HP t5740: Hardware 

• Hardware
• Firmware
• Linux
• Windows
• Mods
• Apps
• Links

From October 2012 the description here came from Pascal in France who had a st5742. (t5740 with no flash and no operating system - see HP's naming system). He had found a relatively cheap st5742 from the US to replace his t5700 which was acting as a low power home server. You'll find a description of what he did under the mods tab.

Finally [Feb 2015] I've got my hands on a t5740, albeit with no flash memory, no bottom cover and with no stand but it was working and has enabled me to fill out this entry to match the others.

Specifications

Processor
Type    Speed	Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz
Memory
Flash    RAM	2GB 2GB (max 8GB*)
Video
Chip    Max resolution      Standard      Widescreen	Intel GL40 2048 x 1536 32-bit colour 1920 x 1200
Ports
Network    USB    Serial    Parallel    PS/2    Video	10/100/1000 8 x USB2.0 1 none 2 VGA & Display Port
Power
Plug    Supply    Off    Idle    Running	Coax 4.8mm/1.7mm 19V 3.42A 1W 10W 12W
Dimensions
H x W x D (mm)	267 x 44 x 222 with Stand

The operating system is Windows 7.

* You can fit 8GB. No OS can use more than 4GB. (See below).

From HP's datasheet:

Intel GL40 graphics with support for two high-resolution monitors up to 2048 x 1536, or up to 32 bit color depth. Output through VGA and DisplayPort connectors. Optional adapters available for DisplayPort to VGA or DVI-D connections.

Power Supply

The power supply is a laptop-style 19V one with a coax connector. The outer diameter of the plug is 4.8mm. I believe the inner diameter to be 1.7mm but it's not the easiest thing to measure the diameter of the recessed pin in the socket, it might be 1.4mm. When I searched on line for 't5740 PSU' I was surprised to find a number of offerings claiming to be replacements that were fitted with 5.5mm/2.5mm plugs. I can assure you anything with those dimensions does not fit my t5740!

CPU

The CPU is an Intel Atom N280 CPU, a single core 32-bit CPU but with Hyperthreading.

PCI

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)

Expansion

Click on the image for a larger version.

Flash: As mine came without any flash fitted I'm not 100% certain what type of flash is included. The board offers two ways of adding the flash - a 44-pin IDE connector or a SATA socket. The SATA socket is one of the combined power and data sockets and is to the SATA II standard.

As with other HP boards of this vintage the board is tracked for a second SATA socket. The traces for this are between the IDE connector and the edge of the board. (See photo below). Various correspondents have successfully soldered in a second SATA connector to the board.

Note: I've had an email from Christian who tried to use a 3.5" SATA disk with the t5740 and found it wasn't recognised and actually didn't spin up.

...so I've checked the pins from the power connector with a multimeter and found out that there is no power provided on the three 12V pins - not on the Combo-Connector nor on the unequipped connector near the 44pin IDE connector. The 5V and 3.3V pins provide the correct power. It works with 2.5" HDDs because they usually don't use 12V, only 5V (some older ones also 3.3V).

RAM: The motherboard has two sockets for SODIMMs, one on the top of the board and one on the bottom. The one on the bottom is accessible by removing a small metal panel - you don't have to take the motherboard out of the enclosure. The datasheet mentions '1 or 2 GB DDR3/667MHz system memory'. In my model there was a single 1GB Hynix SODIMM fitted, PC3-10600S, part # HMT112S6TFR8C-H9. The datasheets put the maximum memory supported as 8GB, i.e. 2 x 4GB modules, but in practice it is 4GB (see below).

I've successfully fitted a 4GB Elpida part (2Rx8 PC3-10600S).

I also found the following 2GB parts I had to hand worked:

• Hynix 2GB 1Rx8 PC3-10600S-9-10-B1 (HTM325S6BFR8C-H9)
• Samsung 2GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600S-09-10-F2 (M471B5673EH1-CH9)
• Micron Technology 2GB 1Rx8 PC3-10600S-9-10-B1 (MT8JSF25664HZ-1G4D1)

I also had a 4GB 1Rx8 PC3L-12800S part from Nanya - (NT4GC64C88B1NS-DI) - that didn't work which made suspect that it didn't support 'PC3L' parts. However I had an email from Parker Reed who was happily using a 2GB 1Rx16 PC3L-12800S part from Samsung (M471B5674QH0-YK0).

You can fit 2 x 4GB SODIMMs and so have 8GB of RAM. This is reported as such by the BIOS. However I'm afraid as far as I'm able to determine, you can't use it. The maximum accessible memory is 4GB, actually closer to 3GB after you allow for the shared screen memory and the memory mapped PCI address range.

Physical Address Extension (PAE) is the mechanism that 32-bit CPUs such as the Atom N280 use to get around the 32-bit (hence 4GB) addressing limit. The N280 and the companion GL40 support PAE, but neither I nor others have found a PAE version of Linux or Windows that sees more than 4GB of RAM in the t5740.

At the moment it looks like there is no benefit in fitting more than 3GB of RAM. If you know better please email me using the link at the bottom of the page.

USB: Like a lot of the HP thin clients of this era the t5740 includes two 'secure' USB sockets within the housing. There are also two on the front panel and four sockets on the rear panel.

mPCIe: There is a mPCIe connector on the board adjacent to the SATA socket.

I had a Atheros AR5B91 wireless wifi card to hand and plugged that in. When powered up it duly appeared in the lspci listing.

.....
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Limited NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)

PCI-e: The board carries what looks like a PCI or PCI-e slot. This is used with a riser card and expansion housing that doubles the width of the thin client. The expansion module provides a 4x PCIe socket along with a serial port and a parallel port. Obviously connections to the latter must pass over this interface. Unlike the t610 this socket is completely non standard and any attempt to try using anything other than the standard HP riser will end in disaster. (Thank you Dominik for checking this out).

Although I've only ever seen the PCIe expansion module the specs do say:

HP t5740/t5745 PCIe x4/PCI Expansion Module part number AZ551AA

I have only ever seen the PCIe version. As they give a single part number does the factory ship include both risers? Possibly by the time they hit eBay the unused one has been lost?

PCI riser

PCIe riser

Video: In June 2019 I heard from Wes who had had problems in trying to connect his t5740 to his Vizio TV using a standard Display Port to HDMI cable. He struggled with this for weeks believing it to be a configuration/software/driver issue and finally gave up. Then....

...on a whim, I tried out a little adapter along with a standard HDMI cable. Wow! The TV came on! Not only that, but after enabling SPDIF (in the BIOS if I remember correctly), I even have audio coming from the television speakers. Why does it not work with a dedicated Display Port to HDMI cable? I have NO idea... but the little adapter even allows Lakka (a Linux-based emulation OS) to use the HDMI picture and audio natively.

The adapter he bought from eBay (for less than $2) was listed as 'DP Display Port Male To HDMI Female Cable Converter Adapter For PC HP/DELL'

The traces on the circuit board for an additional SATA socket.

The Atheros AR5B91 Wireless card in place.