Asus M2A-VM-HDMI - info please.

[mickbag]

Hi all

Can someone tell me a little bit about this mbd?

Specifically, I planned to buy it for its HDMI function, and also planned on using a compro e700 tuner using PCIexpress.

Is there a clash there? I gather the HDMI card is a daughter board... does anyone know if it attaches via the PCIexpress slot? If so, does this mean I can't then use the E700 PCIexprss tuner at the same time?

thanks again

[GlenR]

Take a look at the manual found here:

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...2a-vm-hdmi.pdf

The HDMI daughter board uses the PCIe x16 slot. The Compro tuner card uses the PCIe x1 slot so they both will fit. The only observatio I will make is the Asus mainboard only has one PCIe x1 slot, so you can't add an extra Compro if you want more tuners. You will need to source PCI tuners.

[mickbag]

Glenn, you've made my night. I thought my perfectly-planned HTPC had run into its first snag and I hadn't even built it yet!

[tedreal]

Can someone tell me if the the HDMI daughter board is a half height board ?

[mickbag]

nope... it.s not.

[tedreal]

O.K
Are there any other mATX motherboards with HDMI on board that will fit a small form factor case that are suitable fror a media centre ?

[dgaust]

Abit Fatal1ty F-190HD.

[peteman]

I have that motherboard and im having problems with it, not saying you will, but this the experience i have had so far.

M2A-VM HDMI board
AMD Athlon 64 X2 am2 cpu, factory heatsink and fan
Kingston 1GB ddr2-667 240 pin

the main problem is that the realtek ac883 hd driver wont stay installed, after every reboot, the driver has and error the error "windows cannot load driver, driver is missing or corrupt (code 39)

i have changed to the 1101 bios(from 507) installed various driver from the realtek site (r168 r171), as well as several ati hdmi drivers, the latest driver r175(released 31/08/2007) has the same problem

i use the channel out for audio, s-video for video, with the ati-hdmi disabled(to stop conflicts)

there is some popping in the speakers and sub woofer when the computer starts up but the audio is fine after that, when it works that is

s-video and composite video output everything - bios display etc

component video must be driver based, it only comes up when windows does and it would display correctly with the drivers on the dvd, the colors were a reddish brown, after driver updates the colors are correct, but contrast is a bit to high, when i adjusted contrast with ati catalyst the image looked like it was 'jumping' on the screen, might be due to the refresh rate, i haven't tried hdmi

realtek are knobs

i would use a sound card, but im planning to put it in a slim case


can anyone help?

[XavierDa]

Hi Peteman,

I have the same mobo (and also using the compro E700). I haven't had half the problems you have had driver wise, but I must admit, finding the right ones was a little confusing. Have you tried the latest ones from the Asus Support Site? They worked for me...

And for anyone else considering the M2A-VM HDMI board, here's my take so far (been playing around with my HTPC for about a week and a half now)

- Was the only mATX board I found that supported good onboard graphics, integrated RAID, decent sound options etc. Actually RAID swung it for me. Similar features in other boards meant getting a full sized ATX board, bigger case etc.
- The HDMI daughter card takes up the PCI 16x slot, which if you're planning on beefing up the graphics support later is a drawback. But for a HTPC, it seems to do the trick. Haven't actually assessed the HDMI output though (yet).
- Drivers are a little confusing. Asus have the RAID drivers under the utilities package and seperately. I slipstreamed them to install MCE 2005 on a RAID 1 setup.
- Realtek sound driver allows swapping of rear and front speakers from the control panel, but not left and right (I had to swap them round manually because of the room setup).

For the Compro card - seems to work brilliantly using Compros DTV software, but audio skips a little under MCE, which I am still investigating (might post in another thread later if I make no progress).

In conclusion, I think the hardware matches well - just make sure you get all the right drivers...

Cheers,

Xav

[dominici]

I have the same MB too and I use HDMI out which gives me a few sound issues, and I also get the windows cannot load driver error, but only resuming from standby. But it work reliably for quite a while, but now I have an issue with the system not recording from standby if I use the button on the remote to put it in standby. All in all, while the MB on paper sounds good, I suggest you look at other people's systems in the forum to see which ones work without a hitch. i wish I had done so before buying my system...