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Atrust t176L: Firmware 

BIOS

The DEL key gets you into the BIOS which identifies itself as Aptio Setup Utility. For those who like confusion the main screen identifies the BIOS version as 't176L v1.03' with a build date of 12/11/2017 whilst at the bottom of the screen we have: 'Version 2.18.1264 Copyright 2017 American Megatrends, Inc.'.

There are the usual collection of odds and ends that you can set. The main item of interest is under the Advanced tab:

▶ Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (MAC:00:1F:D8:0C:18:C6)
▶ Trusted Computing
▶ CPU Configuration
▶ Miscellaneous Configuration
▶ LPSS & Scc Configuration
▶ Network Stack Configuration
▶ CSM Configuration
▶ Security Configuration

CSM is the Compatibility Support Module that's the addition that's necessary if you wish to use legacy (as opposed to UEFI) booting. Selecting it gives you:

   Compatibility Support Module Configuration
  
   CSM Support                         Enabled
   
   Boot option filter                  [UEFI and Legacy]

   Option Rom execution
   Network                             [UEFI]
   Video                               [UEFI]

So you have the option of Legacy and/or UEFI booting.

The F7 key brings up a boot menu. In my case I had a UEFI booting SanDisk USB drive plugged in. I got:

Please Select Boot Device
UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell UEFI OS IP4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller UEFI: SanDisk, Partition 1 UEFI: Sandisk, Partition 2 SanDisk Enter Setup
↑ and ↓ to move selection
ENTER to select boot device
ESC to boot using defaults

You use the up/down arrow keys to select a particular entry and then hit Enter to boot it.

The Boot option in the BIOS lets you set the boot priority list.

BIOS password

My t176L came with no BIOS password set. At the time of writing I do not know if Atrust have a default password for the t176 nor do I know how to reset the password if one is set. Google has been no help here.

As noted elsewhere there is no battery fitted to the t176 and so there is no configuration information held in a battery-backed CMOS chip that you can clear by disconnecting the battery. I did not see any links on the circuit board that could be temporarily moved in order to get the BIOS to wipe out a password on power-up.

I did temporarily set a password and made a few attempts to clear it without any success.

So, if a BIOS password is set, you're stuffed. If you know better please let me know.

Firmware

On power-up pressing the ESC key brings up the Atrust Thin Client Menu. On my t176L this gave me the options:

Normal Mode
Safe Mode
Reset Mode
Firmware Update
Reboot
Shutdown

I didn't explore this further.

 


Any comments? email me. Added October 2024