EliteDesk 800 G1 Mini/DM Second Look

So my first EliteDesk 800 G1 Mini/DM is now my permanent backup NAS so I needed a second one for experimenting and videos - so this is my second look. But as like many of my builds - things didn't quite go as planned.

[@azfisher]

G1 - tell me your an over thinker without tell me your an over thinker. :)

[@Yandarval]

When cleaning fans. Either hold it still with a finger or stick something in the fan to stop the blades turning. Fans dont like been blown about at high speeds. Especially in the wrong direction.

[@handmedowntech]

@@Yandarval good point.

[@todderbert]

@@handmedowntech I find myself also using a brush as well.

[@todderbert]

Nice Thumbnails! Wanted to ask you if you ever had a bad SO-DIMM Slot? I appear to have one on my G1, it is the top Slot. I have cleaned, and inspected it, but can't see any damage to the pins. Using 8GB DIMMS, they both work on DIMM-1, but not 3. Even in Single Channel Mode. So I have a G1 running on 8GB Max. Not sure if I'll try to source a replacement board or not.

[@handmedowntech]

Your channel inspired the change 😀. I've been lucky in that regard. No bad slots so far but I did have bad memory. Made the fan spin crazy fast until I killed the power. Have you tried different RAM?

[@todderbert]

@@handmedowntech That may be worth a shot. Didn't think I had to see that the 8GB worked in the first slot. Maybe there is a compatibility thing with Dual Channel, its been awhile since I used to study this stuff :)

[@todderbert]

@@handmedowntech Glad I was able to inspire :) Your channel is great. Just cleaned up an oddball G3 705 A10 9700E AMD. Four Cores, and an SSD drive, with get this 2 petabytes of storage written to it...what the heck ?! 13% life left. This thing was used hard. Still works...but I'm not putting it anywhere near mission critical stuff.

[@handmedowntech]

That 705 G3 is unique, I changed my thumbnail to use "oddball" in the name. Got pretty hot for me.

[@todderbert]

@@handmedowntech I saw a video of a person having trouble with their G1 DM, but they said by just moving the Dimms around it worked. So I took mine and began testing it again. Found out it was indeed a bad module, not a bad slot. I must have mixed up the two while testing them. The bad module did not work in either slot, while the other worked in both.

[@Jeff-xg5jp]

So am curious with all these g1,g2 and g3's do you have a plan for oct 2025 next year and what direction you will go with these? As only the G4 and newer will be supported by windows 11. You thinking of going linux? Maybe ltsc 2019? Really curious as there are tons of machines out there that will not make the cut to windows 11.

[@handmedowntech]

So it looks like win 10 updates will end Oct 2025. I'm not too concerned since I'm able to already run win 11 on those G1,2,3 units.

[@Yandarval]

Just a guess about the inability for the UEFI to self update. The G1s were launched in 2014. HP split into HP and HPE in 2015. Its possible the embedded URL to call home has been turned off or changed during the changeover, since then. If you really want to change the URL to the same as the G3 etc. You can do that with the HP BIOS util. Run it on a G3, write down the update URL. The run the util on the G1 and copy the new URL into it. A faff to do for lots of machines. Which still may not call home correctly if "home" says go away you are too old.

[@handmedowntech]

@@Yandarval hadn't thought of using the tool to change the URL. Of course they're also not putting out new BIOS either 😕

[@Yandarval]

@@handmedowntech Thats true. Intel 4th gen are rather long in the tooth. More power hungry at idle too.

[@RedMAGACult]

I believe that when HP designed the first mini computer, Dell and Lenovo were in development as well! So like all good production businesses HP anticipated upgrades and redesign features to the mini's hardware. So they decided to label their units with GENERATION 1, followed by GENERATION 2 and on. Generation 1 of the mini PC had some serious design flaws that were corrected in Generation 2. After Generation 2 unfortunately things didn't get any better, they should have left well enough alone. I have several G 3 mini's and, as you know, they removed the thumb screw from the case and rearranged the drive caddy with the SATA cable screwed to it, so in order to take out the drive caddy you have to remove screws from the SATA cable, that's a bummer. G 3 mini's also have a cheap plastic front bezel and if you ever tried to install WiFi in a G 3 it's not easy, the internal WiFi antenna does not fit in the case well. So, long story short...HP should have just rebranded the G2, G3, G4, G4 etc.

[@handmedowntech]

@@RedMAGACult just when I write off one Generation I then have to play with it more and then discover the charms. Like I had written off the G3 and G1 and then recently got back into liking them more. I do like the all black of the G1 and G2 though.

[@RedMAGACult]

@@handmedowntech I still hold that the G2 was the BEST mini HP made!

[@SaltPapiii]

Planning on buying this G1. Would this suffice works with multiple chrome and tabs? Tasks aren’t intensive. Hope you’ll notice this. TIA!

[@handmedowntech]

When I started looking for a second G1 I was surprised at how zippy it was with Windows 11. These are rugged units. Run mine 247 as a NAS. Get 16gb of RAM though and get the latest BIOS.

[@SaltPapiii]

@@handmedowntech Thank you for the response. While the G1 I will be purchasing still runs with HDD and only has 4x2 RAM, still planning on buying it and just upgrade to SSD and 16gb RAM. I appreciate your help!

[@handmedowntech]

You'll want to move away from that HDD pretty quickly since performance with those is a bit painful.

[@SaltPapiii]

@@handmedowntech Yes I will. Been looking up G1 review and alike. Got lucky I bumped onto your channel and I appreciate you! You earned a subscribe.

[@SaltPapiii]

@@handmedowntech I just have more question though. Am not really tech savey, is it okay not have the BIOS updated? I’m afraid might have it messed up and it won’t run as it is expected.

[@CC-hi5db]

What if that applyed after ? Or hp may have planned to release Gen 2 with customer feedback considering these are intended to business and government's .

[@handmedowntech]

@@CC-hi5db maybe wishful thinking on their part 😉

[@mikehiggins4079]

Why not call it the G1 The very first Star Wars movie was Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

[@handmedowntech]

I'm a bit rusty on Star Wars. Did the scroll at the start say episode IV? I did recall hearing Lucas originally planning for 9 episodes so it would make sense.