LENOVO (IBM) Bioses, especially Thinkpad. Previous requests

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by simkard, Sep 27, 2007.

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  1. HookedOnTV

    HookedOnTV MDL Novice

    Jul 2, 2009
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    Could anyone assist me in modifying the BIOS of a Thinkpad R60e laptop to get around the 1802 error about unauthorized network card?
     
  2. jketzetera

    jketzetera MDL Novice

    Apr 20, 2009
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    Yen,

    You are clearly the Thinkpad BIOS killer. I have a question/idea for you that goes beyond SLIC-patching and bypassing the Lenovo mini-pcie hardware checks.

    When it comes to Thinkpad T61 machines they come in a number of versions with different GPUs (Quadro FX570M, Quadro NVS 140, Intel). They all share the same BIOS and decompressing a T61 BIOS reveals that it contains firmware/BIOS versions for all these GPUs (OPROM0 – OPROM4 if you use PBE 2.2).

    The T61p with the most powerful GPU is the FX570M. It comes in two versions 128-bit bus, 256MB GDDR3 RAM for the 15.4” Widescreen T61p and 64-bit bus 128MB GDDR3 RAM for the 14” Standard screen T61p.

    Due to having half the memory and half the memory bandwidth, the performance of the 14” T61p is less than half of its larger widescreen sibling. However, inspecting the actual motherboard reveals that the 14” T61p actually is outfitted with 256MB GDDR3 RAM as well!

    I believe that the GPU hardware of both T61p models is the same and that the bus bandwidth and available memory is restricted through different versions of the GPU BIOS. In the T61p BIOS there are also two different versions of the FX570M bios available (OPROM0 and OPROM2).

    Now to my idea/question: In your opinion. How difficult would it be to create a custom BIOS that would use the FX570M firmware from the 15.4” Widescreen version but flash it into 14” T61p version? Is it as simple as just overwriting ORPOM2 with the contents of OPROM0 (OPROM0 is approx 4kbytes larger than OPROM2) or does this endeavor require much more work?
     
  3. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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    #463 Yen, Jul 4, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2009
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  4. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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    #464 Yen, Jul 4, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2009
    Since the OPROM0 to be inserted is larger than OPROM2 to be replaced, I would have to link out that module to a place where is enough free space.
    It should be possible.
    If you link to both bioses and tell me exactly which Oprom from where to where I can give it a try.
    Since the bioscode is very hardware specific I don't know if there will be any issues to use another oprom.
    Up to you.....
     
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  5. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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  6. Matt4495

    Matt4495 MDL Novice

    Jun 30, 2009
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    no prop. i will be checking back every few days or so, so if you can get it i will be able to get back to you, o and will the last modded bios that had the white list remove help you any, because i still have it from my last model
    edit: it was a R61e if that helps any, dead as a board now but if the old one can help i can image the CD i burned it to
     
  7. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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  8. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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    Make a bootable USB device, boot to DOS and try to flash the mod using afudos.
    afudos /I$IMAGE5H.ROM and if not working try:
    afudos /I$IMAGE5H.ROM /pbnc /n

    Try mod2 first. Please reply with rw-everything report.
     
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  9. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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  10. yongtw

    yongtw MDL Novice

    Mar 18, 2009
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  11. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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    #476 Yen, Jul 8, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2009
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  12. ZakMcRofl

    ZakMcRofl MDL Member

    Aug 11, 2007
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    #479 ZakMcRofl, Jul 8, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2009
    Great, thanks for your interest. I don't mind risking my notebook for a bit or research ;) So far however pin 20 trick didnt work for me, will try some more.

    The ID of the new card is 8086 4232 like you guess, subvendor 13218086.
    Like I said I'll try any experimental bios you can throw at me, as long as it is not _very_ likely to brick the notebook.

    Looking forward to your reply, playing with PIN 20 until then.
    Regards, Zak

    EDIT: Rebootet after PIN 20 trick - it works now (had tried from hibernate - not a good idea). But since the wifi switch still doesn't work I'm curious what you'll find out.
     
  13. Yen

    Yen Admin (retired)
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    #480 Yen, Jul 8, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2009
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