Dt310 Bios

[brookings]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could answer a question for me. I have a dt310
and am trying to edit the bios. I have tried every key or key combination I
can think of and still no luck. It seems the keyboard is not detected until
after it posts no system detected. I took out the 1gb ssd and still no
luck. I have tried different buttons on the front panel while starting,
tried different keyboards as well. I did get it to boot from a cdrom but
that is without a hdd. I want to change the boot order. Thank you

[Dave7341]

Thanks for posting here - I couldn't answer you on EBAY.

First, you need a real USB keyboard - no USB to PS2 adapters. The adapter may work after it boots up but not to get into the BIOS. Some multimedia USB keyboards will not work either. Just use a plain-Jane USB keyboard.

Then when you power up the tablet, start tapping the F1 key once every second until you go into the BIOS. Just keep tapping the F1 as it powers up. Once you get into the BIOS you can adjust things. You'll be able to change the boot order.

You can boot off the SSD flash drive - referred to as "Hard Drive" or the 1.8" PATA port as "Hard Drive2". If you remove the flash then the tablet will boot off the 1.8" port automatically even if set to 'Hard Drive" but if you use use "standby" in your OS then when it tries to come back from standby - the tablet will blue screen. This happens with XPe, XP Pro and XP Tablet edition.

Buy the way, XP Tablet Edition runs great off the DT310. You can also run Puppy Linux or a limited version of Android. Read the other posts for info on what OS to choose - or try them all.

I assume you purchased one of the many that are showing up on EBAY from a medical center in Tampa. They recycled out about 50-60 units recently. If you have one with a dark screen (very common) you'll have to see if it's a hardware of software issue.

Good luck. -Dave

[brookings]

Thank you for the reply, I tried three different usb keyboards, all by different manufacturers. Removed the sdd as well, and tried that, still the same old thing. This is one of those from the medical company, it had winxp embedded, but it was worthless to me with the passwords invoked and also to small for what I wanted to do with it. So I will be getting a 1.8 inch drive and trying that. The screen is dim and I am not sure how I am going to solve that problem yet. Again thanks for the reply and I will keep trying, maybe it will just be a cool paper weight and a reminder not to buy computers that are listed as non working.

[Dave7341]

I'll be glad to take it if you want to get rid of it. I can use one for parts to make one I have a working unit. But you may want to try this....do a reset on the BIOS first. It is possible the USB ports are disabled in the BIOS (or broken). Follow this procedure:
Plug it into the power supply, press the power button and hold it in for about five seconds. After about two seconds the WIFI LED will light then go off but keep holding the power button in. You can't hold it too long but after 5 seconds it will reset the BIOS to the default settings. If you let go of the power button and the tablet turns on, then you didn't hold it long enough. Once the BIOS is reset, power up with a generic USB keyboard and you should be able to get in with the F1. If you can't get to the BIOS and you have tried keyboards that you know are working it is possible the USB ports are blown. If the USB ports are not working then it's only good for parts.

By the way, having the flash drive installed or not does not matter when trying to get into the BIOS. You can't put in a standard PATA 1.8" hard drive without modifying the hard drive port first. You'll also need the drivers but you need to solve the BIOS entry problem first.

Good luck, -Dave

[brookings]

I had just about given up, but I have a few computers around and one of them is an Apple Mini Mac. It has a usb keyboard, so I figured why not try it. Well it worked just great, was able to get into the bios. Now I have to figure out what settings to detect the hard drive I bought.

[Dave7341]

The storage device will auto detect. No need for special settings.

In the settings "Harddrive" is the port next to the battery for the solid state device and "Harddrive2" is the 1.8" port.
If you don't have a "Harddrive2" in the boot order settings then you have an old BIOS and you should upgrade your firmware.

Good luck. -Dave

[jawwells]

I just bought a dt 310 with 1.25g flash memory and 512mb. I want to upgrade the hard drive to 40+gb ssd. Do you know what kind I should buy? And is there anything else I would need as well to make it operate correctly?

[Dave7341]

There are about 100 DT310 tablets that have gone into the surplus market here in the Tampa area. Many are showing up on EBAY.

The DT310 has a hard drive port for a solid state flash drive usually with a 1gb flash installed but 2gb and 4gb are common. You can buy larger flash drives to replace the standard device from APACER or TRANSEND - search google for retailers. There is a thread showing details on how to modify the Transend device to fit in the tablet. They work great.

The second option is to use the second hard drive port that is a 1.8" PATA port but it is non-standard. You need to modify the port for 'standard' drives. They come in sizes to 30gb and larger. You can also use a solid state drive that DT Research sells - check their website for details.

Most people go for the 1.8" PATA drive like a Toshiba MK3006GAL or similar. You need one that is 5mm thick so a 60gb Toshiba is too thick. Again, you need to modify the 1.8" drive port - you can't just plug in the drive as is.

Another common option is to use a 1.8" to CF adapter available for $1 on EBAY and then use a compact flash card for storage. You should use 233x or more for speed. The good part here is no moving parts although the Toshiba hard drives are used in IPODS and are fine with vibrations.

If you are going to run a flavor of LINUX, you could use a USB flash drive to run the OS. What OS are you planning to run? That's usually the best place to start. If you plan on staying with XPe then leave the 1gb flash drive as is. You can get extra storage from the PCMCIA slot. It's not bootable but it's nice extra storage. Use a PCMCIA hard drive or a PCMCIA solid state drive or a compact flash adapter and CF card. That makes simple and easy removable storage.

Many people use a PCMCIA 3G cell card in the PCMCIA slot so you need to figure out what you want to do with the tablet. It does have limitations.

If you bought this tablet thinking it was a cheap substitute for an IPAD - you will be disappointed.

I hope that helps you. Good luck with it. -Dave

[jawwells]

Thanks dave. this dt310X-010 runs great and on xpe. I am loading a restaurant point of sale software on this unit
That is only going to be opened as a sales demo for potential new clients. What do you think would be my best avenue?

[Dave7341]

Demos are fine but if you are going to sell software and hardware you may want to move to something a little newer for your clients. The DT312 or DT390 are the newer versions of these tablets. You won't find them cheap.

I hate doing demos on obsolete equipment because the client says "I want THAT" and then you have to tell them it's 5 years old and no longer available.

Demos on a show string budget are not uncommon either.......

XPe is fine. Do you need info on blasting the ADMIN password?? EWF control?? ETC??

I guess we have gotten off topic too but with so little traffic on the forum, I would even welcome a complaint.

-Dave

[jawwells]

Im not planning on selling the tablet hardware. Im just using this as a compact way to show off the software instead of lugging aroung a huge pos station. Just want to make sure I have enough memory and storage to load and operate the software.

[Dave7341]

Now that makes sense!

Have fun with it. -Dave

[jawwells]

Dave, if I buy the toshiba mk3006gal what exactly do I need to do to modify the drive port? And what about a kingspec 1.8" x 5mm? Or some other compatable matches. I really want to put some guts in this thing. If I do the 1.8" adapter, what is the pin number to pin number like 50 to 40 or 50 to 44? I really would like to put in a 40gb ssd. I just dont know where to begin.

[Dave7341]

If you just want cheap mass storage, use the PCMCIA slot. No mods needed, just plug and play. You can use a PCMCIA to compact flash adapter and then use a fast CF card. You can also find PCMCIA hard drives cheap on EBAY.

If you want one modified, buy them off EBAY with the hard drive already installed. They come on there often and go for $150 to $200 based on condition and options. With one of them refurbished you usually get a new BIOS battery, new internal battery topower the tablet and the BIOS updated. Most of the ones from the Tampa surplus outfit have the old BIOS without the HARDDRIVE2 boot option. If your BIOS version is 310LX_1.03.06 then you are all set but if it's 310LX_1.03.01 like most from the Moffitt health center, then you need to upgrade. Like I said, about 100 went into the surplus market recently and they are on EBAY now. They all have dead batteries and some have screen issues.

All these tablets look alike but they are different. If you really want to modify it then tell me your board level and BIOS version and make sure the features you want an enabled. You get this info from a file on the D: drive of the stock XPe installation.

d:\boot\grub\DTNVRAMInfo.txt

Good luck.

[jawwells]

Ok, mines not from tampa. I just want to know which adapter to buy. There is about a million different kinds on ebay. I just need to know the pin number, 50, 44 ect...