Intel Next Generation Core i3-i5 DQ??xx vPro Mini-ITX Is Due When?

We put most of our local client systems together around the Intel Desktop Board DQ45EK Mini-ITX motherboard.

We do this because it offers dual DVI out along with Intel’s Active Management Technology (vPro designation).

It also gives us the flexibility to utilize an ultra small form factor case such as the A-Open S145A or In-Win BM639.

What has been puzzling has been the fact that the Micro-ATX DQ57TM board has been available for quite a while but its smaller Mini-ITX sibling has been conspicuously absent.

And, based on this we may not be seeing a newer generation Mini-ITX Executive Series board for a while:

 

• Intel® Desktop Board Extended Life Cycle Plan (North America only)

It seems that the DQ45EK is on extended life support at this time. As a result, a newer Mini-ITX board capable of supporting the new Core i5 or i3 series CPUs may not be available until sometime next year.

When that is exactly has yet to be made public.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Intel DQ45EK BIOS Update Available

A while back we posted about a hiccup with the Intel Desktop Board DQ45EK where we could not get an OS installed (previous post) with 4GB of RAM (2x 2GB) installed.

After a _lot_ of troubleshooting, it turned out to be the BIOS. We backed the BIOS off and were greeted with an OS load and the type of system response times we would expect from that configuration.

Intel has released a new version of the BIOS, version 0115. The problematic version was 0111 with the downgraded version we used being 0109.

• Intel DownloadFinder: DQ45EK

We will begin testing the setup to see if the new BIOS indeed resolves the problem.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Intel Desktop Board DQ45EK – BIOS Recovery No OS Load On BIOS 111

We have a new Mini-ITX Intel Desktop Board DQ45EK based desktop that needs to go out to a client site this week.

For some odd reason the Windows 7 Enterprise x64 OS will not load properly while the two 2GB Kingston RAM sticks are installed for a total of 4GB.

So, we changed out the RAM one at a time and then both sticks. Sill no joy. The system seemingly ran slower than a 386 running Windows 95!

We changed out the desktop board and still had the same behaviour. Today, we picked up some Crucial RAM to replace the Kingston RAM to see if perhaps that there was a new unknown problem with the Kingston products. Again, no joy.

Now, we have _a lot_ of systems out there with this configuration, so this is very puzzling indeed.

The only other possibility that could be causing the problem is the BIOS update we did to production 111.

So, we went to back the BIOS off to production 109 and the update choked.

To recover a desktop BIOS, we needed to follow the instructions on Intel’s Web site:

• Intel Support: Desktop Boards: Instructions for Recovery BIOS update.

We used the production 109 BIOS version as the basis for recovery.

1. Unplug the system.
2. Pull the recovery jumper off by the CPU.
• Note the original position of the jumper.
3. Copy the needed CB0xxx.BIO onto a USB flash drive.
• The file needs to be in the root of the drive.
4. Plug the system in and power it up.
5. BIOS recovery will run.
6. Once complete, power down and pull the plug.
7. Replace the jumper onto pins 1-2.
8. Plug in and power up the system.
• Make sure to verify the BIOS settings for things like RAID or AHCI and others before booting the system.

Once the recovery finished, we jumped into the BIOS to set up the needed settings and Windows 7 booted as expected.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Integration Notes

This is one tight chassis to work with:

When putting a system together based on this chassis there are some considerations to keep in mind:

• The 3.5” SATA drive is upside down under the optical drive taking up most of the available space there.
• The optical drive should be lined up with the bezel once the hard drive has been mounted. Once lined up, then tighten up the mounting screws.
• The included slimline optical drive mounting screws may be too long and interfere with the tray mechanism on some models of slimline drives.
• The bezel needs to be off before inserting the optical drive or something may get scratched on the drive or bezel.
• The PSU to motherboard power adapter cable is huge. The best routing for the adapter cable is right behind the optical drive.

The chassis itself provides some good ventilation holes on the top to allow that small fan just “above” the optical drive in the above shot to breath.

In the initial rush of getting things together for the Intel special order that included the AOpen chassis it was initially overlooked that we could not install a 2.5” 7200RPM drive as part of the system configuration.

Keep this in mind when it comes to creating a system specification. Power wise this is not a problem since the chassis comes with the 160Watt PSU that should be more than powerful enough to handle even a Western Digital Raptor drive.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Order an Intel BOXDQ45EK Mini-ITX = Free AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Chassis 91.90G20.A010

Intel currently has a promotion on called Now’s the Time (Intel’s Promo Site). If we purchase an Intel vPro enabled BOXDQ45EK Mini-ITX motherboard then a freebie chassis will be thrown in at no cost to us.

Here are some of the promos available to us in Canada:

Here in Canada, no one has stock on any of the promo codes except Ingram Micro Canada.

• Ingram Micro SKU 11914L includes:
• Intel DQ45EK Mini-ITX vPro Enabled Motherboard
• AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Chassis

Finding an image of the S145A via search was not very easy to do.

The other distributors have In-Win or Winsis Mini-ITX chassis but no ETA on stock for either. Ingram happens to have a lot of the AOpen S145As so we took a risk.

Here is a side-by-side with an In-Win BM639 series Mini-ITX chassis we have been using to date on the left and the AOpen on the right:

The AOpen is slimmer but longer than the In-Win. Thus, we need to keep that in mind when it comes to the workstation’s desktop footprint.

Folks like the height of the In-Win because an LCD monitor sitting on top of it is actually at a pretty comfortable level for a broad spectrum of users.

The promotion is a good deal, but, for the cost conscious among us it is important to note that the AOpen chassis only accepts slimline optical drives. The AOpen, however, does include a slimline SATA to standard SATA adapter cable which is a nice touch.

The typical slimline DVDRW drive is about $60CA or so from our local sources. A quick check with the larger distributors may yield a much better price.

Another plus on the AOpen’s side is the larger power supply. At 160 Watts we can look at a 150GB or 300GB VelociRaptor (2.5” standalone version linked) for a more robust disk subsystem and not worry about taxing the PSU.

The Ingram promo SKU needed to be ordered via phone as the online card had the SKU listed under the motherboard’s SKU, but would not allow us to place it in the cart.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel And Mini-ITX Makes For Neat Little PCs

Now that Mini-ITX has become a mainstream form factor, it is so much easier to get the various components needed to build systems on it.

We used to do a fair amount of Mini-ITX systems based on the VIA EPIA series Mini-ITX platform. The big plus with the EPIA series was the ultra low power usage with some systems being completely fanless and thus ultra quiet. SSD was not common place, so a Compact Flash drive could be used as an alternate to a laptop hard drive.

Intel has a couple of Core 2 Duo/Quad based Mini-ITX form factor boards:

• Intel BOXDQ45EK
• Intel BOXDG45FC

To date, we have been using In-Win BM639 series chassis to put everything into. They are a very classy looking case in black.

We have professional services office such as doctors and dentists that have these little PCs strapped under a counter out of sight with only a keyboard and mouse on an articulating arm along with a wall mounted LCD providing folks in the room maximum desk space for charts and paperwork.

Currently, Intel has a promotion on for their vPro series IITX motherboard:

• Now’s the Time…... Buy an Intel® DQ45EK Board and receive a FREE mini-ITX Chassis

There are a number of chassis manufacturers that have their products involved in the offering, so this would be a good way to discover other Mini-ITX chassis manufacturer’s products without costing us a dime.

One promising chassis is made by a company we have never heard of is Winsis.

The Wi-02 chassis looks quite nice too (product shot from their Web site):

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel vPro System Defense Utility Now Available

We use the Intel System Defense Utility to manage our smaller clients that have vPro enabled workstations.

The utility gives us the ability to power cycle the system, remote boot via image for troubleshooting or OS load, and more.

It is available here: Intel System Defense Utility.

Some prep work on the workstation needs to happen prior to being able to connect with the ISDU.

• AMT password set.
• System Name.
• AMT management set to SMB versus Enterprise.
• AMT set to the newest version.

We keep a record of all of the system names and their AMT passwords.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel System Defense Utility Is Not Available?

We use the Intel System Defense Utility to manage our vPro enabled workstations here in our shop as well as at client sites.

Apparently the utility has been pulled:

The e-mail link in the above screenshot is live on the download site here: Intel System Defense Utility Download.

The text file does not mention anything other than the fact that it has been temporarily pulled:

Please note that the Intel(r) System Defense Utility is temporarily unavailable. Please check back in the future. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact your local Intel Customer Center for additional information. You may contact Intel Customer Support by visiting http://supportmail.intel.com/

Hopefully we will see the download reappear soon!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel Mini-ITX DQ45EK System Integration

The new Intel DQ45EK vPro series Mini-ITX motherboard allows us to put together some pretty slick systems with really small footprints.

We do not, as a rule, build our own workstations. We have a phenomenal system builder local to us that we have been dealing with for 10 years now (through previous employers as well).

But, one of the things we like to do with new technologies is test out the system configuration we plan on selling to our clients.

This configuration will be set up as follows:

• Intel® Core™2 Duo Desktop Processor E8400 - SLB9J
• Intel® Desktop Board DQ45EK – Overview
• 4GB Kingston Non-ECC RAM (2x KVR800D2N9/2G)
• ST9320421AS Momentus 7200.3 SATA 3Gb/s 320-GB Hard Drive | Seagate
• In-Win BM639 Series Mini-ITX Chassis with 120Watt PSU

A Lite-On DVD-RW drive and Microsoft OEM keyboard/mouse combination kit rounds out the configuration.

Given the cramped conditions inside of the chassis, it is important to make sure all of the power and data cables are routed in such a way as to stay clear of the CPU cooling fan:

Intel DQ45EK Fan Power Cable Routing

As shown in the above image, we made sure to tuck the CPU fan’s power cable around the CPU cooling fan mounting posts and then remove any slack from the cable so that it stays under the posts.

This is especially important for systems that may be transported or shipped somewhere as the jostling about can cause cables to move within the chassis. We do not want to get a phone call with the user on the other end complaining about a fairly loud buzzing noise emanating from within the chassis.

Another small caveat has to do with the installation of a 2.5” or laptop sized SATA hard drive:

2.5” Seagate Momentus installed on the HDD Carrier

The drive needs to be installed on the backside of the drive cage when using 2.5” drives. The drive cage has a good sized breather hole that resides right under the middle of the drive. The edges of the hole are wrapped around towards to inside of the cage. Thus, they present a good sized raised obstacle for mounting a laptop drive there.

There are also four raised mounts that face towards the inside of the chassis, that is on the outside of the drive cage. If the drive was mounted on the inside of the drive cage instead of the way it is in the above image, the drive’s electronics would be grounded out on the breather hole lip and we would lose a hard drive very quickly.

And finally, since the system comes with only 1 SATA power connector from the power supply, a Molex to SATA power connector converter will be required to give the SATA optical drive power.

When it comes to putting systems together, a flash of the BIOS is necessary to bring things up to date once the motherboard is installed in the system. After the update, a check of the BIOS settings to make sure they are correct is the last step before installing an OS.

Once the system was put together, we were very impressed by how quite it was. Not only that, it installed Windows 7 in very short order and is quite snappy in its responses. Our client will be very happy with this configuration.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer