Carputer's New Home

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:01:29 Post Subject: Carputer's New Home

I mentioned in another thread that I moved my car's computer in to a new case. Looks awesome (to me), but now it reboots like clock work every 17 minutes. I am baffled to what that is. But, I brought it in tonight to redo some wiring and I hope that helps.

The specs...

Jetway J7F2WE2GS Mini-ITX motherboard with integrated, 20W 2.0GHz VIA CPU
1GB DDR2 667MHz Kingston memory
160GB Seagate Momentus SATA 7200 RPM 2.5" drive (with G-Shock protection)
Samsung 8X slot load DVDRW
M2-ATX 160W DC to DC power supply
7" Lilliput touch screen (on the dash)
Windows XP Home with Road Runner Interface
USB GPS
Serial connected XM radio
USB WiFi
USB Bluetooth

Looks like a stock photo, but this it...

Worked great before the upgrade - hoping to get it back in order soon!

anonemus · Posted: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:34:27 Post Subject:

Makes me curious what happens inside your car--not inside your car PC--every 17 minutes?

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:32:20 Post Subject:

I may have just accidentally fixed it... I had never used either of the two IDE headers and they had been turned off in the BIOS. I enabled them last week to temporarily use a different DVD drive. I just disabled them again, and it made it at least 25 minutes without rebooting. That is as long as I spent out there for lunch, so the ride home should be the real test...

kryptonian_sher · Posted: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:38:00 Post Subject:

If it still reboots but only now it takes longer, could the IDE headers be faulty? or should we be looking at the power being supplied to your car computer?

nolonger · Rated R Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 98

I'm not very experienced in Car PC's or anything, but what I know from PC's in general, I'd say it's overheating.

timjj22 · Rated PG-13 Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 38

What do you use the carputer for?
it looks interesting

i think my car needs one now...
how much did it cost?

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:36:33 Post Subject:

I assume it was just the faulty IDE header. With it back off, it hasn't rebooted in weeks.

Heat generally isn't a problem... That little CPU can get fairly hot without issue. With this new case it gets into the 50C range, which is nothing.

The computer is for all my in car entertainment. MP3s, DVDs, XM radio, GPS, now recording from a webcam, and soon for telephone.