Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread

[smashLMAO]

Hello! I have been struggling with my Lenovo M90Q(Gen1). I bought the correct pcie adapter, but I cannot use a GPU with it. I tried to connect an RTX A2000, but it didnt give a display and the pc couldn't boot giving a black screen. I saw one of the comments saying that the M90Q doesnt accept GPU-s, only the P series. I have the 230Watt power supply and the 135Watt one, none of them seems to change the situation.

What could be the problem, can someone help me?

 

[Wesumat]

Hi there,

i'm thinking about replacing the nvidia Quadro in my Thinkstation P330 Tiny with an
4-Port Intel I350 NIC. Still waiting for the baffle at the moment, but already removing
the graphic card, i'm a bit concerned about the less space under it an the metal
south bridge cooler (or whatever it is?).

Seems to me, viewing pictures from m920q's, that these model don't have it.

Has anybody succesful installed an Intel I350 without any probs? For me it seems
as the delta chips on the backside will directly contact the metal shields from the
usb ports under it, also unsure about the "southbridge cooler".

Any suggestions or clues concerning this?

 

[alpa]

Hello.
I am thinking about to build a small server+nas with an M90q (G3/4) and got a question.
I'd like to add storage with either a HBA or something like this - not sure yet. Case should not be the problem, with a little craftsmanship and 3d printing i think i can make it fit into something like a Jonsbo or similar.
The big issue i see is power delivery to the hard drives. Its not too hard to use an external psu just for the drives, but i'd like to have it connected to the power state of the device - when i power on drives start too, when i power off drives shut down too.
Do you have an idea on how to achieve that?

 

[evil_santa]

Hello.
I am thinking about to build a small server+nas with an M90q (G3/4) and got a question.
I'd like to add storage with either a HBA or something like this - not sure yet. Case should not be the problem, with a little craftsmanship and 3d printing i think i can make it fit into something like a Jonsbo or similar.
The big issue i see is power delivery to the hard drives. Its not too hard to use an external psu just for the drives, but i'd like to have it connected to the power state of the device - when i power on drives start too, when i power off drives shut down too.
Do you have an idea on how to achieve that?

Check here for Nas 3d print files, there are also a picture where you can get the power from Mainbord.

"lenovo m720q" 3D Models to Print - yeggi

2291 "lenovo m720q" printable 3D Models. Every Day new 3D Models from all over the World. Click to find the best Results for lenovo m720q Models for your 3D Printer.

m.yeggi.com

 

[alpa]

Check here for Nas 3d print files, there are also a picture where you can get the power from Mainbord.

"lenovo m720q" 3D Models to Print - yeggi

2291 "lenovo m720q" printable 3D Models. Every Day new 3D Models from all over the World. Click to find the best Results for lenovo m720q Models for your 3D Printer.

m.yeggi.com

Thank you. Thats basically the perfect answer for my problem. Very cool site, didnt know there are full printable nas cases. And getting power from mainboard is a very elegant solution. Will check the pics for that.

 

[flipper203]

thanks for this thread !! a lot of interesting informations. I'll join the thinkcenter family soon, I just ordered a M920q with a supermicro 10Gb card. I was wondering if there is a possibility to change the 1Gb integretaed network with a 2.5G one ?

 

[andrea87]

thanks for this thread !! a lot of interesting informations. I'll join the thinkcenter family soon, I just ordered a M920q with a supermicro 10Gb card. I was wondering if there is a possibility to change the 1Gb integretaed network with a 2.5G one ?

The 1gb controller is soldered on the back side of the board, and I don't think the i226-v is a drop-in replacement pin to pin for the i219-v which the board runs. Doesn't look feasible.

Just keep the 1gb as management, and run most stuff via the sfp+ card. What are you aiming to do with it? a router box like some of us did or a general virtualization box?

 

[kayson]

Has anyone had luck updating the boot logo on the lenovo bios? I used the logo.nsh script that comes with the bios updater tool, but nothing shows up after I run it! Maybe it's resolution related? My image is 768x432

 

[flipper203]

The 1gb controller is soldered on the back side of the board, and I don't think the i226-v is a drop-in replacement pin to pin for the i219-v which the board runs. Doesn't look feasible.

Just keep the 1gb as management, and run most stuff via the sfp+ card. What are you aiming to do with it? a router box like some of us did or a general virtualization box?

Well was just wondering. I want to do an opnsense box. I'll see if it can manage IPS / DPS with th i9-9900T processor

 

[kayson]

thanks for this thread !! a lot of interesting informations. I'll join the thinkcenter family soon, I just ordered a M920q with a supermicro 10Gb card. I was wondering if there is a possibility to change the 1Gb integretaed network with a 2.5G one ?

You could get a 2 port SFP+ card and put a 2.5G transceiver in. You could also get an M.2 to pcie adapter and add another nic that way. You can solder in the second M.2 port on the back.

 

[Parallax]

Hey guys, just bought a m90q gen 1 on ebay but I noticed it doesnt have a screw on the back to hold the case together. Does anyone know if theres a thumbscrew I can buy somewhere?

Also need a screw to hold down the coral where the wifi card is supposed to be. Ive tried many different screws for this slot but non of them fit.

The first post tells you the size of the chassis thumbscrew. The WiFi card uses M.2.

 

[Parallax]

bifurcation?

Not supported by the motherboard, so you'd need to have a bifurcation on the card itself. Heat will probably be an issue though and it's a shame to put in all that fast storage and not have anywhere to put in fast network.

I've thought about this at some length and I suspect the best solution is going to be TB4/USB4 via an add-in card and some sort of external enclosure. There is theoretically a Lenovo TB card and it's mentioned in the BIOS, but I've never found it; so you'll need to try add-in cards. Hopefully someone else has a better suggestion but that's my current thinking.

 

[Parallax]

happy either way to be honest. Any ideas?

Well you can do either, the WiFi card slot can support a 2.5GbE NIC and realistically the PCIe slot up to 4x 2.5GbE or 4x 1GbE, or 2x 10GbE. Depends on what you want to spend, it's not just the cost of the card, it's also the associated switches.

 

[Nonetoo]

Not supported by the motherboard, so you'd need to have a bifurcation on the card itself. Heat will probably be an issue though and it's a shame to put in all that fast storage and not have anywhere to put in fast network.

I've thought about this at some length and I suspect the best solution is going to be TB4/USB4 via an add-in card and some sort of external enclosure. There is theoretically a Lenovo TB card and it's mentioned in the BIOS, but I've never found it; so you'll need to try add-in cards. Hopefully someone else has a better suggestion but that's my current thinking.

ya, ideally I want more drives AND fast internet, right now, I've got a 10Gbe card, but not enough drive space. but if I could find a bifurcation card with 2xnvme, I'd swap that out, and use the USB to make the drives accessible to other computers

I just cant find a card that does bifurcation and fits in the m920q, only the m90q

 

[flipper203]

Well you can do either, the WiFi card slot can support a 2.5GbE NIC and realistically the PCIe slot up to 4x 2.5GbE or 4x 1GbE, or 2x 10GbE. Depends on what you want to spend, it's not just the cost of the card, it's also the associated switches.

But for the 2.5 on the wifi slot there is no room for the connector ? I should receive my m920q tomorrow ….

 

[AlexGee]

But for the 2.5 on the wifi slot there is no room for the connector ? I should receive my m920q tomorrow ….

I use the "Wifi" M.2 as an SSD slot (PCIe 3.0 x1) - there is max space for an 2230 NVME.

Something like that should fit (with Dremel)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005686373526.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.7.66511c97ARCtFa&algo_pvid=bbf66376-a0ad-47c1-8551-a639cb5f9bf5&algo_exp_id=bbf66376-a0ad-47c1-8551-a639cb5f9bf5-3&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21EUR%2117.23%2117.23%21%21%2118.12%2118.12%21%40210318e817078358952331599ec6b6%2112000034008656945%21sea%21PT%21908241958%21&curPageLogUid=o9aANTrOkQvf&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A

 

[Fazio]

Hello, which 10Gbps dual NIC card fits the M90q Gen 4? Is anyone using this setup?
Thank you!

 

[Nonetoo]

Not supported by the motherboard, so you'd need to have a bifurcation on the card itself. Heat will probably be an issue though and it's a shame to put in all that fast storage and not have anywhere to put in fast network.

I've thought about this at some length and I suspect the best solution is going to be TB4/USB4 via an add-in card and some sort of external enclosure. There is theoretically a Lenovo TB card and it's mentioned in the BIOS, but I've never found it; so you'll need to try add-in cards. Hopefully someone else has a better suggestion but that's my current thinking.

ya, ideally I want more drives AND fast internet, right now, I've got a 10Gbe card, but not enough drive space. but if I could find a bifurcation card with 2xnvme, I'd swap that out, and use the USB to make the drives accessible to other computers

I just cant find a card that does bifurcation and fits in the m920, only the m90q .. and then you're right, no fast internet with the all the drives ...

 

[Parallax]

But for the 2.5 on the wifi slot there is no room for the connector ? I should receive my m920q tomorrow ….

The requisite cards usually come with a ribbon cable and the RJ45 connector on a separate board. If you're not using the PCIe slot you can knock out a port cover in the blanking plate at the back and screw the RJ45 port in, I did this and from the outside it looks like it was made at the factory that way.

 

[Helzy]

USB-C NIC's 2.5/5/10 work well if you plan on leveraging the PCIe slot for fast storage.