CWWK/Topton/ N95/N100/N200/N305 quad NIC router 5 BIOS-error-beeps and black screen error

[Becks0815]

Good, but in my first post about the N100 I mentioned the issues with HDMI

I think I learned something today: do not buy ANYTHING over Aliexpress, and do not trust any product description from Chinese products. Also, returning a product costs 43€ to china, a significant loss for a 250€ product, just to get a return.

But I have mentioned this issue in my first comment about the N100. Why did you order it, despite this bug, and now complain about it? Concerning Ali - it is always gambling, and rule #1 for ordering is: only buy goods you can write off without a headache. That was reason #1 for ordering from CWWK, because their reputation is higher than Topton.

 

[UtahOSB]

Same issue. 1 beep - 5 beeps. After dorking around a bit and fussing with RAM and SDDs I came to the conclusion it had to be an issue with DP or DP cable. I've seen some other PCs struggle with resolutions in the past. Found a HDMI to VGA adapter in my drawer of goodies and rebooted. One beep and BIOS screen. Hopefully after some config I will be off to the races.

 

[RevAngel]

So, with this issue, conversion from HDMI to VGA and DVI-D seems to work. Good luck to you @UtahOSB !

 

[keithm]

Hunsn RJ35 i3-n305: crucial CT16G48C40S5 (16 GB).

I have the 1 beep followed by 5 beeps when booting into either windows 11 or opnsense (bare metal) with no display attached (HDMI or displayport). Attach either HDMI (monitor or HDMI dummy) or displayport monitor and the 5 beeps go away.

Unit passes intel CPU diagnostics (under windows 11) and memtest86.
Clearing CMOS has no effect.

Interesting in that I have another monitor that has a blank screen when connected via hdmi to the Hunsn RJ35, but works fine when connected via displayport.

This same monitor when connected via HDMI also has a blank screen when connected to a NUC13.
The NUC13 does not have a displayport connection so I could not test displayport on it.

The HDMI cable works with both the RJ35 and NUC13 when connected to a LG 32UL950 monitor....

Keith

 

[squishy2023]

One thing I discovered with these newer N100/N200 based AlderLake mini pcs is that mine shipped with a key jumper in the incorrect position. The manuals need seriously better documentation.

It would give the 1 long beep 3 short beep codes. This is a memory error detection.
I had a brand new Crucial DDR5 sodimm 16gb stick and it would beep with or without the memory installed. No visible damage to board.

Ended up being the JPWR1 jumper (next to memory slot toward power button plate side next to CMOS battery) was set in wrong position which affects the DDR5 memory.

 

[keithm]

One thing I discovered with these newer N100/N200 based AlderLake mini pcs is that mine shipped with a key jumper in the incorrect position. The manuals need seriously better documentation.

It would give the 1 long beep 3 short beep codes. This is a memory error detection.
I had a brand new Crucial DDR5 sodimm 16gb stick and it would beep with or without the memory installed. No visible damage to board.

Ended up being the JPWR1 jumper (next to memory slot toward power button plate side next to CMOS battery) was set in wrong position which affects the DDR5 memory.

That is very interesting about the jumper. Do you happen to know what it does and/or what position it should be in?

Thanks
Keith

 

[squishy2023]

That is very interesting about the jumper. Do you happen to know what it does and/or what position it should be in?

Thanks
Keith

It's hard to say. It could be a couple possibilities since they do not really have this board design listed in many places yet.

1. It could be a simple clear cmos setting that was left there and this would never allow a boot. However the ami bios beeps contradict that as 1 long 3 short is a memory not detected issue ( got the same beeps with or without the ddr5 memory module installed ).
2. The most likely is that these are super cheap boards with no auto detect option for the memory. DDR4 uses about 1.2-1.25 v while DDR5 uses 1.1 v. I would surmise that this is the likely problem since the N100/N200 support both but they do not say how - whether inherent in the board or chip.

I had to go back and take apart the router as I just got finished installing the base pfsense 2.70 on it ( have to take down the home network to finish the install ).

The pins marked 1 (white on left side on board) 2 and 3 - it was on the 1-2 pin when it would not detect the ddr5 I moved this to 2-3 pins and it booted up with no detection issues.

I also found that it had issues with old nvme drives. It would not detect an old 512gb 950 pro nvme I had but it would detect the sabrent rocket 4 1tb nvme.

 

[JohnKr]

My HUNSN did it too, I connected a DVI monitor to the HDMI port on the unit with an adapter, no problems, work as a charm. I use it for Opnsense, so It will not have anything hooked up to it, but when there is no monitor detected, it will boot op with this 1+5 beeps...it WILL boot tho. I just disabled the beep feature in BIOS, an HDMI dummy works too. Sorry, cant remember BIOS version, and dont want to hook up a monitor to it, to find out.
My understanding is, that the monitor problem only occurs with HDMI to HDMI, not with VGA to HDMI, DVI to HDMI..etc

 

[F W]

My HUNSN did it too, I connected a DVI monitor to the HDMI port on the unit with an adapter, no problems, work as a charm. I use it for Opnsense, so It will not have anything hooked up to it, but when there is no monitor detected, it will boot op with this 1+5 beeps...it WILL boot tho. I just disabled the beep feature in BIOS, an HDMI dummy works too. Sorry, cant remember BIOS version, and dont want to hook up a monitor to it, to find out.
My understanding is, that the monitor problem only occurs with HDMI to HDMI, not with VGA to HDMI, DVI to HDMI..etc

My unit is a HUNSN too. I didn't manage to find any option in BIOS to disable beeping. Can you please let me know where it is? Thank you in advance!
I plan to use this computer without keyboard, mouse, and display monitor, and the beeping is so annoying. HDMI/DisplayPort dummy plugs work, but I don't want to spend extra money on it, and it creates unnecessary graphic processing workload for the CPU (even it's minor). Plus, the dummy plug will increase risks to damage the video port if force applied on it by accident.

 

[F W]

That is very interesting about the jumper. Do you happen to know what it does and/or what position it should be in?

Thanks
Keith

There are 2 jumpers. Each controls the 2 USB ports close to it.
One position makes the computer provide DC power to the 2 USB ports when shutdown.
The other position makes the computer cut DC power to the 2 USB ports when shutdown.
IMO, they have nothing to do with the RAM. I am not 100% sure because I don't have the manual. But that's from my personal test result. I heard that some users complained about lacking controls on the USB power for products from the previous generations. (It seems the old generation products never cut the USB power when shutdown), so the manufacturer added these jumpers to give users the control.

 

[F W]

A lot of mini computers are very picky on monitors connected via HDMI, including this model and some Intel NUCs. On the other hand, their DisplayPort (or USB-C display output) tend to work flawlessly.
For these HDMI-picky PCs, which monitor works and which doesn't seems to be completely random! You'd better have multiple monitors or different type of video port available to try, otherwise you may get no display which makes you think the PC you got is a f**ked up unit. It happened to me multiple times on a lot of different mini PCs.

 

[JohnKr]

My unit is a HUNSN too. I didn't manage to find any option in BIOS to disable beeping. Can you please let me know where it is? Thank you in advance!
I plan to use this computer without keyboard, mouse, and display monitor, and the beeping is so annoying. HDMI/DisplayPort dummy plugs work, but I don't want to spend extra money on it, and it creates unnecessary graphic processing workload for the CPU (even it's minor). Plus, the dummy plug will increase risks to damage the video port if force applied on it by accident.

Sorry, I cant remember…I have read tho, that some Hunsn units dont have that feature in BIOS

 

[F W]

Sorry, I cant remember…I have read tho, that some Hunsn units dont have that feature in BIOS

No worries bro! I've figured that out. You're right about it. It requires the "new" BIOS version (04/04/2023 version or later). I had the March 2023 version so didn't have that option. I asked HUNSN and they gave me the new version. Thanks anyway! At least you made me know the option exists.

 

[F W]

The topic/subject mentioned CWWK and Topton only. HUNSN (深圳寒松科技) seems to be pretty solid too. At least better than Topton IMO.

 

[Chrisabird]

Trying to work out if my issues are related to this....

Initial boot got the black screen and beeps, swapped out memory just in case and did a CMOS clear and now it does nothing. Hit the power button, no beeps, power LED flashes once, they comes on for 10-15s then shuts off and repeats. Let it sit like that for a while in case it's just memory training but never gets out of the loop. Tried two different HDMI monitors, and a DPort one too, just in case it was doing something and couldn't see it too.

Starting to think it's just bricked. which would be weird from just a CMOS clear.

Anyone here seen anything similar.

 

[lurker3145]

Just adding an update for others here regarding 32GB memory - image attached of the unit I purchased from the Topton store in Aliexpress.

I cannot get this unit to work with 32GB DDR5 DIMMS. I have tried -
* Corsair Vengance CMSX32GX5M1A4800C40
* Crucial ‎CT32G48C40S5

This unit was previously working with a 16GB Corsair Vengance CMSX16GX5M1A4800C40 DIMM, but that failed and so I thought I would take the opportunity to upgrade to 32GB based on the discussion here. I know this unit still works with another 16GB Corsair Vengance SODIMM that I tried from another working system.

When I tried to use the 32GB DIMMs there is no display, no beeping, but the power light comes on. I can hold the power button for four seconds and it powers off, but when I press it again the power button lights up and nothing else happens.

So it seems for some units the 16GB limit really is the limit.

 

[alaricljs]

When I tried to use the 32GB DIMMs there is no display, no beeping, but the power light comes on. I can hold the power button for four seconds and it powers off, but when I press it again the power button lights up and nothing else happens.

How much time are you waiting for the system to re-train the memory?

 

[lurker3145]

How much time are you waiting for the system to re-train the memory?

It's a good point, but I had the same experience with the first DIMM I installed. The unit would not boot immediately with the 16GB DIMM but did so after a couple of minutes, and then was OK after that, so I left the unit turned on for about half an hour with the 32GB DIMMs in the hope that it would work itself out, but no luck with either DIMM. Could it take longer than half an hour? Not sure. Maybe a BIOS upgrade is required?

 

[ITPro44]

I thought I'd add my experience to the pool in hope that it helps someone else. I just purchased and received CWWK N100 5 port model bare bones off the CWWK website.

1. beeps 5x repeatedly if no ram is installed.
2. Crucial 16GB CT16G48C40S5 installed- no beeps, but got a black screen using DP to DP, HDMI to HDMI an d HDMI to DVI.
3. GSkill F5-5200S3838A16GA1-RS installed based on @RevAngel's post (thank you!) - 1 beep, goes straight to AMI bios v5.27 using DP to DP and HDMI to DVI. HDMI to HDMI i gets one beep but still a black screen. *

*odd thing was, the GSkill ram didn't work at first with DP to DP. It wasn't until I used a HDMI to DVI cable and had it work successfully that I tried DP to DP again and it worked. I couldn't get crucial to work with any combo. This little box is f'ing buggy. I realize this sounds odd, but I'm just documenting my experience. All these tests were done with nothing else connected or installed other then what was mentioned.

My Conclusions:

• HDMI to HDMI never works.
• HDMI to DVI works.
• DP to DP works.
• Crucial RAM never works.
• GSkill ram works, but only after using a HDMI to DP cable. (so weird)

Edit - I'm using a Dell S2716DG monitor (2560x1440 native res)

 

[RevAngel]

Hi @ITPro44 , thank you for sharing your experience!

Very nice you solved your RAM issue. You are welcome.

But do you have any information how the display output issue has something to do with the RAM? Or do you think it just worked with the RAM and the display issue is there regardless?

To everyone reading here,
are you aware of a BIOS update working for this hardware? Can you post a link or a way to get it?

Thank you in advance!