Dell Zino HD - New mini HTPC - Page 166

i posted about a problem my zino 400 had back in september where it would blue screen when it was idle and one time came up with a hard drive not found error. i finally called dell and got them to come out and fix this. when i talked to dell support they said they would send a new hard drive, memory and motherboard to the tech. when the tech got to my house he opened the box from dell and claimed he only had the motherboard and hard drive. i explained to him the problem and he replaced the hard drive thinking that the motherboard was not an issue. sure enough once he left and i started using the computer i now get a blue screen when i'm in the middle of doing stuff rather than a blue screen when i leave the computer on overnight or for an extended amount of time. kinda annoying that he didn't just put everything in to begin with because now he has to come back out and fix this again. i'm hoping that with some new memory and a motherboard that whatever issue i'm having will be fixed. thankfully its covered under warranty and i don't use this computer a whole lot otherwise i would probably be looking to sell it once it gets fixed.

hello everybody
i have decided to dust off my old zino 400 and see if it can still handle my rips ok.

i have a6850 and 4330 graphics card.

i havent been on the board in a while and wondering what is the latest driver to use.
i am currently on ccc 10.4
driver 8.723-
can someone point me to the latest driver for the old zino or should i leave things the way they are.
i need to find the ati hdmi driver as i still had the realtek one installed for some reason.

thanks for any help!

I also have the 5450 card but I am having the same issue with 2 channel being the only option available over HDMI. Anyone have any thoughts why this is happening to some of us?

Hi,

I recently updated my drivers to CC 11.1 and xbmc to "Dharma" version.

I an getting an error while playing standard mkv files both in xbmc , vlc & wmp (installed Shark's Codecs).

both xbmc & vlc hang up the system while playing standard mkv files.

system: zino 400 with dual core 3200 graphic card.


Thanks.

HI, noob here, I just got one of these for my tv and I can't get it to show color right
everything is too bright saturated...I tried with the tv settings, windows display settings and even the catalyst driver settings (ati radeon mobile 3200).
The picture is too bright, black is seen as dark grey .
The tv is a 1080 lcd samsung.

Anyone had this kind of problem?
I don't think it a cable issue.

I'm hoping people still look at this thread.

here is my situation. I have all of my video components in my basement going out to my tv's through a Gefen 8x4 HDMI switch.

This makes me not care so much if i have a tower or compact desktop.

That being said is Zino my best best for a already built HTPC?

If Zino is the solution I don't need wireless. Is it worth the extra money for a ATI HD5450 vs the ATI4250?

Is 3GB memory enough? Should I upgrade to 4.
Is it worth an extra $500 for quad core vs Dual core?

Thanks in advance

eSata FIXED!! My eSata ports now work! Bios detects the drive and it works good in win7. I have tested it in both ports. I used windows system tray thing to "Safely Remove Hardware" and eject the drive. I can move it between ports and windows detects it in either port! No need to reboot, no need to have the external drive on before boot.

The eSata drive I am using is Vantec nextstar cx NST-300su-bk.

Turns out the root cause of the "not detected" was simply that the cable could not plug in all the way. The plastic back cover is too thick!. I simple removed the back cover, this allowed the eSata cable to pug in all the way and now it works just fine. The eSata cable has no detent or other means of insuring that it is fully seated. The not so funny thing is that this cable and external drive worked fine on all the other computers I have.

It took many many calls to Dell, a new replacement system and a service call from the tech to replace a mother board. After the tech replace the mother board on the second zino and it still had the same problem eSata not detected the tech thought maybe the root cause was simply that the back cover was too thick, and that was it.

As usual the answer is it depends I have had a fantastic HTPC user experience on hardware with less video performance than the 4250 and 2GB of memory.

I just have a dual core (7750 cpu) Do you have other uses for the extra two cores, transcoding, etc? I run comskip on my dual core while recording a show and watching another, no problem.

I am not aware of another pre-built HTPC that is as reasonable cost wise.

When I add that all up on Newegg (880G MB, processor, memory, HD, case, DVD, etc ) it comes to about the same price as the $350 ZINO system before buying windows7.

Thanks for the reply. If I don't need a windows license (MSDN) would your suggestion be to build my own?

I won't be doing much trans coding just checking if the quad core would enhance my viewing experience. When I do watch 1080 p I don't want a choppy picture which is what I get now with my Roku.

I just don't know how much the processor, memory and video card effects the bottom line of video quality.

Yes, I think you can get a better system selecting the parts.

case with a PS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811121100

MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128439

Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103687

Single Tuner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116028

memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211364

HD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289


Of course the Zino would need an external tuner. The processor usage is very low as long as the video hardware is sufficient and can make use of GPU hardware acceleration.

Also take a look at this thread for a Intel solution
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1302559


BTW which Roku stutters on 1080P playback? The new XD or XDS?

Thanks!! So incredibly helpful

My Roku is the XD. I have a fast internet connection 25MBit and I'm not using wireless so I don't know why it stutters on 720p content

Any luck with this or a similar upgrade? I'm toying with the idea of doing some upgrades to my Z400 with 6850 and 4330 vs picking up a Z410.

My Zino keeps shutting off every 10-15 minutes. This bypasses the Windows shutdown and it seems that perhaps the power supply is failing.

Can anyone think of any other components I should check? I would expect a simple reboot if the system was overheating. I did see an error about video adapter fan failure once when I turned the system back on. But the typical error messages just complain about a missing keyboard and allow me to try and restart Windows.

I spoke with tech support last night and it appears my system is under warranty for 10 more days

The initial call was not very helpful because the technician thought that updating the video driver would solve the problem. This diagnosis was based on a BSOD that had occurred 3 days ago.

The system did stabilize last night but I turned it completely off when I was done using it. This morning I am consistently seeing "Video Fan Failure" when I reboot the machine and it powered off after I tried using it for about 1 hour.

Another tech support person at Dell has now offered to send a replacement fan.

hey all,

So I fell for the temptingly low price a while back and got a Dell Zino HD with the 3250e (Athlon 64 X2 1.5Ghz). It's been serving as a linux server and doing an OK job.

I am considering moving it to HTPC duty, but I am concerned that the CPU and the wimpy Radeon 3200 graphics are not up to the task of decoding 1080p content.

So, I figured a CPU upgrade is in order.

I know it uses a standard AM2 socket, and I know the box can handle ~25W TDP. This rules out a lot of CPU's.

I have - however - found one that might work:

Athlon II X2 270u. 25W TDP. At 2ghz, at least that buys me a little bit of speed. It's AM3 though. AM2 boards are technically able to support AM3 CPU's if the BIOS is able to identify them.

So has anyone tested their Zino HD 400 with a AM3 or K10 CPU? Did it work?

I don't want to spend the money on this specialty low power CPU just to find out that it doesn't...

I figured with all the people into hacking out there SOMEONE would have tried this already, but I can't find anything on it.

Much obliged,
Matt

It doesn't look like there's been a ton of activity in this thread, but figured I would give posting a shot since I've exhausted all my other options.

I just got the Zino today, and I have it hooked up via HDMI to my Denon 1910, then HDMI to my Samsung LCD. Picture is good enough, but my issue is with the sound I'm getting out of it.

I have the ATI HDMI software configured for 5.1 surround, which is what I'm running, but whenever I play music through the Zino, two things happen:

-If I allow my 1910 to decode the signal being received from the Zino, most of the music comes out of the center channel.
-If I force my 1910 to play stereo, my subwoofer hardly gets a signal... in fact I'm not even sure if it is getting anything at all. I am running bass management on the Zino so apparently everything below 80Hz is being diverted, but I am beginning to wonder.

Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

Oh and one other thing, I also have a PS3 that i stream music to from my macbook, and it sounds fantastic... so I don't think it is an issue with my receiver.

I'm been thinking of aZacate build for my motorhome for music and mkv files via external usb drive. HDMI to TV and the sound out SPDIF to a receiver. I don't want to sink a lot of $ and have seen the Zino with AMD Athlon II V140 single core processor for under $300. Would appreciate any input. Txs

I recently took delivery of a new Zino HD directly from Dell.

I have a question.

How do you connect this damn thing to the 5ghz 300mbits 802.11n? I have the Dell 1520 included in the system, and I have the NetGear WNDR3400.

Need Advice!

This is one of Dell's dirty little secrets. Most people see Wireless N and assume that means that it uses the 5 ghz spectrum. What most people don't know is that there is a provision in the Wireless N protocol that allows it to be used on the 2.4 ghz spectrum as well, but at much slower speeds. Dell uses this loophole to sell wireless cards labeled as "wireless N" that don't have a 5 ghz radio in them. They are physically unable to connect on the 5ghz band, they are limited to using the 2.4 ghz band only.

Dell pulled this crap on me when I bought my Vostro laptop last year. If I set up my router to use wireless N on the 2.4 ghz band, my laptop would connect fine. But if I set up my router as wireless N on the 5 ghz band, my laptop wouldn't even see it. I was furious about it but Dell could not have cared less. They said that since it did 2.4 ghz wireless N, they were off the hook.If I wanted to use the 5 ghz band, I would have to buy a new card and install it myself.

I don't know if this is the same issue you are having or not. Try configuring your router's 2.4 ghz band to wireless N and see if you can connect to it.

Marketing - the department everyone loves to hate...

Hi

It seems I'm having a similar problem with my Dell, it keeps on shutting off and rebooting. Sometimes it will happen every 10 minutes, sometimes it takes several hours. It never happens when I'm watching a movie though.

So far no error messages, just reboots. Haven't tried updating any of the drivers for a while though, so maybe that may solve the problem?

My computer is out of warranty now though.

Anyone else having the same problems?

I officially hate my Dell Zino. I am now on my third hard drive crash. The machine is now out of warranty. Dell charged $59 just to troubleshoot it. "You have a bad hard drive. We can charge you $129 to replace that." AGAIN!?!? They have already replaced the hard drive twice under warranty, along with the motherboard the second time.

Clearly this is a design flaw relating to heat. Ugh. I think I am going to buy my own notebook size hard drive and bracket bay adapter (so it fits) and hope the added extra space prevents the head build up that is killing the drive.

My congratulations to those who are not having this same problem!

You can tell it's a dell maybe you should try booting it off an external drive, that way the heat won't affect the drive

Will the Ceton Ifinit IV card work in the Zino with the current faster processor being sold with it today?

The Zino doesn't accept any add in cards, there are no physical slots to install them into. For a Zino you need to look at the SiliconDust cablecard product. That's an external model that works over your home network.

Thanks much! Do you know of anything near its price that takes the Ceton?

Take a look at some of the builds on my site. We can use a larger case that can fit your card to help you out (like the Rosewill ITX case).

I think the new Sandy Bridge Pentiums are a great alternative to the Zino.

Hi,

I am considering purchasing the Dell Zino HD to replace my 6 year-old HTPC that I built that will consume less power and smaller form factor. My requirements are:

1. Use Win 7 Media Center
2. Run Netflix from WMC

I initially considered purchasing a nettop to keep the cost down (vs. building) but my research resulted in nettops not being able to run Netflix. So, I am not considering picking up a low-end Dell Zino with the following spec:

• AMD Athlon II X2 P360
• 3GB DDR3 1333Mhz
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Integrated Graphics

Does anyone know if these spec'd items will be able to run Netflix smoothly via WMC? I tried searching to see if the onboard graphics card will be able to run Netflix but no luck (yet).

Also, I plan on using an Xbox 360 as an extender to stream live and recorded shows. Are there any impact to the system by doing this?

Thanks.

Netflix streaming is currently based on Silverlight v4 which doesn't support
hardware-accelerated decoding. For now, it's the CPU power which matters.
I'm not familiar with the X2 P360, but even my Core i3-330M laptop, with its
low-end integrated video, has no problem with Netflix.