you could please help me solve this problem.. Many Thanks in advance...