The TCX3 is fitted with a Phoenix Award BIOS - hit the DEL key on power-up to get into it.
The BIOS has a default password which is Xtracool (it took a bit of disassembly work to find this). Also it turned out to be relatively easy to bypass the request for a password once you've booted an operating system. Initially I used the 'bypass approach' as I had no idea what the password was.
In the BIOS you can set the First/Second/Third Boot device to one of:
Separately you can set the Hard Disk Boot Priority to:
Essentially the 'Hard Disk' list is what it finds as it powers up. Inserting a flash drive and restarting gives:
Having loaded the defaults in the BIOS I find that the three boot devices in order are set to Hard Disk/Legacy LAN/Disabled. So it would appear that until you manage to get into the BIOS you will not be able to boot from USB - but see below.
When starting up Shift/F10 will get you into a Realtek Boot Agent setup screen where you can change:
I have not tried network booting.
I know nothing about the standard ThinIT firmware and removed it asap.
[This section is superfluous as we now know the BIOS password, but I have left in place as it is useful in its own right and might be relevant on other systems.]
Until you are able to get into the BIOS and change the settings the system will only boot from a hard disk (or flash) connected to the IDE interface - or so I thought. To get going I connected up a compact flash card adaptor to the IDE interface and powered it from a spare USB header. (See the yellow arrow in the photo).
If you boot something like Tiny Core from the flash you can then run the utility clrpwd to remove the password request. A fuller description of that utility and what is going on can be found here. Once you've removed the password protection you can then set what ever boot options you like.
An alternative way in would be to try network booting - but I haven't attempted that.
Having got into the BIOS I selected "Load Optimised Defaults" which sorted out the problem of the CPU settings and it only running at 400MHz (see below). I now have a system that runs quite happily at 1GHz with no complaints at power-up.
Doh!: However, having written the above, I realised you can get the system to initially boot from USB. Note that the "Hard Disk Boot Priority" initial list comprises what the BIOS finds starting with the IDE interface. If you remove the DOM from the IDE socket then any suitably formatted USB pen drive will automatically move up to the top of the list. I tried it out and it worked. Why didn't I think of that earlier?
When I first powered the unit up it booted and then complained about not being a ThinIT client - I assume because it could not find any server. My immediate reaction was to re-boot to the BIOS which I found was password protected. After a couple of random guesses I pulled the CMOS battery to remove the password.....only to find that it has a default password set in the BIOS and now a problem during the BIOS startup sequence (see below). I got:
Splash Screen.
Error Screen.
It looks like Precedence have a bug in the start-from-scratch system initialisation as the error message:
Warning! CPU has been changed or CPU Ratio changed fail. Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!disappears once you've manage to get into the BIOS and loaded the optimised default values.
BIOS Screen
An email to Precedence got a fairly rapid response which turned out not to be particularly helpful. The salient points were:
- I'm afraid we do not give out the passwords for these and it sounds like it's been mis-sold to you. These are dedicated thin-client devices and designed to run exclusively with our ThinIT software. The BIOS is a custom BIOS specifically for this purpose and they have never been sold as general purpose PC devices. If this is what you purchased it for I would suggest you send it back for a refund.
- The BIOS doesn't default to 400MHz. If it's reporting the processor as 400MHz then it's a fault. We have seen this once or twice in the past.
I'm not too sure about the extent of the customisation they mention in the first point. To me it looks like a custom splash screen and a default BIOS password. Installing Tiny Core in the flash gives me a system that boots and runs quite happily - albeit having to hit the F1 key along the way and with the 1GHz CPU only running at 400MHz.
As mentioned above, once I got past the password and into the BIOS the TCX3 cruises along without complaint at 1GHz.