Gigabyte Brix users out there?

[tential]

Hi guys,

I just purchased and received a Gigabyte BRIX GB-BXI3-4010 that I want to use as htpc with Windows 8.1.

I installed ram and mSata hardrive. Unit powers up but my tv screen stays desperately black. I tried the same cable, same TV same Input with a laptop and that works, so it must come from the Brix.

I tried to plug a keyboard and press F12 but nothing happens. A mouse that I plugged in usb also doesn't power on.

The blue led around the power button is on though... Any idea?

Something is faulty. Good luck trouble shooting it.
I built my PC and it wouldn't power on. I was an idiot and used a cable from my old power supply with my new one (was the only cable flat enough to fit in my SSD mounted behind my MOBO). Had to return the SSD and couldn't mount it behind the mobo due to power supply cords sucking.
It's a pain man, I wish you luck. The thing with DIY, you save money, but when you run into an issue it's NERVE RACKING.

Again, wish you luck man, I want one of these things bad I just have zero use for it . They're so cute/tiny though!

 

[secondbrixfail]

Something is faulty. Good luck trouble shooting it.
I built my PC and it wouldn't power on. I was an idiot and used a cable from my old power supply with my new one (was the only cable flat enough to fit in my SSD mounted behind my MOBO). Had to return the SSD and couldn't mount it behind the mobo due to power supply cords sucking.
It's a pain man, I wish you luck. The thing with DIY, you save money, but when you run into an issue it's NERVE RACKING.

Again, wish you luck man, I want one of these things bad I just have zero use for it . They're so cute/tiny though!

As you can tell by my username I am having the same exact issue. I RMAd my first brix due to no video output. Second one arrived last night and I just attempted to set it up and am getting the same exact response.

Brix powers on, msata, ram are installed. No lights on the keyboard, no output on the tv via HDMI. If anybody has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated. At this point I am going to return both for a full refund and move on to something else. Thanks in adv

 

[jirages]

Did you pay attention that the RAM memory sticks have to be the 1.35 volts and not the 1.5volts ?
I am enjoying mine so much, serious
It is Laptop memory, but it should be 1.35 volts.
the 1.5 volts RAM would not start the brix

 

[lrowland21093]

Brix powers on, msata, ram are installed. No lights on the keyboard, no output on the tv via HDMI. If anybody has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated. At this point I am going to return both for a full refund and move on to something else. Thanks in adv

I had the same symptom with the Brix I just got and determined it was because the default video output on bootup was the Displayport. After putting a Displayport to HDMI adapter on it I was able to see the video.

It boggles my mind that they would force the Displayport to be the default instead of the HDMI or at least auto-sensing.

 

[Kaido]

I had the same symptom with the Brix I just got and determined it was because the default video output on bootup was the Displayport. After putting a Displayport to HDMI adapter on it I was able to see the video.

It boggles my mind that they would force the Displayport to be the default instead of the HDMI or at least auto-sensing.

Interesting, is this on the IVB or Haswell model? I just got a Haswell model at work and I'm waiting for the Displayport to HDMI adapter to show up for it. I'll have to check it out on mine!

 

[lrowland21093]

Interesting, is this on the IVB or Haswell model?

It is the Haswell model with the i7 (GB-BXi7-4500).

Does anyone know what the tiny connector next to the mini-pcie is? Or the little yellow/whitish header? I am not able to find anything about them anywhere.
You can see both on the internal pictures here:
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/505...view-mini-powerhouse-with-i7-powerful-core-i7

 

[jirages]

The black female socket next to the pci-e is a sata port for an extra sdd
The whitish plug is an electric socket for sata Hdd.
To confirm, check the images on the gigabyte site of the next gen haswell models with the letter H . for example the bxi5h . You will notice the extra SDD adapter and the plug

 

[lrowland21093]

jirages,
Good eye! Thank you for pointing me to that, at least now I know what they are for even if it is not possible to get a cable that could use them.

I've searched for a couple of hours looking for that type of connector (the small flat black one) but of course it is almost impossible unless you know the name of the connector. Oh well, maybe I'll have to try to get one of the "H" models if they become available. Being able to put a big SATA SSD in there would be good - it would make a great little video camera server.

Thanks again!
Larry

 

[Kaido]

I had the same symptom with the Brix I just got and determined it was because the default video output on bootup was the Displayport. After putting a Displayport to HDMI adapter on it I was able to see the video.

It boggles my mind that they would force the Displayport to be the default instead of the HDMI or at least auto-sensing.

I just got an i5 Haswell BRIX, so I'll see if it does the same thing on mine tomorrow.

 

[afhaque]

Hi guys,

I just purchased and received a Gigabyte BRIX GB-BXI3-4010 that I want to use as htpc with Windows 8.1.

I installed ram and mSata hardrive. Unit powers up but my tv screen stays desperately black. I tried the same cable, same TV same Input with a laptop and that works, so it must come from the Brix.

I tried to plug a keyboard and press F12 but nothing happens. A mouse that I plugged in usb also doesn't power on.

The blue led around the power button is on though... Any idea?

Hey!

I am 98% sure the issue is the RAM. I had purchased a 1.5v stick of ram and plugged it in and ended up with the same issue as you. (Nothing displayed on screen). I then went out to Fry's and got a new stick of 1.35v RAM and got the machine working.

Its really too bad, Gigabyte didn't do a better job specifying that 1.35v RAM was a REQUIREMENT and not merely an option. (In fact, the motherboard itself lists 1.5v on the RAM slot).

But again. Like I said, I am 98% sure this is your issue.

Hope it helps.

 

[Kaido]

Hey!

I am 98% sure the issue is the RAM. I had purchased a 1.5v stick of ram and plugged it in and ended up with the same issue as you. (Nothing displayed on screen). I then went out to Fry's and got a new stick of 1.35v RAM and got the machine working.

Its really too bad, Gigabyte didn't do a better job specifying that 1.35v RAM was a REQUIREMENT and not merely an option. (In fact, the motherboard itself lists 1.5v on the RAM slot).

But again. Like I said, I am 98% sure this is your issue.

Hope it helps.

Yeah, I think it's kind of silly that you even have to get a special-voltage RAM kit for a desktop. iirc the PSU can handle like twice what the computer actually uses, so it's not like there's a shortage of power. I think it's a weird CPU requirement though. Fortunately it's not hard to find, just search for Ultrabook RAM & you're set!

 

[piasabird]

It probably has a mini-Display port. Very common with laptops.

Anandtech just put up review on a Brix with the IRIS Graphics.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7648/gigabyte-brix-pro

 

[MGSteiner]

hi all-

I picked up an i5-3337 a few months ago which I am using as the master host for a small ESX cluster. machine works great with 16Gb RAM but one *minor* issue - mSATA disk compatibility. Has anyone noted how small the official HCL is for SSD drives?

I did not find this out until after picking it up; I initially intended to install a 256Gb Crucial M4 from a PC tablet which turns out to be unsupported and completely unrecognized in the BIOS! (The drive works fine in 2 other laptops/tablets) Yet plugging in a 64Gb Sandisk SSD works perfectly. I have not yet coughed up the money to upgrade to a supported M500 or Intel 525 so that I can run more than the vCenter appliance onboard, but have other owners encountered similar problems with the newer Brix models?

-I see Gigabyte is now also offering a new Brix Pro model with 4xxx-series CPUs, and a larger case that fits 2.5" HDDs internally. Mine doesn't even have the SATA header..

 

[Aikouka]

Are there any BIOS upgrades for the Ivy-Bridge-based Brix? Sometimes those sorts of things get ironed out in a new BIOS revision.

 

[MGSteiner]

Are there any BIOS upgrades for the Ivy-Bridge-based Brix? Sometimes those sorts of things get ironed out in a new BIOS revision.

the last BIOS update for the 3337 was in October, ver. F6. No effect, unfortunately. I note also the SSD compatibility list for the brand-new Brix Pro is still a tiny fraction of the available models and manufacturers, it isn't even double that of the older series.

 

[nfriedly]

One issue I'm still trying to figure out. I don't know if its a problem with the Intel graphics drivers or if its with Windows 8 or something else. But the display is actually a hair larger than the screen when hooked up to a TV. This is a pain in Windows 8 when you pull your mouse to the lower right to bring up the settings, search, etc menus on the right side cause they are about 75% off the screen. Same with the edges all the way around. I thought it might be because my big TV is kind of old and only does 1080i instead of 1080P so I hooked up the Brix to our newish Samsung TV. As expected the display quality was better but there was the same issue of things going off the edges of the screen. it does not do this when hooked up to a computer monitor.

FYI, if you're still having this issue, it's probably due to the overscan settings on (both) of your TVs. Pretty much every TV does this, because it was the standard back in the days of analog over-the-air broadcasts and no one thought to update it for the digital era.

Every manufacturer has a different name for the setting, just do a search for "disable overscan <your brand of TV>" and it should give you some useful information on how to fix it.

If you're cursed with a TV that doesn't support disabling it, then you may be able to make your video driver compensate by "underscanning".

 

[Luisfgraham]

Hi guys im new on this and i have some questions and I hope you can help me Question: Hi i hace an i5 brix pro running windows 8.1 pro 64 bits 8 gb ram, my dedicated video memory appear to be 0 and I can't modify it even on the bios should a bios update fix it for me? I got this PC for gaming and I get an error saying that I don't have enogh system memory and it should be 128 at least? It sagas I have 1700 plus available but dedicated its 0 help me please should I update bios to f3? 2/28/2014 8:26 AM

 

[Luisfgraham]

Guys I got a new ram stick 1.35 v things run smoothly now but dedicated video memory is still 0 is this normal? And also bios doesn't have the. Option to change it as in other machines please help me guys iris pro. Is not delivering the performance it should

 

[gmcl]

Luisfgrham:
Not sure if this helps you but GB says 64M is used from system ram

Thanks for all of the info here. I have a Brix Pro i5-4570R (5200), 8G, 120G SSD both Crucial. I've had quite a few problems getting Win7 up and running on this. Mostly because I haven't built a box in ~6+ yrs and secondarily because the freak'n thing comes with NO useful documentation, and there's a huge delay in their email TS response. Anyway I have dual display's up fine with a 1920x1080 primary and 1200x1600 secondary. My problem is I have the Asus PB278Q monitor purchased to run at 2560x1440 but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to get a res >1920 to show up in the settings. I've tried:

1. DP>DP, DP>DVI-dual, DP>DVI, HDMI-HDMI, all of which are supposed to work at QWHD res.
2. Attempting to update the GB video driver causes the system to go blank and lockup (with the blue light on solid) after it reboots. I to have long-press the pwr button and connect only the hdmi monitor to breath life back into it.
3. Windows Update always Fails trying to update the Iris 5200 driver. If I attempt to load the driver manually (from the Intel website) I get an error "operating system not supported" which I assume is because GB has customized the driver??
4. Someone mentioned that the .inf file for the Asus might be needed to show the allowable resolutions but there doesn't seem to be a driver on the Asus website.
5. Dev Mgr shows a "generic PnP monitor" driver which is probably part of the issue. My other, much older, monitor has its name and model listed correctly.

Here is an Evernote note with additional info if anyone wants more info. You shouldn't need an EN account to look at the note.
[Hmm, the note link gets obfuscated...]

Has anyone been able to get an i5 or i7 Brix with 5200 to do 2560x1440?


Thanks for taking a look!

 

[valynor]

Luisfgrham:

Has anyone been able to get an i5 or i7 Brix with 5200 to do 2560x1440?

Yes, this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy72OpvovU8
He has a few more Brix Pro videos that are worth watching (more gaming in 1440p, too).

So it *is* possible.

 

[sputnik378]

Luisfgrham:


[*]Attempting to update the GB video driver causes the system to go blank and lockup (with the blue light on solid) after it reboots. I to have long-press the pwr button and connect only the hdmi monitor to breath life back into it.
[*]Windows Update always Fails trying to update the Iris 5200 driver. If I attempt to load the driver manually (from the Intel website) I get an error "operating system not supported" which I assume is because GB has customized the driver??

I have a very similar issue. Whenever I install an app or restart/sleep/hibernate the PC it will go to black screen and the only thing I can do is to unplug and replug the HDMI until my screen pops up again. Very frustrating, hopefully easily solved though. I'll keep looking.

 

[Fox5]

Luisfgrham:
Not sure if this helps you but GB says 64M is used from system ram

Thanks for all of the info here. I have a Brix Pro i5-4570R (5200), 8G, 120G SSD both Crucial. I've had quite a few problems getting Win7 up and running on this. Mostly because I haven't built a box in ~6+ yrs and secondarily because the freak'n thing comes with NO useful documentation, and there's a huge delay in their email TS response. Anyway I have dual display's up fine with a 1920x1080 primary and 1200x1600 secondary. My problem is I have the Asus PB278Q monitor purchased to run at 2560x1440 but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to get a res >1920 to show up in the settings. I've tried:

1. DP>DP, DP>DVI-dual, DP>DVI, HDMI-HDMI, all of which are supposed to work at QWHD res.
2. Attempting to update the GB video driver causes the system to go blank and lockup (with the blue light on solid) after it reboots. I to have long-press the pwr button and connect only the hdmi monitor to breath life back into it.
3. Windows Update always Fails trying to update the Iris 5200 driver. If I attempt to load the driver manually (from the Intel website) I get an error "operating system not supported" which I assume is because GB has customized the driver??
4. Someone mentioned that the .inf file for the Asus might be needed to show the allowable resolutions but there doesn't seem to be a driver on the Asus website.
5. Dev Mgr shows a "generic PnP monitor" driver which is probably part of the issue. My other, much older, monitor has its name and model listed correctly.

Here is an Evernote note with additional info if anyone wants more info. You shouldn't need an EN account to look at the note.
[Hmm, the note link gets obfuscated...]

Has anyone been able to get an i5 or i7 Brix with 5200 to do 2560x1440?


Thanks for taking a look!

Hey since you have the Iris Pro based version of the Brix, would you mind running a benchmark?

This one here: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required

Based on the results, the Haswell architecture is a beast at Gamecube/Wii emulation. A Haswell processor is roughly equal to emulating a PowerPC processor at half the speed, which is super impressive. I'm curious if the L4 cache of Iris Pro will have much effect on the benchmark.

It's also interesting in that instruction sets greatly affect the performance of the benchmark, with AMD's newest cpus nearly reaching clock for clock parity in a single threaded benchmark with Nehalem.

One of the recent Anandtech reviews actually included this benchmark:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph7852/61736.png

 

[TheSonicRetard]

Boy I'm glad I found this thread. I got a gigabyte brix pro at Steam Dev Days and I've been having the same problem with no display out since I got it. It seems completely random, sometimes it'll turn on with video out without problem, other times it'll take several boots to get the video working. I'm never sure if the computer is actually running or not, as pressing the power button when I have no video out immediately shuts off the machine, unlike if I pressed it after a normal boot when windows will have to shut down.

I haven't tried dinking with the display port out - I have an adapter - but it happens very commonly with the HDMI port. It's a shame because it's such an awesome tiny PC - I bring it with me everywhere. I see people suggesting everything from ram to the display port, anybody have a more definitive answer?

Getting support on these things is tough, especially since I was given mine at a conference. It's a haswell i7 4770 btw.


EDIT: ^^Above. I have an iris pro based brix pro, I'll try benchmarking for you when I get the time.

 

[john_m0ers]

Hi,
I've had the pleasure (mostly) of building pcs since the days of the xt clones, and I can tell you these are about as simple as they get. I got the quad core intel chip version, as I've never had any joy with amd processors. I had serious doubts initially that these would be much better than the raspberry pi. What a pleasant surprise though, two 4gb ddr3L sodimms and a 1Tb hdd. Plugged everything in, installed win7 home premium from a usb2 dvd writer. After installation, and over 150 updates from windows I have a pc thats as good as my 5 core home pc. The only thing that lets the brix down is the documentation, if you can call it that.
The only thing I've yet to sort out is the wifi, netstumbler finds nothing in our overcrowded 2.4GHz neighbourhood!
I couldn't recommend this product more highly.

john

 

[arbcat]

Just joined to reply here.

I've found with my 4200, that if CSM is enabled, mini display port (to displayport monitor) AND hdmi will NOT work at all and it gets hung somewhere.

It was alive using an apple displayport-vga adapter though, so managed to get it back online. I've managed to replicate this CSM vs NON-CSM behaviour..

Just one more item to look out for..