Greetings from the UK - and some questions / support required

[gadgetviper]

Hi,

Firstly hello from the UK, I have a NEO-N42C-4 which I'm planning on doing a detailed review on. It came with a 128GB SSD and an additional 4GB of RAM. I installed the extra RAM and was about to also add the SSD when I noticed on the installation leaflet that it said 'prior to installing the SSD it's important to activate the windows 10 pro on the PC' then change the bios settings to disable the SCC eMMc support option. - I did this, no probs and installed the SSD. When restarting the PC, it was displaying a screen 'checking media presence' and was attempting to start PXE over IPv4, then IPv6, then it would drop into Shell. I eventually resolved this problem by changing the boot order in the bios so it booted with 'Windows Boot manager'

Is this something that should be explained in the instructions along with the Chipset configuration?

I've now encountered an additional issue where the screen goes black after the initial boot. I'm able to get the system to load in safe mode. I have a feeling that perhaps the display adapter driver isn't loading correctly. - I'm currently trying to resolve the issue (any suggestions would be appreciated)

The screen goes black before the user login, not sure if the issue could be related to that problem? I've attached a picture of the events log for reference.

Lastly, I tried the reset PC option in the windows 10 recovery options and it went through the reset process, then rebooted back to the blank screen. I left it alone on the blank screen and it eventually rebooted with a message asking to clear the computer's TPM (trusted platform module) (see attached picture)

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Simon

 

[ArcticWolf]

Hi,

Firstly hello from the UK, I have a NEO-N42C-4 which I'm planning on doing a detailed review on. It came with a 128GB SSD and an additional 4GB of RAM. I installed the extra RAM and was about to also add the SSD when I noticed on the installation leaflet that it said 'prior to installing the SSD it's important to activate the windows 10 pro on the PC' then change the bios settings to disable the SCC eMMc support option. - I did this, no probs and installed the SSD. When restarting the PC, it was displaying a screen 'checking media presence' and was attempting to start PXE over IPv4, then IPv6, then it would drop into Shell. I eventually resolved this problem by changing the boot order in the bios so it booted with 'Windows Boot manager'

Is this something that should be explained in the instructions along with the Chipset configuration?

I've now encountered an additional issue where the screen goes black after the initial boot. I'm able to get the system to load in safe mode. I have a feeling that perhaps the display adapter driver isn't loading correctly. - I'm currently trying to resolve the issue (any suggestions would be appreciated)

The screen goes black before the user login, not sure if the issue could be related to that problem? I've attached a picture of the events log for reference.

Lastly, I tried the reset PC option in the windows 10 recovery options and it went through the reset process, then rebooted back to the blank screen. I left it alone on the blank screen and it eventually rebooted with a message asking to clear the computer's TPM (trusted platform module) (see attached picture)

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Simon

Have you allowed Win 10 to update to 1809?

The 1809 update causes a lot of errors in the event logs, & various problems with Windows & the device in general. You should be able to rollback to 1803 within Windows, or of course you can just start fresh again & reinstall the MINIX 1803 image. (If something didn't install correctly due to the BIOS configuration at the time it may pay to do a completely fresh install anyway in this instance now you have the BIOS all sorted too.)

Once done, defer the 1809 feature update in Windows settings for the maximum 365 days & remain with 1803 for the time being.

Obviously, you need to set the SSD as the primary device for the boot order after you've finished installing off the USB flash drive.

 

[gadgetviper]

Have you allowed Win 10 to update to 1809?

The 1809 update causes a lot of errors in the event logs, & various problems with Windows & the device in general. You should be able to rollback to 1803 within Windows, or of course you can just start fresh again & reinstall the MINIX 1803 image. (If something didn't install correctly due to the BIOS configuration at the time it may pay to do a completely fresh install anyway in this instance now you have the BIOS all sorted too.)

Once done, defer the 1809 feature update in Windows settings for the maximum 365 days & remain with 1803 for the time being.

Obviously, you need to set the SSD as the primary device for the boot order after you've finished installing off the USB flash drive.

While I was waiting for the response (thanks by the way) I downloaded the [1709] image and did a fresh install, everything seemed to be going well. It completed, restarted and then the screen reverted back to black. I didn't get to see the 'cleanup Test.jpg' page as shown on the firmware install guide. I guess I can reattempt it with the [1803] version of the firmware and see if that works.

If it still blank screens, I'll try using a different PC monitor and HDMI cable, although as it doesn't go blank when I manage to start it in safe mode, I'm not sure it's a hardware issue.

 

[ArcticWolf]

While I was waiting for the response (thanks by the way) I downloaded the [1709] image and did a fresh install, everything seemed to be going well. It completed, restarted and then the screen reverted back to black. I didn't get to see the 'cleanup Test.jpg' page as shown on the firmware install guide. I guess I can reattempt it with the [1803] version of the firmware and see if that works.

If it still blank screens, I'll try using a different PC monitor and HDMI cable, although as it doesn't go blank when I manage to start it in safe mode, I'm not sure it's a hardware issue.

Certainly some odd symptoms. I'll go back through the BIOS on my N42C & list settings or post screenshots of anything that stands out when I get a chance. I definitely changed several settings before the first run!!

Official MINIX 1803 image for the N42C is here.... https://theminixforum.com/index.php?threads/neo-n42c-4-windows-10-pro-os-image-1803.5/ . Same section as the 1709 .

Works fine .

 

[gadgetviper]

Update on the problem-

This morning I decided to rule out the possibility that it was somehow an issue with it running on my HDMI monitor (Samsung S22D300). I took the Minix and attached it to my TV, it worked flawlessly. So it would seem that for some reason it's having a problem integrating with the monitor beyond the Bios or Safe mode. - I'll try and find a workaround today

I've deferred the 1809 feature update as suggested, just out of curiosity, would the auto-update to the latest windows version cause enough issues for it to be a problem for other users who are unaware of the bugs?

Thanks for your help