CWWK i5-1235U 6 port i226 report

[BoneheadTDS]

I attempted to update the BIOS using the instructions in this post using an SD card with a USB C adapter. It took several minutes and stepped through blocks of checksums, so it seemed to be working. However, after it completed and rebooted, there was no video output and no USB devices seemed to get power.

I believe I have bricked the computer due to a failed BIOS update.

I think my only possible recovery option is to physically flash the BIOS chip. Is there anything I should try? If not, where is the BIOS chip located on the board and what flash programmer would you recommend?

 

[beisser]

did you wait long enough after flashing?
the pc needs a really long time after flashing before it comes back to life.
turn it on and wait 2 minutes.
it really took forever for me until it came back.

 

[BoneheadTDS]

did you wait long enough after flashing?
the pc needs a really long time after flashing before it comes back to life.
turn it on and wait 2 minutes.
it really took forever for me until it came back.

The first time I think waited about 10 minutes after the screen went blank before cycling power. In hindsight, I wish I would have waited longer, so that could be the cause. Since then, I've waited hours. I've tried with and without the m.2 SSD, but when I originally flashed the BIOS, the SSD card was inserted.

 

[ShortCircuit]

Hi !

I finally put 4 SSD inside the case (one is not present in the picture but it fit).


The M.2 adapter is fixed with a strong double sided sticker. I was too lazy to create a 3D design to fix it properly.

But I made 2 design to be 3D printed :

Printables

www.printables.com

Printables

www.printables.com

Now it's time to install proxmox-ve and setup my stuff on it (openwrt, kube and all services)

 

[beisser]

make sure you dont use zfs with those ssds in proxmox.
the ssds will die extremely fast (months to a year) due to their very low write endurance and the potential write amplification caused by zfs.

lvm shouldnt have that issue, but also has less data integrity features.

 

[ShortCircuit]

Thanks for the advise
I don't use raid. For @Home server, I prefer using some rsync scripts, it's enough for me.

 

[beisser]

i didnt say anything about raid though.
i said zfs, which is a filesystem.
one that likes to eat cheap consumer-ssds for breakfast.
it was just friendly advice.
i made the mistake of using a consumer nvme-ssd in combination with zfs at first and it ate 20% of its lifetime in 3 months.

 

[cyrild89]

Hi !

I finally put 4 SSD inside the case (one is not present in the picture but it fit).
View attachment 33918

The M.2 adapter is fixed with a strong double sided sticker. I was too lazy to create a 3D design to fix it properly.

But I made 2 design to be 3D printed :

Printables

www.printables.com

Printables

www.printables.com

Now it's time to install proxmox-ve and setup my stuff on it (openwrt, kube and all services)

Hello, I want the same M2 adapter, where did you find it please?

 

[ShortCircuit]

i didnt say anything about raid though.
i said zfs, which is a filesystem.
one that likes to eat cheap consumer-ssds for breakfast.
it was just friendly advice.
i made the mistake of using a consumer nvme-ssd in combination with zfs at first and it ate 20% of its lifetime in 3 months.

Sorry, I always thought zfs was a kind of raid. But yes, I don't use any kind of that, I only use ext4. Simple.

Hello, I want the same M2 adapter, where did you find it please?

Aliexpress :

https://aliexpress.com/item/1005001856472232.html

 

[beisser]

you are actually correct in the sense, that zfs always creates a pool with a set raidlevel.
in this you were correct and i was incorrect.
it is possible to use zfs with just one disk though (will be set as a single disk raid 0 pool)

i personally prefer zfs over ext4 for the simple reason that it provides me with some data integrity functions thats ext4 doesnt have.
i sometimes have a power outtage and that always runs the risk of damaging my data or losing cached data (had the filesystem corrupt really badly on ext4 so that i couldnt even update proxmox anymore).

since switching to zfs (on cheap proper enterprise ssd's from aliexpress, in my case intel s3610) this did not happen again.
but for consumer ssds ext4 is the better choice.

faster, less write amplification (longer lifespan).

 

[DougQuaid]

Hi All, I managed to reduce idle power consumption to 9 Watts. There are few caveats to achieve this, but it is not that hard.
First, this works only without SATA drive, the SATA drive prevents the CPU package to go to deeper sleep states.
Second, you need to use unlocked BIOS HWP On - 02/07/2023 form this post , it will not work with the newer BIOS, since it has lowest package C-state locked to C1.

The point is to go through all of the BIOS settings and set ASPM for all PCI-E ports/devices to Enabled/Auto/L0+L1, so it is not Disabled anywhere.
Then add pcie_aspm=force pcie_aspm.policy=powersupersave to linux kernel boot parameters. For some reason, it thinks that ASPM is not supported, so we need to force enable it and also set the policy to power saving mode.
Disconnect display, or if you are using some graphical desktop environment, set display to sleep.
Then the CPU package will go to C6 state which will reduce power consumption by few Watts.

With SATA drive the package will go to C3 only, which results in around 11 Watts in idle.

You can check if you enabled all ASPM in bios by running lspci -vv | grep 'ASPM.*abled;' as root, it will output 16 lines and on each line should be ASPM enabled
You can check the package power states using powertop

 

[besos]

Hi, I have one question, where in bios can I find option responsible for secure boot?

Hi, did you find the option of Secure Boot, I spend 2 hours allready with no succes...

 

[pawasi]

Hi, did you find the option of Secure Boot, I spend 2 hours allready with no succes...

No, I also didn't find secure boot in bios options, I configured my proxmox server without secure boot.

 

[fta]

Hi All, I managed to reduce idle power consumption to 9 Watts. There are few caveats to achieve this, but it is not that hard.
First, this works only without SATA drive, the SATA drive prevents the CPU package to go to deeper sleep states.
Second, you need to use unlocked BIOS HWP On - 02/07/2023 , it will not work with the newer BIOS, since it has lowest package C-state locked to C1.

This is great, thanks! I'll be putting this to use next chance I get.

Can you edit your post to link to the post that has the BIOS? That way people have the warning and instructions that go with it.

 

[DougQuaid]

This is great, thanks! I'll be putting this to use next chance I get.

Can you edit your post to link to the post that has the BIOS? That way people have the warning and instructions that go with it.

Post edited.
I also managed to achieve the C6 package state with SATA drive, but it involves switching the intel controller to VMD mode which can prevent installed system from booting. With Manjaro, I had to boot from fallback kernel and rebuild initramfs image.

 

[Stimpy68]

Hi there, I'm very interested in this unit, but looking at CWWK on Ali (Can't find the unit there anymore? ) and their own site, the prices are quite high, and have to calculate customs/VAT and so on. So was looking on my local Amazon, and found this one:

https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0BVRBG73R/?coliid=I2BWGQ4MWV2GBS&colid=211G87C3DF9YJ&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

Reading this topic, seems that this is the same unit, and coming from my local Amazon, no need to pay customs.
Still having doubts on what to buy, the full package (64GB and 2TB) or buying a barebone (and what storage and memory works?). Any thoughts on this? I want to buy 2 units to life cycle my "ancient" current proxmox cluster setup.

 

[beisser]

the price on that amazon unit is pretty good (for the barebone without ram/disk). about the same that i paid on aliexpress 9 months ago.
im not sure that 64gb + 2tb ssd are worth the extra price there though.
i recently bought 2x32GB ddr4 3200 for this device from aliexpress for 100 Euros including vat and no customs ( https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005005999148571.html).
a 2TB SSD (nvme) you can have on amazon for another 100 euros (https://www.amazon.de/fanxiang-S500-Pro-Eingebaute-Wärmeleitpaste/dp/B0BCQS37R7/ )

they charge a 310 euro extra for that.

only worth it if you dont want to do it yourself, otherwise you should save on the money.

 

[Stimpy68]

Thanks, yeah, the price on Amazon is pretty good. In the case of the memory and storage , I was more thinking about should I go for the branded stuff, like Samsung, Crucial and so on. Although the unit is Chinese, and my other PVE host is a qotom, thats is still going strong after 4 years running, it has branded mem and storage in it. I'm not that familiar with the chinese branded memory and storage.

Also, I want to add a smaller boot ssd to the system, so will also need a expension board. Saving money is always very nice offcourse, but in this case my employer pays about 75% of it Just want to know if the memory and storage provided in the unit is any good.

 

[beisser]

cant say much about the memory yet. have been using this particular one only for a little over 3 weeks.
i have used other chinese memory (2x 16GB PUSKILL) for the 8 months before that without any issues whatsoever.

Fanxiang SSD's i have use both in this device (before i switched filesystem to ZFS) as well as several Desktop Computers without any issues (using Ext4 and NTFS).
the only downside to them is that they are not good for use with ZFS filesystem.
but this affects any consumer ssds, even from brand names such as Samsung.

zfs simply requires enterprise ssd's, which are built to endure.
as long as you are not planning on using ZFS, the Fanxiang-SSD's should be as good as any other SSD.

from this particular seres (s500pro) im currently using 3 different models with 500GB, 1TB and 2TB in my Desktop and they are all working fine.

in this minipc i am using cheap second hand sata enterprise ssd's (Intel S3610 1.6TB) due to my usage of ZFS, which kills Consumer-SSD's within months.

 

[Stimpy68]

Ah okay, wanted to use ZFS... so that can be an issue. Although a friend of mine uses ZFS on his consumer SSD's for 2 years now, without any issues. Will take a look at those Intel SSD's!