10ZiG 67xx: Hardware 

• Hardware
• Disassembly
• Firmware
• Linux
• Using

I haven't been able to track down exactly when the 6000 series was launched. I would have thought it would appear in the '10ZiG in the news' section of their website which does go back about 10 years, but no. The only mention is of an enhancement "10ZiG is pleased to announce enhanced Quad Monitor support on its WES and WIN7 Embedded 6000 Series Thin Clients." in April 2012.

I ended up looking at the meta data of the few pdf datasheets I found. Several were authored by Michelle in January 2011. From this it looks like early 2011 was the probable launch date. Out of interest I checked the wayback machine. The capture of the 10ZiG website on 1st December 2010 only shows the 6617 - the predecessor(?) of the 67xx. The next one in July 2011 shows the 67xx range.

As usual there are several models in the range that use the common hardware base but then the amounts of flash and RAM vary depending on the installed operating system. Also there is a PCI card slot that was used to provide a serial and parallel port or DVI and VGA ports in the Quad monitor version.

As I write this (July 2020) the 67xx is a rare beast. I don't recall seeing any appearing on eBay in the last few years. This is a pity as it has a feature that a lot of people look for when repurposing thin clients - a PCI slot. As a consequence it is one of the larger style of thin client.

The 67xx I bought had been used by somebody else as a pfsense firewall. It had a 2GB IDE flash drive with a 'Windows Embedded Standard' sticker on it (but the flash had been wiped) and two mismatched 2GB SODIMMs. It included a PCI riser and was fitted with a TP-link ethernet card.

Specifications

Processor
Type    Speed	VIA Nano 1.3GHz
Memory
Flash    RAM	1G/16GB 1GB/2GB (max 16GB)
Video
Chip    Max resolution	VIA Chromotion HD 1920x1080 32-bit colour
Ports
Network    USB    Serial    Parallel    PS/2    Video	10/100/1000 802.11 b/g/n (optional) 6 x USB2.0 1 (optional) 1 (optional) 2 2 x DVI
Power
Plug    Input    Off    Idle    Running	Coax 5.5mm/2.1mm 12v/3A (datasheet) 0W 10W 18W
Dimensions
H x W x D (mm)	230 x 57 x 210

Models: It looks like we have

Model	OS	RAM	Storage
6702v	Linux	1GB	1GB
6772v	Linux	1GB	512MB
6716	XPe	2GB	2GB
6716v	WES 2009	2GB	2GB
6717v	WES7	2GB	4GB

Power Supply

The unit requires a 12V supply and uses a conventional 5.5mm/2.1mm coax connector. My unit idled at ~10W with a peak consumption ~18W. This is with an additional PCI ethernet card fitted.

CPU

Having booted Tinycore, /proc/cpuinfo shows:

vendor_id	:	CentaurHauls
cpu family	:	6
model	:	15
model name	:	VIA Nano U3100 (1.6GHz Capable)
stepping	:	10
flags	:	fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon rep_good cpuid pni monitor vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 popcnt rng rng_en ace ace_en ace2 phe phe_en pmm pmm_en lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi ida

PCI

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Host Bridge: Host Control (rev 80)
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Error Reporting
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 CPU Bus Controller
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 DRAM Bus Control
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Power Management and Chip Testing Control
00:00.5 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 APIC and Central Traffic Control
00:00.6 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Scratch Registers
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 North-South Module Interface Control
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Graphics [Chrome9 HD]
00:01.1 Audio device: VIA Technologies, Inc. Device 9170
00:03.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 PCI Express Root Port 0
00:03.1 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 PCI Express Root Port 1
00:03.2 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 PCI Express Root Port 2
00:03.3 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 PCI Express Root Port 3
00:03.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 PCI Express Physical Layer Electrical Sub-block
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Serial ATA Controller
00:10.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)
00:10.1 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)
00:10.2 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)
00:10.3 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)
00:10.4 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 90)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX900 Bus Control and Power Management
00:11.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX8xx South-North Module Interface Control
00:13.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX855/VX875/VX900 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:14.0 Audio device: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller (rev 20)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
05:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)

Expansion

As usual click on the photo (right) for a larger version.

Flash: The standard flash fitted to the 67xx is a IDE DOM connected to a standard 44-pin IDE interface. Adjacent to it is a SATA data socket and a 4-pin socket - CN2. The pins on this socket are 0.1" spacing and I measure +5V on the pin closest to the SODIMMs. I haven't checked out this SATA interface.

RAM: The board carries two SODIMM sockets for DDR3 memory. As delivered mine had 2x2GB SODIMMs fitted, a Hynix 10600S part and an A+ NDD31333-2G part. I also tried out a 4GB part (M2S4G64CB8HG5N-CG) and an 8GB Hynix part (HMT41GS6BFR8A-PB) both of which worked. So it looks like the maximum memory supported is 16GB.

PCI: There is an onboard PCI slot. I do not know if the riser that fits this comes as standard or is an option. One of the data sheets implies that an optional serial and parallel port are provided via a PCI card but see on.

As noted elsewhere my 67xx came fitted with a TP-Link ethernet card. One thing I noticed was that the foot of the backplate of this card partially covered the PS/2 keyboard port (see photo). If you want to use a PS/2 keyboard you may need a file or hacksaw to remedy this.

PCIe: There is also an onboard PCIe slot. This is at the end of the PCI slot by the DOM and is in-line with the PCI connector. This means that the PCI riser effectively covers it. In my original write-up I ignored this but in April 2021 Jenny emailed me:

One additional little gem which you might like to mention is that the motherboard technically has TWO expansion slots. The second slot is the PCIe connector. It actually faces the other way to the main PCI slot, but by use of a ribbon cable extender and a little judicious case modding it is possible to use this to fit a PCIe wifi card or indeed some other expansion as desired.

I guess if you are not using the PCI slot you could also remove the riser and just use the ribbon cable to extend the PCIe socket to a PCIe expansion card fitted conventionally to the back panel.

Additional photos

Serial and Parallel ports: My 67xx came with a serial port (grey ribbon cable in the photo). There are a number of connectors next to the IDE flash that appear to be for these ports - eg COM4 and LPT1. JP5 and JP6 have settings labelled +5V/Default/+12V which maybe for setting the serial output levels. What CN4 and CN5 do I have no idea.

Under the RAM sockets the board carries the silk screen designation of E710/H740M.

The IDE flash module and adjacent to it the SATA data socket and CN2 for +5V power. According to my multimeter on CN2 the two middle pins are earths, the top pin (looking at the photo) +5V and the bottom pin is not connected to anything. The pin spacing is 0.1".

A view with the riser removed showing the PCI slot and the smaller PCIe connector next to it.