T61/X61 SATA II 1.5 Gb/s cap - willing to pay for a solution

Thanks so much

 

Dear Middleton,

I flashed my T61(6458-CTO) with your 2.29/1.08 BIOS and nearly everything works fine, except that i must tape my Ericsson F3507g pin 20 down, to get it recognized under misc. opsystems(Ubuntu 11.10, win7x64). HW switch does not works with it(altrough it works with my Intel Wifi-Link 1000 in wlan slot, that's originally not on the "factory whitelist").
Searched throu' the forum, i found some similar problems(another user with a Gobi2000 card), looks like the bios skips the whitelist checks, but still disables the WWAN unathorized cards. Already tried to add the cards VID/PID to bios(into bioscode5.rom, replacing the supported Sierra Wireless 8775), but still no luck
Any idea? I can help you with the debugging, if you think.

 

Hi Middleton,
Thank you for such a cool bios!
I just want to know if I can install Intel 6300 wifi card on my x61t laptop with your latest bios?
thank you in advance!!!

 

YumeD
Try to ask here. I can't support this thread anymore.

luckymouse
In theory, Intel 6300 wifi should work fine with the modded BIOS.

 

Just noticed that a new T61 bios was released recently - highly unexpected
Anyone tried it?

 

I don't see how useful it is as it mentions...

Even though the T61 uses an integrated SoundMax audio chip instead. :s

 

I agree, just thought that there could be changes that weren't mentioned

 

Thanks middleton! Just installed your bios on my thinkpad x61 tablet. Ran the CD version using the ultrabay drive. Only thing I had to do was disable security in the bios to get it to run. Holy wow. Read times went from average of 36 mb/s with my oem drive to 273 mb/s with my new sataIII samsung ssd.

I'm running the ubuntu 12.04 beta and from the time I hit the power button to desktop is 15 seconds, without any additional software tweaks. Very nice. Thanks!

 

Hey, first of all, thanks for making this BIOS! I got one question. I flashed my X300 today using a CD. I guess everything went smooth (said flashing 'done' etc, long beep yada yada yada). Now how do i see if everything is in order?

The numbers in my BIOS havent changed. So is the BIOS sucessfully flashed, or did i miss anything?

(before and after flash)
BIOS Version 1.10 (7TET36WW)
Embedded COntroller Version 1.01

Greetings
Paul

 

Most Thinkpad X61 tablets are 1024x768, but they made a few that are 1400x1050 SXGA+.

There is a Middleton bios for "X61/X61s SXGA+" and a Middleton bios for "X61 Tablet"

I have an X61 that is both a tablet *and* is SXGA+. Which bios do I use?

I don't want to use the wrong bios!

Also, is it best to flash from the CD drive in the Ultrabay, or use a flash drive?

I have no idea how to create a bootable flash bios usb drive under Ubuntu... Is it hard?

Thanks

PS how does the Middleton donation system work?

 

On what page is the best bios to download from? Way to many pages to go through. Is the one on page 8 still relevant?

Also interested how to donate?

EDIT: The new BIOS release by LENOVO on the 2 april 2012 fixed the fan not being turned on all the time. Could this be implemented into this mod BIOS?

 

MIddleton - thanks again for a superb job helping Thinkpad owners! I have yet to test the patch for my two T61's. Mostly waiting till I have all the mods in hand before upgrading, as they are running just fine now, altho a bit slow of course.
With an SSD (probably the Samsung 256GB rather than my previous fav the 120GB Intel 320), the next bottleneck is the HD in the UltraBay. I understand that it is running at PATA speed. But from nando's post I understand that there are still differences in which Ultrabay to get..
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ge-using-optical-bay-caddy-9.html#post5469062

Has anyone figured out a 'simple' UltraBay solution?

Remembering speed R/W, it may turn out that using the Gigabit NIC and some NAS drive might be faster than trying to use the UltraBay (less portable tho)

 

Hi Everyone. Kudos to Middleton- You've apparently done something no other dev could do! I once bought a T61P... when they first came out. I just popped in a new 2.6ghz cpu... and of course getting the thermal error. I tried to follow directions for a 64bit operating system with the .iso... except that the .iso is a rar file. So is the goal here to extract the .iso file into a cd as just the files by themselves? If this is the case, I think something's off, because even though I boot to my cd-rom, nothing happens and it pretty much skips to the thermal error.

Can anyone please provide some insight on how to get a windows 7 64 bit machine to be able to read the cd that i loaded all the .iso files onto? I thought .iso's were supposed to be auto-executable from boot?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can lend some wisdom on this subject!!

 

Make sure you were burning as an ISO-image, not by adding the iso to a filesystem.

On an unrelated question, I have a ThinkPad R61 (model 8927) - I already installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on this system, and just replaced the disk with a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive - will the BIOS here give me a failure during boot, or is the driver used SATA stay the same?

Thanks in advance!

 

Does this work under ubuntu?

 

Hi,
before I ask, thank you very much for edited Bios,difference is large. I have only one problem. My notebook is ThinkPad T61p (6460-D8G), I bought a OCZ Vertex 3 - 60GB and installed clean Windows 7 Home 64bit. All work fine, speed is excellent, but Windows random freeze to a few seconds (about 10-15s - At the time Windows resource monitor show only on HDD tab "highest active time" - 100%). What could be a problem? In SSD controller? Or in SSD? Or with custom bios?

 

Sandforce controllers can be a bit sketchy, it doesn't help that the T61 can be a bit picky on the type of SSD you use. Try updating any firmware relating to the SSD to see if it improves performance and reliability, if you have the Airbag Protection System enabled then disable it as it is not necessary for a SSD.

 

Wasn't sure if this has been addressed already but what I did was extract the contents of the ISO Image File to a directory (did this via the 7-Zip utility), then copied that over to a bootable USB Flash Memory Stick, booted the ThinkPad off of it and then kicked off the flash via the DOS bootable environment.

NBR Forum Member stebesplace covered this process on an earlier post on this thread - I hope it's of some help to you and any others that need it.

+1 - A couple of my mates used the same type of OCZ SSD for the OS that TomasValenta has and were encountering the same issues (systems being used were an R61e and an X61s, with only the X61s running the Middleton BIOS) even with applying the latest firmware upgrades as well.

Both of them managed to get refunds for they're respective SSDs before being replaced with a Crucial M4 (R61e) and a SanDisk Extreme (X61s) with no performance issues being encountered thus far (knock on wood).

 

Thanks for the great bios! Had previously used a +whitelist version a few years ago to get a 802.11n wifi card working, now i'm glad to report my t61p is rocking a Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD! The SATA2 bios increased my speeds from ~130MB/s to ~250MB/s!!! thanks!

 

Thanks for the fix.
My T61 is now flying with SSD!!!

 

Middleton: Thanks a lot.

Could anyone direct me to the appropriate download of BIOS and strp-by-step process of updating my BIOS for T61 6465CTO 15.4 WSXGA machine? It has the latest Lenovo BIOS on it. Windows 7 Pro 64bit.


Folks: After pondering over buying T530 vs servicing my T61, I have decided to stick with T61 which I spent an arm and a leg to buy 3-4 yrs ago.

This is what I am doing:

Remove 80GB HDD and put Crucial M4 120GB SATA III SSD in the primary slot.
Put 750 GB 7200 RPM in the Ultra Bay.
Has 4 GB RAM already
T7300 CPU
FIx the dim screen using a brand new inverter card and am hoping that this will brighten things up. If not, get a new screen.
Lastly, apply thermal paste (courtesy step by step guide from Hearst), to cool the rather lap-burning machine down.
Also bougth 9 cell battery.

I think the above should make my T61 good for use for another 3-4 years.

 

The BIOS for your system is under the T61/T61p section. You'll need to burn the ISO on a disc and boot it on startup. Make sure your system is connected to the AC and have a charged battery while doing this process. I written some instructions a while back where you can find here.

 

Thanks a lot for the fix!
It works like a charm on my x61s.

PS: Could this BIOS also boot x61/x61s from some mini-PCI-E(something like SuperTalent CoreStore MV, *NOT* the mSATA ones) SSDs?

 

Serious Problem: I burned the image file to CD, re-arranged the boot sequence, and restarted. At this point, the system did some stuff and reached a point where it said "Start Flashing..." and was stuck for good 7-10 minutes. I got impatient - removed the CD and turned off the computer.

Now, when I start, the computer is ON but a blank screen - nothing else appears on the screen. it is ON though.

Did I damage the bios and in turn the machine - this belongs in junk yard now?

Help please.

 

Ouch!!! Good chance that the motherboard is gone IMHO - I'm not sure what options are available for you but I have heard mentioned the possibility of chips being replaced on the motherboard (covered over at a different forum) and unfortunately it was a fairly expensive fix.

What model of ThinkPad do you have?

 

I was reading on this stuff and noiced that we can replace the motherboard and make the system work. Does motherboard come with Processor? I called Lenovo and the guy (sounded like a Jerk) was saying that they will cahrge $575 for parts and labor and said "you cannot install software on motherboard" - "we have special tools to make the new motherboard work". Sounds BS?

 

You can replace the motherboard with a working one, normally it doesn't come with a processor but you can salvage that from your old one. Though avoid the NVIDIA Quadro boards as the GPU can fail on those.

But check the price of the board to see if it's worth doing, don't bother paying $575 for Lenovo to sort out since it exceeds the market value of the T61 itself. You could get a working T500 or better with that sort of money.

 

The motherboard is upwards of $250. Ebay sells for $70 but not sure if these are any good. what type pf motherboards are compatible with my T61 6465CTO.
If you know if any good links/websites (please refer in the post) - in USA only please.
Thank you.

 

What's the full MTN via the Product ID (just underneath the 6465-CTO), as that will help with confirming motherboard compatibility as the CTO (Configure to Order) doesn't help I'm afraid.

As Hearst stated (post #877) you might want to consider a replacement motherboard with the Intel X3100 GPU on it instead - I've done that for a couple of mates of mine, were the NVIDIA GPU motherboards died (MTN: 8918-5QG) and I ended up buying 2xfaulty R61 ThinkPads (MTN:8935...) to get them sorted out.

 

Hearst and Scottyboy:
I did the Belarc advisor search a few days ago and found this:

LENOVO 6465CTO ThinkPad T61
System Serial Number: L3C8279
Enclosure Type: Notebook

Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.00 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
Board: LENOVO 6465CTO
Serial Number: VF11T7AM239
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: LENOVO 7LETC6WW (2.26 )
05/11/2009

Makes sense?

 

Looking at the System Service Parts section for the 15.4" T61/T61p, you should be looking at part number 42W7651 or 42W7875 for the Intel X3100 boards. But check the prices in comparison to a complete system such as a working T61/T500 to see if it's worth doing.

 

+1 - TPad61&520 I tried checking the warranty and the parts breakdown of your ThinkPad via the Lenovo Support Website (UK & US) but it's not reporting any details on your TP; best stick with Hearst's suggestion and see what's, what!

 

Hearst and Scottyboy: Thanks for all your help. I've decided to bite the bullet and order a new one. So I just ordered a T530.

Processor
Intel Core i7-3520M Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz)
Operating system
Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
Operating system language
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Display type
15.6" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Total memory
16 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard
Keyboard Backlit - US English
Pointing device
UltraNav with Fingerprint Reader
Camera
720p HD Camera with Microphone
Hard drive
500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device
DVD Recordable
System expansion slots
Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader
Battery
9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Also ordered
Mushkin msata ssd 120gb
on newegg.com

 

Thank you Hearst, I updated the firmware to the latest version immediately after purchase, but result is the same. Stupid Sandforce controller

Thank you ScottyBoy, I try to buy Crucial M4 SSD and then i'll write my experience here

 

Get a replacement bios chip off ebay for $19 and a tech to install it: Fix Reset Lenovo ThinkPad T61P Bricked BIOS CMOS Chip | eBay .

 

Why the intel board over the FX570m board?

 

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M GPU is based off the G86 chip which can prematurely fail due to poor bump material. The majority of T61 boards that came with this GPU option are affected, only a small portion of T61 boards have the updated version of the 570M chip which seemed to have fixed the problem but it can be difficult to get this board revision.

The Intel X3100 boards however don't have such problems hence are much more reliable and easier to obtain than their NVIDIA counterpart.

 

Quick check folks - which Middleton BIOS should be used for a 8898-6DG T61 ThinkPad; it's one of the older 4:3 models, which doesn't have Firewire. Cheers

 

The one for T61. I used it for my 4:3 8889-ACG. IMO, there are no difference in BIOS for wide and non-wide screen T61.

 

Cheers for that mate, as I honestly couldn't remember if there was a difference or not - BIOS 2.29-1.08 has been installed and it's all looking pretty good so far, just need the replacement CPU to come through to complete it.

 

Hi,
so the problem is solved, I bought Crucial M4 (as ScottyBoy recommended it me) and it seems that everything works fine. Thanks a lot

 

hi,
I recently bought a t61, i have notices it has bios 2.10 1.08. (21.1.2008!!), do you guys recommend flashing straight to middleton bios 2.29 or shall i do a lenovo bios (which one?) then flash middleton? can i update to the latest 2.30 then downgrade?

The bios has never been updated, i cant even boot usb windows 7!!

appreciate your help, thanks

 

Update: no worries, Ive updated to latest official lenovo 2.30 after noticing the £99.99 T61 I purchased from ebay has warranty till 2015!!! .

On to windows 7!
regards.

 

Hi folks, I just ordered an SSD, and was planning on upgrading my t61p with middleton's bios...

I saw a few posts indicating that I need a functional/charged battering..is this true? my battery died a long time ago..is it not possible to upgrade the bios without a battery installed?

 

It would be nice to see this mod integrated into the patched BIOS: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-saving-2w-power-consumption.html#post7902424
as this seems to reduce the power as much as 2 Watts when running on battery.

 

Dear Hearst, Scotty Boy, and Nand04:

All three of you - thanks a lot for your guidance. Per Nand04, I looked into buying the CMOS fix reset BIOS chip but the process seemed a bit too complicated for my background. In the same link that NAND04 gave me, there was a company name ASQTECH basedin upstate New York. I contacted them. Very nice folks. They replaced my BIOS for $99 + shipping. The system is with me now. I did end up buying T530 (for home) in addition to the current T520 which i use for work. At this point, the T61 will be my backup laptop.

I would like to try my hand at flashing the BIOS again. Here is some info about my machine:
T61 15.4 inches.
Windows 7 Home Prem 64 Bit
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2 Ghz
4 GB RAM
Model: 6465CTO
BIOS Version (that came with AQSTECH's installed chip: LENOVO 7LETDOWW (2.30) 2/27/2012
SMBIOS Version: 2.4

What do I need to specifically do this time that will help me succesffuly flash my BIOS without bricking the machine again. Last time I tried

1. I download the file Dual-IDA_SATA-II_Whitelist_SLIC21_Thermal_Sensing_Error_ThinkPad_T61_T61p_BIOS_(2.29-1.08)
2. Downloaded ImgBurn software per Hearst's reco.
3. Selected BIOS file 7luj27uc (becos mine is 64 bit Windows) and did not open 32 bit folder.
4. Burned the file on to a blank CD
5. changed the Boot seq to boot from CD and
6. It started flashing the BIOS (with AC and Battery pack in there)
but was stuck at "Start Flashing" for about 10-15 minutes at which point I unplugged it and bricked the Comp thinking it froze or something. It said "Start Flashing" and not "Started Flashing" and there was no progress percentage or anything to know if it was doing anything.

Please help folks.

 

That's good news mate, glad to hear it's all working out alright for you.

 

You definitely need a working charged battery before applying Middleton's BIOS Patch plus the same would apply if you were installing a Lenovo BIOS update as well.

 

My tuppence worth would be the following BUT do this at your own risk and ensure your happy BEFORE considering doing any of my suggestions...you might want to wait for feedback from other NBR Forum members first

(01) Make sure that the battery for your T61 ThinkPad is fully charged
(02) Make sure you have a reliable mains power adapter connected and powered on to your T61 ThinkPad
(03) Consider creating a bootable USB flash memory stick and extracting the contents of the ISO image for your model of ThinkPad to it - I do this to rule out any issues with the optical drive with the ThinkPad but also the media used as well; check out the following post on this Middleton BIOS Update Thread
(04) Do a Cold Boot of your T61 ThinkPad and Access the BIOS, via the F1 Key, during POST and Ensure that the Security Chip is Disabled
(05) Save the Settings, Allow the ThinkPad to Reboot and then Power it Off
(06) Connect the bootable USB flash memory stick to your T61 ThinkPad and then Power it On
(07) Access the BIOS during POST, via the F1 Key, and Update the Start-up List to have the attached bootable USB flash memory stick be selected first before the optical drive & hdd; save the settings & reboot the ThinkPad
(08) Once your T61 ThinkPad boots off of the USB flash memory stick, CD into the directory containing the extracted Middleton BIOS Patch files and run the 'FLASH2.EXE /U' command as per the instructions from the earlier link in step (03)
(09) Leave the flash update to run and DON'T do anything with the ThinkPad until the final flash updating result shows on the screen
(10) Once the ThinkPad has rebooted remove the USB flash memory stick and then access the BIOS once more to ensure that it is updated to to reflect the Middleton BIOS version
(11) Whilst inside the BIOS re-enable the Security Chip then Save & Reboot

Finally because I'm paranod you might want to consider going back to the BIOS, applying default BIOS settings, rebooting the ThinkPad, then going back into the BIOS and making sure that all of the other relevant settings within the BIOS are good to go; if not change & save where appropriate.

PS: Right now I'm the pub when I wrote this post so please definitely review and make sure your happy with the steps BEFORE considering doing any of them.

 

I just installed Win7 x64 on intel 330 60GB, but when I want to update bios 7nuj22uc.iso using samsung external usb dvd, I got error message after bios screen mentioned that some driver can not be loaded. then command prompt A> is shown.

I did not have any issue installing win7 on the same usd dvd