Eee PC Research

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Eee open front.jpg Eee open display.jpg


Pictures

I've put together a pack with pictures of my Eee 701 4G showing detailed pictures of the motherboard. Both scans and close-up mosaic pictures of the motherboard are available

Specifications

Devices:

Dimensions:

  • Width: 22.5 cm
  • Depth: 16.5 cm
  • Height: 2.1 to 3.5 cm
  • Weight: 920 grams

Datasheets

Accessories

Accessories:

  • Logitech V470 White Bluetooth mouse

Other suitable accessories:

  • Logitech VX Nano mouse
  • Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook 5000 / 4000 mouse
  • LG GSA-E50L Slim DVD writer

Linux Hardware Output

Output [2]: 

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 04)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 04)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5007EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Technology Corp. L2 100 Mbit Ethernet Adapter (rev a0)

Chips and Connections

A simple diagram showing the major chips and connections on the motherboard.

Top:

Eee diagram front.jpg

Bottom:

Eee diagram back.jpg

Power and Signals

The diagrams below shows power, ground, and signals that's useful when modifying the Eee. All of the points are verified and confirmed working.

Top:

Eee power signal diagram top.jpg

Bottom:

Eee power signal diagram bottom.jpg

Solid State Drive

The solid state drive on the Eee is powered by a Silicon Motion SM223 CF flash controller and 4x NAND SLC-large-block flash chips from various manufacturers. The flash controller also has an ATA interface that is available via the free mini PCI-express pads in the expansion bay (see below for details).

NAND flash found:

Eee ssd intel.jpg

BIOS Chip

For a little while there was confusion how the BIOS was stored. Speculation about parts of the SSD could be used for the BIOS, integrated chipset BIOS, or a unknown IC-chip.

Turns out the BIOS chip was covered by a adhesive label and the part number is Winbond 25X40VSIG. It features a 8-pin 512K serial flash.

Eee bios chip.jpg

Update BIOS

The easiest way to update the BIOS:

  • Download the BIOS zip-archive
  • Extract the '.ROM'-file to a USB flash drive
  • Rename the '.ROM'-file to '701.ROM' for Eee PC 4G 701
  • Reboot the Eee PC and press ALT+F2 during the first POST-screen
  • A black screen with the text 'Intel(r))915GM/...' will appear and the process will begin automatically
  • Press the POWER-button after the update is finish as described

Downgrade the bios by booting DOS and executing the AFUDOS utility:

  • Download the Bios Update Tool package
  • Extract and run the MakeBoot.cmd batch to format the flash drive and copy the required DOS and BIOS files
  • Reboot the Eee PC and press ESC to bring up the boot selection screen
  • Select the flash drive and boot into the Bios Update Tool menu
  • Answer the questions and finally pick the BIOS to downgrade to

The Eee PC BIOS Revisions page shows some tools to upgrade and downgrade the BIOS. As of version 0511, the ALT+F2 method does not allow downgrading to earlier versions, use the BIOS Update Tool instead.

Clear BIOS

There are two pads in the expansion bay labeled CLRTC, aka Clear Real Time Clock RAM, for clearing the CMOS settings. By shorting these two pads the settings are erased. Up-on booting a 'CMOS Settings Wrong'-prompt will appear and press either F1 for the setup or F2 to load defaults.

Eee clear cmos.jpg

Expansion Bay

The expansion bay on the 4G machines is empty and the earliest machines (serial number starting 7A) had the mini PCI-express socket fitted. On all the newer revisions of the model the socket is removed and there's only the traces left, and rumors speculate that it's just a matter of mounting a fitting socket and the connection will work. Although with some caveats.

The SSD will be disabled once a card is inserted into the mini PCI-express slot. The reason for this behavior is that Asus could decide if the SSD drive should go on-board (non-upgradable) or in the expansion by slot (upgradeable). That's exactly how the 8G works, the SSD is installed in the expansion bay and leaving the on-board SSD traces empty.

It's possible to disable the disable-behavior by tracing the 3v3 points from clean spots on the motherboard, unverified [3].

Asus used a non-standard mini PCI-express layout for the expansion bay, it has one PCI-express lane, USB connection and, more interestingly, an ATA interface connected via the SM223 compact flash controller (see pdf link). The compact flash cards has a interface electronically identical to ATA and also a IDE controller on-board, making it possible to use a CF card as a very fast alternative boot device(credit to tie2 and mao for finding this [4]).

Eee mini pcie removed.jpg Eee flash con pinout.png

Expansion bay dimensions, inside under the expansion bay door:

  • 35 x 68.5 x 8-10 mm (W x L x H)
  • Card length (from connector to fastening screw): 68 mm (non-standard)

Lid Magnet

There is a strong magnet inside the top lid and a sensor on the motherboard that's used to detect when the lid is closed or open. You can figure out where the magnet is located by sliding a paperclip back and forth on the bottom-left side. The corresponding sensor is located between the ethernet, battery and DC-jack on the motherboard, as shown.

Eee magnet lid.jpg Eee magnet sensor.jpg

In Linux, at least the default Xandros install, the lid function can be controlled via /etc/acpi/lidbtn.sh [5].

References

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