Z83 Support

dcarson83

What happened to the support forum and information for the Z83. I posted some informaiton in the past and I can't even find that. I need to re-image my unit and all I can find is the BT3. Do all the images work on the Z83, since they are so simular?

Magendanz

I believe that the BT3 and Z83 do have compatible BIOS, but the BT3 II and Z83 II use different eMMC (NAND) chipsets which precludes using the latest BT3 II posted here on the Z83.  I've tested this personally (and was able to recover by booting to a USB drive to flash the old BIOS).

Really, my expectations for support are pretty modest for a Chinese OEM, but I was shocked when Beelink deleted the Z83 community forum and we lost that entire collection of knowledge.  It's really a shame to have lost what little support we had.

geegee

I'm shocked too that they deleted it.
The very poor to non existent support is shocking too.

There is still no proper bios for the z83/Bt3 available. One would expect a V17 with proper thermal management, fix of bugs, 32+64uefi-boot, wake on lan,...

Magendanz

I sent a couple of email messages today to contacts at AZW, just to see if we could get something more current for the Z83 II.  My hope is that they've at least added support for Standby/Sleep (ACPI S3 or S1 power state).  Will let you know what I hear.

bfauquet

Magendanz replied at 2017-06-21 10:31
I believe that the BT3 and Z83 do have compatible BIOS, but the BT3 II and Z83 II use different eMMC ...

Magendanz,
how to you proceed to boot from an USB Stick ?
My Z83 II is now blinkin blue (slowly) after a bios update.

Thanks

Magendanz

I did it by inserting a USB 3.0 flash drive that I formatted with Windows To Go, then hitting F7 during power-up.  From the Boot menu, I was able to select the USB drive, but not the eMMC volume.  (That was visible in Windows, but the BIOS couldn't see it.)