(US) 90 dollar Wyse 5070 Thin client/mini-server?

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newabc

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Jan 20, 2019
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Even though that second one says it has a PCI-e interface in the description?

Can you recommend a sample one?
This forum has a short discussion on the ML2 slot

update: Linustechtips forum, too:
"Mezzanine LAN-on-Motherboard Generation 2 (ML2) is a new cost-effective adapter form factor for System x servers that offers the flexibility advantages of a PCIe adapter while supporting integrated networking features such as Wake-on-LAN and direct connectivity to the server's IMM2 service processor for out-of-band systems management. "
 
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Samir

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Can anyone poke holes in this listing?

Seems kinda sketch after I checked out all the seller's other stuff and it also looks brand new even though it's all listed as 'pre-owned'. Looks like a buyer of Dell and HP new fakes and just calling them used, especially with the quantity--4928 sold hp 8460w batteries that were pre-owned? Really? I have one of these laptops and there's no way in hell those are used:
 

kwijibo

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Aug 19, 2023
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Ok I did more homework after striking out a few times, and consulted these two pages:
After perusing the non HP/Dell results, it seems like the Cisco branded items are currently the cheapest.

I think I can make out the embossed Delta logo and branded oscillator in these item's photos:
  1. Cisco UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 4-Port Ethernet Server Adapter 74-10521-01 A0 (B762) | eBay
  2. Cisco UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 74-10521-01 4P PCIe NIC Full Height | eBay
  3. 74-10521-01 CISCO GIGABIT QUAD 4 PORT PCI-E NETWORK ADAPTER UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 | eBay
And these two HPs look the least suspect that I've seen so far
  1. HP 593743-001 593720-001 Quad Port Ethernet Server Adapter NC365T High | eBay
  2. HP ProLiant NC364T PCI-e Quad Gigabit Server Adapter 436431-001 DL/ML/SL, Tested | eBay
I purchased one of the $76 wifi 5070s. Can anyone critique and sanity check these?

I appreciate the help. Thanks!
 
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Samir

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Ok I did more homework after striking out a few times, and consulted these two pages:
After perusing the non HP/Dell results, it seems like the Cisco branded items are currently the cheapest.

I think I can make out the embossed Delta logo and branded oscillator in these item's photos:
  1. Cisco UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 4-Port Ethernet Server Adapter 74-10521-01 A0 (B762) | eBay
  2. Cisco UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 74-10521-01 4P PCIe NIC Full Height | eBay
  3. 74-10521-01 CISCO GIGABIT QUAD 4 PORT PCI-E NETWORK ADAPTER UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45 | eBay
And these two HPs look the least suspect that I've seen so far
  1. HP 593743-001 593720-001 Quad Port Ethernet Server Adapter NC365T High | eBay
  2. HP ProLiant NC364T PCI-e Quad Gigabit Server Adapter 436431-001 DL/ML/SL, Tested | eBay
I purchased one of the $76 wifi 5070s. Can anyone critique and sanity check these?

I appreciate the help. Thanks!
I think those Ciscos are the ones I would get as they seem fully legit.
 

kwijibo

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Aug 19, 2023
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Thanks for the advice @Samir.

I received one of the $76 WiFi units and Cisco/Intel i350 card is on its way.

I think I read every comment in this thread that mentions eMMC, and I have a few questions.

1) Can it only boot from eMMC only when an M.2 SATA SSD is not inserted?

2) Does the BIOS Dell Security Manager internal storage wipe utility only impact M.2 SATA SSD if one inserted, or will it also wipe the eMMC?

3) How do I know if my unit has no eMMC? So far I haven't run an OS that can install to it and I haven't seen any evidence of it.

Disclaimer: Mine has BIOS 1.8.0 (02 Nov 2020) and it looks like there have been a whopping 18 updates per Dell Wyse 5070 Thin Client System BIOS | Driver Details | Dell US since then.
 
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cageek

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I think I read every comment in this thread that mentions eMMC, and I have a few questions.

1) Can it only boot from eMMC only when an M.2 SATA SSD is not inserted?

2) Does the BIOS Dell Security Manager internal storage wipe utility only impact M.2 SATA SSD if one inserted, or will it also wipe the eMMC?

3) How do I know if my unit has no eMMC? So far I haven't run an OS that can install to it and I haven't seen any evidence of it.

Disclaimer: Mine has BIOS 1.8.0 (02 Nov 2020) and it looks like there have been a whopping 18 updates per Dell Wyse 5070 Thin Client System BIOS | Driver Details | Dell US since then.
1) As far as I know you can use both. You have to select (or set) the right path in UEFI bios, maybe setup a common ESP partition. Both the SATA drive and the EMMC (if present) are available at the same time.

2) I did this a little while ago - this is what I remember (which is quit foggy): It wipes whatever is installed (EMMC + SATA if both installed). It prompts you to see if you're sure and tells you what it's going to wipe. It doesn't give you a selection of which devices - all or nothing. It doesn't give you an indication of what is installed (at least prior to wiping - I can't recall during), if that is what you're looking for.

3) Without looking at the board, boot a recent linux kernel and do a 'dmesg | grep mmc' and if it recognizes the EMMC device it would give something similar to:

mmc0: CQHCI version 5.10
mmc0: SDHCI controller on PCI [0000:00:1c.0] using ADMA 64-bit
mmc0: Command Queue Engine enabled
mmc0: new HS400 MMC card at address 0001
mmcblk0: mmc0:0001 DF4016 14.7 GiB
mmcblk0: p1 p2 p3 p4
mmcblk0boot0: mmc0:0001 DF4016 4.00 MiB
mmcblk0boot1: mmc0:0001 DF4016 4.00 MiB
mmcblk0rpmb: mmc0:0001 DF4016 4.00 MiB, chardev (237:0)
That is in my log for a 16GB EMMC with a SATA installed. There are probably other ways in other OSs.
 

kwijibo

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Aug 19, 2023
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Thanks! Will check later.

Can I trouble you for a few more questions?

4) My 5070 came with BIOS 1.8.0 (02 Nov 2020). There have been a whopping 18 updates per Dell Wyse 5070 Thin Client System BIOS | Driver Details | Dell US

Any reason not to upgrade to the latest 1.26.0 (14 Nov 2023)?

I saw this note: "Once the BIOS is upgraded to version 1.18.0, you cannot downgrade the BIOS to versions earlier than 1.16.0"

I checked all 18 updates' notes and
Mostly CVEs/DSAs
Added UEFI HTTP boot feature
Some bug fixes

And two random ones:

5) I looked up the Service Tag and it comes with ProSupport until Feb 2024. Anyone know if that's transferable from the previous owner, or is it an "original owner only" benefit?

6) if I disable unused components in the BIOS, will they still draw power? For example: the CAC reader.

Thanks!
 
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cageek

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4) My 5070 came with BIOS 1.8.0 (02 Nov 2020). There have been a whopping 18 updates per Dell Wyse 5070 Thin Client System BIOS | Driver Details | Dell US

5) I looked up the Service Tag and it comes with ProSupport until Feb 2024. Anyone know if that's transferable from the previous owner, or is it an "original owner only" benefit?

6) if I disable unused components in the BIOS, will they still draw power? For example: the CAC reader.

Thanks!
4) I've kept up and haven't noticed any large difference in the BIOSes. It's possible that there are things on the Extended and not the Slim that have changed, or that 32GB (2x16GB) memory config. have changed, but I haven't seen any - I'm using Slims with 4GB to 16GB (2x8GB) memory.

5) Don't know.

6) Don't know. If you have an accurate Power monitor I guess you could pull the cable and compare with BIOS on/off. You could just pull the cable if you're worried about max power draw.
 
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SonicBlue5

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Nov 27, 2023
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Thanks for the advice @Samir.

I received one of the $76 WiFi units and Cisco/Intel i350 card is on its way.

I think I read every comment in this thread that mentions eMMC, and I have a few questions.

1) Can it only boot from eMMC only when an M.2 SATA SSD is not inserted?

2) Does the BIOS Dell Security Manager internal storage wipe utility only impact M.2 SATA SSD if one inserted, or will it also wipe the eMMC?

3) How do I know if my unit has no eMMC? So far I haven't run an OS that can install to it and I haven't seen any evidence of it.

Disclaimer: Mine has BIOS 1.8.0 (02 Nov 2020) and it looks like there have been a whopping 18 updates per Dell Wyse 5070 Thin Client System BIOS | Driver Details | Dell US since then.
@kwijibo Please do let us know how it goes once your i350 card arrives. Can you share which specific eBay listing you went with?

The reason I ask is because I've been trying to figure out if certain OEM cards don't suffer from the SMBUS issue requiring the "tape trick" to make it work, but there isn't enough information to figure it out. As recently as this year (2023) I've seen posts online of some people having the issue with their i350 (non-counterfeit) which causes them to do the "tape trick" to get it working while others plug it in without doing anything and it just works.
 
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kwijibo

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@kwijibo Please do let us know how it goes once your i350 card arrives. Can you share which specific eBay listing you went with?

The reason I ask is because I've been trying to figure out if certain OEM cards don't suffer from the SMBUS issue requiring the "tape trick" to make it work, but there isn't enough information to figure it out. As recently as this year (2023) I've seen posts online of some people having the issue with their i350 (non-counterfeit) which causes them to do the "tape trick" to get it working while others plug it in without doing anything and it just works.
From my past reading, I think it is only cards pulled from Dells that require the tape trick. My card arrived but I haven't been able to test it yet. Among other things, I don't have a half height bracket yet.

For whatever reason there didn't seem to be much variation in the Cisco or Oracle cards. All I really checked for was
- Embossed Delta chip
- TXC branded oscillator
- Manufacturing date of Q4 2014 or later (if the t4v2 revision is important to you)
- Ideally a low quantity listing with pictures of the actual item
- Ideally comes with low profile bracket so it'll fit in the 5070 (these can be found on Chinese ebay listings for $2 shipped)
- Accepts returns, in case it's fake or broken

These meets all of those, except have no bracket and have 10+ for sale:


This one has a bracket but has lots for sale. Could low ball them with an offer perhaps.
 

RMNB

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Jul 11, 2022
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I got one of the $67.15 systems. Mine has no eMMC, only a 32GB SATA drive.

Question for you guys buying network cards. A lot of the posted options don't appear to have low profile brackets. What is your plan for installing one of those?
 

kwijibo

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Aug 19, 2023
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I am tied up at the moment and can't check -- does anyone with the $76 WiFi units know if theirs came with eMMC?

I ordered a $2 shipped low profile bracket on eBay. It shipped from China but based on current tracking, I suspect it will arrive in less than 2 weeks total.

You can probably use some tin snips on a full height bracket though for a short term fix.
 

Samir

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I got one of the $67.15 systems. Mine has no eMMC, only a 32GB SATA drive.

Question for you guys buying network cards. A lot of the posted options don't appear to have low profile brackets. What is your plan for installing one of those?
I haven't opened mine yet and won't get a chance until next week, but I also got a $67.15 one so will confirm if it's the same as yours.

As far as the network card, you can just install it without the bracket. Or you can 3d print one or purchase a used one online.
 
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SonicBlue5

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Nov 27, 2023
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I got one of the $67.15 systems. Mine has no eMMC, only a 32GB SATA drive.

Question for you guys buying network cards. A lot of the posted options don't appear to have low profile brackets. What is your plan for installing one of those?
I ended up getting one off of eBay from a US-based seller for a few bucks more than the ones that ship from China just so that it would get here a little sooner.
 
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mattalat

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Dec 28, 2022
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Might be kind of a niche question but has anyone tried using a M.2 wireless port to sata adapter and connecting it to an esata JBOD like this one? I'm curious if the performance is at all decent with the port multiplier. The use-case would be for a media box where only one of the drives is likely to be accessed at a time. I currently have it connected this way to a single-drive enclosure and it works great, but looking to expand.
 
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kwijibo

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Aug 19, 2023
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I haven't opened mine yet and won't get a chance until next week, but I also got a $67.15 one so will confirm if it's the same as yours.

As far as the network card, you can just install it without the bracket. Or you can 3d print one or purchase a used one online.
I was curious and looked for some models. I haven't tried this one, but looks like it should work:

 
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cy384

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One problem on Wyse 5070, once inserted the Mellanox card knocks out my M.2 SSD. I had to use USB Ubuntu Live to run the test.
I am running into an issue where if I plugin my connectx-3 10GB into the PCIE slot of the Wyse 5070 extended it seems to prevent the bios from detecting my SATA m.2 drive and after a normal reboot the connectx-3 stops being detected.
I grabbed a few 5070 extendeds and put a mellanox connectx-3 in each. The 5070s all work, except for one, where the m.2 SATA stops working ONLY when I have these conectx-3 cards in (tried three of them that work in the other boxes). I upgraded the BIOS and mellanox firmware, no improvement. I tried two AMD GPUs and a random old broadcom NIC I had laying around, all of which worked correctly with the m.2 SATA. I tried multiple different m.2 SATA drives, no difference. Also tried the SMBus tape trick, no difference.

Very strange and frustrating! Maybe this one will just be the GPU node in my little cluster!

Edit: actually, with more testing, it seems like only two of the five work with the mellanox cards, I think I'm going to just return these and go for m720q or something instead.
 
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