Rebuilding an old friend - part II
In an earlier post I discussed the trials and tribulations of trying to rebuild a circa 2013 Dell Venue 8 Pro 5830 tablet I've been using as a Windows 10 test device for the last 3+ years.
During my journey I had to buy 2 new batteries, a new motherboard and a display assembly.
The good news is that I got my old friend back running and as I mentioned I was trying make a decision on whether to keep the replacement motherboard which was a WWAN (Broadband) model and do some hacking or to return it.
Also good news is I was able to get a refund on the defective replacement battery and as we speak I am getting a replacement display assembly since the first one - would simply not calibrate correctly.
Back to the motherboard - the unit I purchased ran the same Atom Z3740D CPU with 2GB of RAM, but had 64GB of local storage and could support a broadband modem and SIM. When it arrived I noticed it was still running Windows 8.1 and would not activate and that the 64GB drive had been carved up into some really unusable partitions.
So time to start from scratch....
I have to give it to Dell for having the foresight to support multiple capabilities off the single mini-usb port on the device.
Using an On-the-Go (OTG) cable (a mini USB male to USB A Female) - you could attach a wireless keyboard and mouse. But the real power is support for a powered USB hub and the ability to attach a USB Thumb Drive, WiFi or even Ethernet Dongle as well.
In fact not only could you attach these items - but you can then direct the tablet to boot from the USB. Very Cool.
Using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool - I created a 32bit bootable Fall Creators Update USB, then attached it along a Logitech wireless keyboard mouse and a FayTun USB dual band WiFi dongle and then used a series of power/volume control movements to place the device in boot device select mode - where it saw the Windows 10 USB boot device and immediately booted into Windows 10 setup.
From there it was like any OOBE Windows Install - I cleared all the partitions, then installed Windows 10 without a hitch. And because I had attached the USB WiFi to the powered Hub I didn't have to worry about missing drivers or anything. And once completed Windows 10 activated without a hitch and I immediately joined the device to Windows Insider - Fast Ring and installed build 17120.1.
From there some simple downloads of an updated BIOS and some drivers and the unit was working fine.
So another piece of design foresight by Dell was around WWAN support. Versus some small tablets that have their broadband chipsets integrated into the motherboard - Dell actually installed an M.2 slot. So I was able to insert a Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE 4 card I had lying around with no problems, I inserted a SIM and boom - Always Connected PC - with not only data, but voice and GPS support.
One tip from Paul Thurrott I leveraged was to buy a pre-paid SIM from MintSIM. So I got an unlimited, voice, text and 2GB of data for $18 / month. MintSIM is on TMO and so the EM7455 supported it no problem. I also tested an ATT SIM and it worked great as well.
Since my device back was not originally designed to support the WWAN version of the 5830 motherboard - the SIM Slot was partially covered and I am testing various internal antenna options to help with LTE Signal. I may go see if I can find a WWAN back on Ebay.
So all in to rebuild my old friend was $25 for the battery, $99 for the display assembly and then $64 for the motherboard upgrade. A total of $188. Not bad considering what a new Always connected PC is going for. And for my use case it was worth it.
I was disappointed when Intel stopped development on the Atom CPU and the OEMs dropped 8" Windows tablets like a hot rock. So I had held on to my trusty Venue since I felt it filled a nice use case.
Running full Windows x86 with Office it was great on cramped flights versus a traditional laptop and with WiFi and BT I could easily connect, browse, listen to music or watch a movie. Now with the WWAN motherboard I just added LTE capability - so one of those nice to have items when travelling.
Sure the device is no rocket ship and yes it's not 4K, etc - but it's a great little device and until I can find something that can do a similar job - the Venue will be just fine...
During my journey I had to buy 2 new batteries, a new motherboard and a display assembly.
The good news is that I got my old friend back running and as I mentioned I was trying make a decision on whether to keep the replacement motherboard which was a WWAN (Broadband) model and do some hacking or to return it.
Also good news is I was able to get a refund on the defective replacement battery and as we speak I am getting a replacement display assembly since the first one - would simply not calibrate correctly.
Back to the motherboard - the unit I purchased ran the same Atom Z3740D CPU with 2GB of RAM, but had 64GB of local storage and could support a broadband modem and SIM. When it arrived I noticed it was still running Windows 8.1 and would not activate and that the 64GB drive had been carved up into some really unusable partitions.
So time to start from scratch....
I have to give it to Dell for having the foresight to support multiple capabilities off the single mini-usb port on the device.
Using an On-the-Go (OTG) cable (a mini USB male to USB A Female) - you could attach a wireless keyboard and mouse. But the real power is support for a powered USB hub and the ability to attach a USB Thumb Drive, WiFi or even Ethernet Dongle as well.
In fact not only could you attach these items - but you can then direct the tablet to boot from the USB. Very Cool.
Using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool - I created a 32bit bootable Fall Creators Update USB, then attached it along a Logitech wireless keyboard mouse and a FayTun USB dual band WiFi dongle and then used a series of power/volume control movements to place the device in boot device select mode - where it saw the Windows 10 USB boot device and immediately booted into Windows 10 setup.
From there it was like any OOBE Windows Install - I cleared all the partitions, then installed Windows 10 without a hitch. And because I had attached the USB WiFi to the powered Hub I didn't have to worry about missing drivers or anything. And once completed Windows 10 activated without a hitch and I immediately joined the device to Windows Insider - Fast Ring and installed build 17120.1.
From there some simple downloads of an updated BIOS and some drivers and the unit was working fine.
So another piece of design foresight by Dell was around WWAN support. Versus some small tablets that have their broadband chipsets integrated into the motherboard - Dell actually installed an M.2 slot. So I was able to insert a Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE 4 card I had lying around with no problems, I inserted a SIM and boom - Always Connected PC - with not only data, but voice and GPS support.
One tip from Paul Thurrott I leveraged was to buy a pre-paid SIM from MintSIM. So I got an unlimited, voice, text and 2GB of data for $18 / month. MintSIM is on TMO and so the EM7455 supported it no problem. I also tested an ATT SIM and it worked great as well.
Since my device back was not originally designed to support the WWAN version of the 5830 motherboard - the SIM Slot was partially covered and I am testing various internal antenna options to help with LTE Signal. I may go see if I can find a WWAN back on Ebay.
So all in to rebuild my old friend was $25 for the battery, $99 for the display assembly and then $64 for the motherboard upgrade. A total of $188. Not bad considering what a new Always connected PC is going for. And for my use case it was worth it.
I was disappointed when Intel stopped development on the Atom CPU and the OEMs dropped 8" Windows tablets like a hot rock. So I had held on to my trusty Venue since I felt it filled a nice use case.
Running full Windows x86 with Office it was great on cramped flights versus a traditional laptop and with WiFi and BT I could easily connect, browse, listen to music or watch a movie. Now with the WWAN motherboard I just added LTE capability - so one of those nice to have items when travelling.
Sure the device is no rocket ship and yes it's not 4K, etc - but it's a great little device and until I can find something that can do a similar job - the Venue will be just fine...
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