Tag: homelab

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Running HP T628 Headless

I bought a thin client to start my homelab journey. But as soon as I turned the PC on it started beeping loudly. To be specific, it gave 6 short beeps with flashing red light on the power button.

I turned the machine off, plugged in a monitor and wiped off the OS that was already present. I installed Windows 10 as that’s the OS that I’m most familiar with and I’m planning to migrate to Ubuntu Server soon. After some quick Google searches about the beeps I found that the machine needs a BIOS update. (See this)

BIOS Update

HP doesn’t provide BIOS updates easily and won’t provide any drivers on their site. Although BIOS updates are available but the OS’ list doesn’t have Windows 10.

Back to Googling again and I found that the type of OS doesn’t matter, you can install the BIOS version listed for Windows IOT OS. You’ll need a spare USB drive to do the BIOS update.

  1. Download the BIOS from here
  2. Run the .exe file
  3. The program is going to ask for a folder. This doesn’t matter where you store this, the program is going to dump its contents here.
  4. Run the application program present in WIN folder present in the folder selected above.
  5. This program is going to ask for the USB drive’s location. Select it and run the program.
  6. Reboot the machine with the USB drive connected and press F10 to open the BIOS menu.
  7. In the file menu, select the Flash BIOS option and you can leave the machine, it’s going to complete the update automatically.
  8. Reboot the machine and enter the BIOS menu again and disable Secure Boot. Select the Power On options and disable F1 on configuration change. You should see 2022 in the BIOS menu after the update.

For some reason, none of my changes in the BIOS were being saved. The computer still beeped at me whenever I turned it on without a display connection. After a lot of troubleshooting I understood that the CMOS battery was dead and that was causing all the issues. After a quick trip to the nearby supermarket and redoing all the changes mentioned above, there’s no beep anymore.

Lessons learnt:

  1. Software can’t fix hardware problems.
  2. Always replace the CMOS battery while dealing with older devices.

I can definitely recommend the seller, Saudewala to anyone who’s looking to buy refurbished products. Responsive on Instagram and low cost.

References:

  1. https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t520/firmware.shtml
  2. https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/bios.shtml (T628 version is not listed here, download from HP)
  3. https://support.hp.com/in-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-t628-thin-client/10522162
  4. https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeServer/comments/zz7zbp/help_failing_to_run_hp_thin_client_t520_headless/
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVpEqwepOWI (Videos is about T730 but the process remains same, download the BIOS version specific for T628)