Topton Jasper Lake Quad i225V Mini PC Report

[doomdylan]

I got this GF-1338NP-12 N5105 from AliExpress that was reviewed some time ago and looked perfect for my needs to replace my existing router alongside an AP. Put in 2x16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM's and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (which is insanely overkill, I know), but the problem is that I can't get it to power on at all. I've tried a bunch of things, but so far no luck.

• Cleared CMOS
• Replaced CMOS battery
• Only used 1 of 2 RAM sticks in either of the two available slots
• Tried with and without the SSD
• Tried different 12V 4A power adapters I have lying around

Not sure what else I can try, but does anyone have any ideas?
This is the listing for it on AliExpress if that's helpful: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804116114245.html

Hi, I have the same board but with N5100.

I think I may help you. As someone suggested before, it may be related to RAM.
I solved a very similar problem by simply replacing the "EC12" capacitor, near RAM slots.
You have to remove the solid state capacitor and put an electrolytic one.
EC12 is 560uF / 6,3V. I replaced it with a Panasonic FM.

The Low ESR of solid state capacitor, may cause some problems.
Vendor talks about "compatibility", in my opinion is just a design flaw.

Try to power on the computer without RAM. If it turns on, I think your problem is the same as mine.
I fixed it 1 year ago, it is working fine 24/24h since then.
In my case sometimes it eventually starts retrying 10/20 times.
When the power-on sequence fails, a protection kicks in and you have to detach the power plug for a couple of seconds to reset.

Just ask if you need more details.

 

[miqp]

Hi, I've been successfully running the mini-PC as a server for the past two years, but lately its getting stuck on the BIOS boot screen randomly after a reboot, forcing me to manually reset the CMOS and wait about an hour until it boots.

I've checked the sites and forums where the BIOS updates are supposed to be at, but everything is in Chinese and I'm unsure if it's the corresponding binary for my board.

I would be grateful if someone is able to help me find it and update, I don't want to risk bricking it.
Thanks in advance.

BIOS: GF-1338NP-12-V13
Vendor: Techvision, LLC
Product: TVI7309X
Version 5.19
CPU: N5105
IO: COM, 4x2.5Gb Eth, HDMI, DP, 2xUSB2, 2xUSB3

 

[Stovar]

Getting stuck on bios screen? Is it still accessible and you can move up and down in bios?

If its still working in bios and just jumping to bios screen during a reboot or power up, its possible you have to reset bios and then change your boot order devices so its pointing to the correct boot device or the boot device needs to be reset, otherwise it just jumps to the bios screen.

Have you done any diagnostic to see if its other hardware causing the issue? I would disconnect all devices from the external ports ie USB ports, network cables etc, and leave just the AC power cable and hdmi/dp left in and then retry and see if it hangs on bios or not.

Could also be a bad sata or nvme drive, so worth if reloading those or trying another one if you can.

 

[miqp]

Getting stuck on bios screen? Is it still accessible and you can move up and down in bios?

If its still working in bios and just jumping to bios screen during a reboot or power up, its possible you have to reset bios and then change your boot order devices so its pointing to the correct boot device or the boot device needs to be reset, otherwise it just jumps to the bios screen.

Have you done any diagnostic to see if its other hardware causing the issue? I would disconnect all devices from the external ports ie USB ports, network cables etc, and leave just the AC power cable and hdmi/dp left in and then retry and see if it hangs on bios or not.

Could also be a bad sata or nvme drive, so worth if reloading those or trying another one if you can.

It's not after every reboot, just sometimes.

When this happens, it will just shows the AMI logo top left through HDMI and that's all it will do.
After holding the reset button, it shows a green Chinese logo and after 30-60 mins the bios will be back as normal.

Currently it's working and has been booting without getting stuck for around a week, but might happen again at any time.

This happened the first time in December after a reboot, only AC and Eth connected. Has only happened 2 times since then.
I've changed the CMOS battery and the NVMe SMART shows the drive is healthy. I doubt the drive is the issue, since the BIOS didn't even manage to load correctly. That's why I think it might be a BIOS bug or corruption.

 

[Stovar]

It's not after every reboot, just sometimes.

When this happens, it will just shows the AMI logo top left through HDMI and that's all it will do.
After holding the reset button, it shows a green Chinese logo and after 30-60 mins the bios will be back as normal.

Currently it's working and has been booting without getting stuck for around a week, but might happen again at any time.

This happened the first time in December after a reboot, only AC and Eth connected. Has only happened 2 times since then.
I've changed the CMOS battery and the NVMe SMART shows the drive is healthy. I doubt the drive is the issue, since the BIOS didn't even manage to load correctly. That's why I think it might be a BIOS bug or corruption.

Could be bios issue try resetting it to factory settings via bios menu few times, sometimes its a bad device connected to the system ie nvme/sata drive or even an usb device that can make it hang in bios.

If you remove the nvme, try and restart it several times and see if it gets stuck or not. Same with anything attached on inside of the mini pc, even try 1 ram module (if you got 2)

Worth running memtest, re-pasting cpu paste or checking cpu thermals also to rule out anything.

I think the last resort would be backing up bios and reflashing the latest bios, but its risky if you believe its corrupted. If its under warranty worth a long shot to ask for a replacement motherboard.

 

[miqp]

Could be bios issue try resetting it to factory settings via bios menu few times, sometimes its a bad device connected to the system ie nvme/sata drive or even an usb device that can make it hang in bios.

If you remove the nvme, try and restart it several times and see if it gets stuck or not. Same with anything attached on inside of the mini pc, even try 1 ram module (if you got 2)

Worth running memtest, re-pasting cpu paste or checking cpu thermals also to rule out anything.

I think the last resort would be backing up bios and reflashing the latest bios, but its risky if you believe its corrupted. If its under warranty worth a long shot to ask for a replacement motherboard.

Memtest results were ok. It has a Noctua fan connected and replaced the paste with MX-4 around a year ago. Right now with multiple VMs it's at 41ºC, so thermals are not the issue.

I have a CH341A programmer, I could read the flash before updating. I'd say the BIOS is stored in the Winbond 25Q128JVSQ that is located near the battery, between the Ethernet magnetics and and electrolytic capacitor close to the DC input.

The update process would be:
- Remove DC and CMOS battery.
- Dump and verify BIOS using CH341A
- Connect power and USB drive with BIOS updater.
- Enter EFI Shell and run updater.

Did I miss something? Where can I get the updated bios for this model?

 

[vincele6]

Where can I get the updated bios for this model?

That's the hard part, unfortunately...

 

[Stovar]

Sounds the right idea, if you are able to do all that with the bios it maybe worth a try.

Maybe contact the manufacturer and ask for a bios update, you can sometimes go through aliexpress messaging system (ie like topton/cwwk) to get a better response.

 

[Ozymandias]

Could you usb boot to the efi shell and run:

fpt.efi -D MyOriginalBios.bin

to dump the bios to the usb stick?

 

[cdru]

<tin foil hat>What if the bios was compromised by evil hackers/deep state/grandma and they also hacked the dumping tool to mask itself?</tin foil hat>

More seriously though, that might be a way to verify hashes with a factory version (once acquired) for instance, and it might be better than nothing, but I wouldn't necessarily trust a backup image from a system that may have a bad image.

 

[Levent]

I have been having weird problems with my device maybe someone here had it too. If I shut the device down, I cannot use power button to turn it back on. I have remove power, wait 30 to 60 seconds, then plug the power in and turn it back on.

Anyone had anything like it? I guess it could be something like dead CMOS battery but I can see that my BIOS options are always kept intact. Also anyone have any idea what is the latest bios for this device? or where to get it?

 

[DARKEASC]

Hi, I have the same board but with N5100.

I think I may help you. As someone suggested before, it may be related to RAM.
I solved a very similar problem by simply replacing the "EC12" capacitor, near RAM slots.
You have to remove the solid state capacitor and put an electrolytic one.
EC12 is 560uF / 6,3V. I replaced it with a Panasonic FM.

The Low ESR of solid state capacitor, may cause some problems.
Vendor talks about "compatibility", in my opinion is just a design flaw.

Try to power on the computer without RAM. If it turns on, I think your problem is the same as mine.
I fixed it 1 year ago, it is working fine 24/24h since then.
In my case sometimes it eventually starts retrying 10/20 times.
When the power-on sequence fails, a protection kicks in and you have to detach the power plug for a couple of seconds to reset.

Just ask if you need more details.

That's exactly mi issue. I just updated the bios but the problem is the same.

My workaround:
- randomly doesn't turn on after a power loss
- remove ram stick and plug power, 3 beeps
- turn off and insert Ram stick
- boots normally

Only works with a 4GB Samsung stick I had lying around, putting it in any slot
With the one of the default 8GB sticks doesn't work

Gotta buy the Panasonic capacitor to check if I can go with more than 4GB RAM.

"In my case sometimes it eventually starts retrying 10/20 times.
When the power-on sequence fails, a protection kicks in and you have to detach the power plug for a couple of seconds to reset"

Do you mean after replacing the cap, it still fails to turn on or just stay in a bootloop? Any visual sign or beeps?

 

[doomdylan]

That's exactly mi issue. I just updated the bios but the problem is the same.

Yeah, it is merely an hardware issue.

Gotta buy the Panasonic capacitor to check if I can go with more than 4GB RAM.

To ensure you can fix the problem by replacing that cap, before buying anything, you could temporarily remove that capacitor, the problem should disappear.
Then I suggest to put a capacitor in there as soon as possible, but the computer surprisingly looks ok without it.

Do you mean after replacing the cap, it still fails to turn on or just stay in a bootloop? Any visual sign or beeps?

No, I mean before. It never failed to boot since I've replaced the cap.

Here's an image with the new capacitor in place. As I said it works ok, never ever a boot fail.

 

[DARKEASC]

Yeah, it is merely an hardware issue.


To ensure you can fix the problem by replacing that cap, before buying anything, you could temporarily remove that capacitor, the problem should disappear.
Then I suggest to put a capacitor in there as soon as possible, but the computer surprisingly looks ok without it.


No, I mean before. It never failed to boot since I've replaced the cap.

Here's an image with the new capacitor in place. As I said it works ok, never ever a boot fail.
View attachment 44160

Oh that's great. I will do it right away and make the purchase after the test.

I'm curious, how did you find it was the issue? I was just reading previous post mentioning the high temp for third machines is a big issue for the caps.

---
EDIT:

Awesome! It worked, thanks a lot!

The only problem is mysoldering skills...

 

[DARKEASC]

@doomdylan I was checking the manual for the board and I see the picture doesn't show that capacitor. Is it really needed?

 

[doomdylan]

Oh that's great. I will do it right away and make the purchase after the test.

I'm curious, how did you find it was the issue? I was just reading previous post mentioning the high temp for third machines is a big issue for the caps.

---
EDIT:

Awesome! It worked, thanks a lot!

The only problem is mysoldering skills...

Ok, nicely done
I was a little frustrated because the computer, once booted was working fine and stable.
Looking in aliexpress complaints, the seller often talks about RAM compatibility.
Then I started to do some tests, tried with BIOS hidden settings, then tried without RAM, 1 stick and then 2.
It looked to me a hardware problem, specifically power supply problem.
Then I started to remove or replace capacitor values, almost randomly, just to watch for any changes (even for bad), to get some clue.
So it was a little intuition and a little lucky.

@doomdylan I was checking the manual for the board and I see the picture doesn't show that capacitor. Is it really needed?

Very interesting. I don't have the manual, never seen that picture.
If you look at Wikipedia (DDR4_SDRAM, Operations), you will see a DDR4 stick needs 2 voltages to work: a primary and auxiliary supply. That capacitor is related to auxiliary supply. I'm not sure what's exactly the purpose of that line, or how much it is needed to be stabilized, but I noticed the PC works without the cap. On the back of the PCB, on the same line, you can spot 2 (if i remember correctly) more little SMD capacitors, maybe those are sufficient.