Some information about HP T620 Plus Flexible Thin Client machines for network appliance builds...

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mhome9

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Apr 14, 2021
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Hi again.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience :)

After a bit o research, I found out that the Intel PRO/1000 cards should be avoided with these AMD equipped HP thin clients (with Pfsense/FreeBSD):
I340/I350 are OK, so if you want a working/stable system, you should choose one of these cards.

One thing to note:
According to that forum post, HP NC365T cards can be either Intel PRO/1000 or I340. To be sure you must confirm the controller.

PS:
Btw, are the Fujitsu and IBM (I340) cards as good as the HP NC365T (I340)? Or is a HP card preferred (firmware/stability/...)?
The Fujitsu seem quite common here (EU).

Thank you for your contribution :)
 

h0schi

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Oct 24, 2020
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I love this little piece of hardware.
I'm running a HP T620 with 8GB RAM, 240 GB Intel M2 SSD and a Mellanox Connect X3 with Sophos XG Home without any problems :)
 

radiorevers

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Jan 7, 2022
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y_-xli-P-DNw.jpg1ZC7ahbWifQ.jpgDFOXOH4BxvI.jpgR5w5w49Dm34.jpgDZwGnxrcfqU.jpgnltIIJHrOiA.jpgnCQE3tNMJ3c.jpg
you can add mSATA connector manually. I had a new one. Four 0402 10NF capacitors must be soldered to the signal lines. slot and two mounts for the card. I checked that everything works. If you have a version with a ready-made connector, you can take a picture from the back of the board, I wonder if there are elements there, presumably capacitors between + 3v and ground
 

Norman44

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Mar 11, 2022
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Hi.

I don't know if anyone can help or not, i fear not.

My t620 arrived yesterday and i stupidly tried to to update the bios with the latest 02.19 bios straight from the 2.08 bios and it seems i have wiped the bios completely.

I created a recovery flash drive by downloading sp71608, bios 2.09 and used that to create a recovery flash drive.

The computer turns on but there is no activity light after i have let go of the power button, just the power button is lit.
After a minute or two the fan starts up at full speed and that's about it, it doesn't seem to respond to anything at all, flash drive or keypresses.

Great thread btw.:)

Cheers
Norman44.
 
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rekd0514

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May 11, 2015
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Hi.

I don't know if anyone can help or not, i fear not.

My t620 arrived yesterday and i stupidly tried to to update the bios with the latest 02.19 bios straight from the 2.08 bios and it seems i have wiped the bios completely.

I created a recovery flash drive by downloading sp71608, bios 2.09 and used that to create a recovery flash drive.

The computer turns on but there is no activity light after i have let go of the power button, just the power button is lit.
After a minute or two the fan starts up at full speed and that's about it, it doesn't seem to respond to anything at all, flash drive or keypresses.

Great thread btw.:)

Cheers
Norman44.
According to the pictures above, the BIOS chip looks to be removable. You could buy a cheap BIOS chip flasher and fix it yourself if you can't get it to boot. Have you tried removing the CMOS battery or leaving the system running for quite awhile? The HP BIOS updates take several reboots and quite a bit of time to complete. I don't see why upgrading from 2.08 to 2.19 would cause any harm.
 
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fohdeesha

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Hi.

I don't know if anyone can help or not, i fear not.

My t620 arrived yesterday and i stupidly tried to to update the bios with the latest 02.19 bios straight from the 2.08 bios and it seems i have wiped the bios completely.

I created a recovery flash drive by downloading sp71608, bios 2.09 and used that to create a recovery flash drive.

The computer turns on but there is no activity light after i have let go of the power button, just the power button is lit.
After a minute or two the fan starts up at full speed and that's about it, it doesn't seem to respond to anything at all, flash drive or keypresses.

Great thread btw.:)

Cheers
Norman44.
the bios SPI flash chip is socketed, albeit in a shitty plastic socket with a locking top cover. If you're careful (don't break the tabs off the folding plastic top cover that holds the chip down), you can remove it and stick it in a $10 CH341A flash programmer and write out HPs bios rom directly to it: Amazon.com: SMAKN USB Programmer CH341A Series Burner Chip 24 EEPROM BIOS LCD Writer 25 SPI Flash : Electronics
 
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Norman44

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Mar 11, 2022
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According to the pictures above, the BIOS chip looks to be removable. You could buy a cheap BIOS chip flasher and fix it yourself if you can't get it to boot. Have you tried removing the CMOS battery or leaving the system running for quite awhile? The HP BIOS updates take several reboots and quite a bit of time to complete. I don't see why upgrading from 2.08 to 2.19 would cause any harm.
I had noticed that the bios chip seems to be removable, i haven't tried removing the battery but i have tried to clear the cmos a few times by removing the jumper and also pressing the cmos button on the board.
There is no activity light at all so i haven't left it on for more than a few minutes, ill leave it on for an hour or so and see if anything happens.
Thanks for your suggestions.:)

the bios SPI flash chip is socketed, albeit in a shitty plastic socket with a locking top cover. If you're careful (don't break the tabs off the folding plastic top cover that holds the chip down), you can remove it and stick it in a $10 CH341A flash programmer and write out HPs bios rom directly to it: Amazon.com: SMAKN USB Programmer CH341A Series Burner Chip 24 EEPROM BIOS LCD Writer 25 SPI Flash : Electronics
Thanks for the link, i had read somewhere that the bios chip was removeable but wouldn't have had a clue as what programmer to buy.

Thank you both for the helpful replies.:)
 
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WANg

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the bios SPI flash chip is socketed, albeit in a shitty plastic socket with a locking top cover. If you're careful (don't break the tabs off the folding plastic top cover that holds the chip down), you can remove it and stick it in a $10 CH341A flash programmer and write out HPs bios rom directly to it: Amazon.com: SMAKN USB Programmer CH341A Series Burner Chip 24 EEPROM BIOS LCD Writer 25 SPI Flash : Electronics
Yep - the same also applies for the HP tx30 and x40 thin clients - from what I remember they have Winbond 25Q64FV (8MByte) or 25Q128FV (16MByte) SOIC8 chips. I am guessing anything similar will work.

Hey @Patrick, probably something to look for on the TMM machines - "Does it have a removable BIOS flash chip?". Those Lenovo m715q Tiny gen 1s would've been cool for Ryzen if Lenovo MADE IT POSSIBLE TO PUT IN 16MByte BIOS FLASH CHIPS LIKE THE ONES IN THE GEN 2.
 
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Norman44

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Mar 11, 2022
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The bios chip in my t620 plus is a Macronix mx25l4606em21-12g.
I haven't managed to program the chip yet, i need to order a zif adapter, these chips are far too small for my soldering skills.


DSC_3609.jpg
 

cplagz

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Jun 1, 2022
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the bios SPI flash chip is socketed, albeit in a shitty plastic socket with a locking top cover. If you're careful (don't break the tabs off the folding plastic top cover that holds the chip down), you can remove it and stick it in a $10 CH341A flash programmer and write out HPs bios rom directly to it: Amazon.com: SMAKN USB Programmer CH341A Series Burner Chip 24 EEPROM BIOS LCD Writer 25 SPI Flash : Electronics
I believe I've run into the same problems Norman had, going from L40 v2.11 to 2.19, the F10 > Flash System showed up all fine, flashed, verified and reboot into nothingness. Ordered some new winbond 25Q64FVSIG chips and a programmer+soic8 200mm socket.

Is there any chance you have a copy of the older firmwares lying around?
 

fohdeesha

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I believe I've run into the same problems Norman had, going from L40 v2.11 to 2.19, the F10 > Flash System showed up all fine, flashed, verified and reboot into nothingness. Ordered some new winbond 25Q64FVSIG chips and a programmer+soic8 200mm socket.

Is there any chance you have a copy of the older firmwares lying around?
no but you don't need it, if you can just write the BIOS arbitrarily (which you can when you get your programmer) you can just lay down the latest to your SPI chip
 

cplagz

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Jun 1, 2022
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no but you don't need it, if you can just write the BIOS arbitrarily (which you can when you get your programmer) you can just lay down the latest to your SPI chip
Thanks, I have tried to flash using CH341 programmer, even read the "dead" chip and they are the same but I still get no boot. Any other suggestions? I found an older SP95251 to the currently listed SP115305 but they both have the same .bin (2.19 revA)
 

cplagz

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Jun 1, 2022
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Following up from this, I read and saved known working 2.09 from another T620P - wrote to a brand new chip. Still nothing.... Swapped OEM bios Chip between units and is all OK. Not sure where I'm going wrong with the CH341 as it doesn't throw any errors.
 

cplagz

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Jun 1, 2022
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Well don't I feel like a right goose. It's working.... via DisplayPort, I guess it doesn't default back to PCIE video after BIOS flashing.
 
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