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

So.
Downloaded the one for the T61{p}, and made a bootable image from Windows using the built-in image burner (from another computer; my thinkpad won't run nonfree software.)
I used the image that was NOT Ctrl-Fn swapped, because I kind of like the standard configuration.
The disc refused to flash if the "Flash over LAN" in BIOS is disabled. After enabling this, the flash started.
The flash took a long time; almost five minutes, and beeped twice during this. I got really scared/worried when it did it the first time, I thought that it was a bad sound.
It worked flawlessly, and SATA2 is active.
Thanks. If you come by southern Sweden some day, hit me up, I'll buy you a beer

 

I did firmware update on my T61 , update went fine but I an still getting SATA I speed. I have following HD ST9160823AS. Do I have to change any settings in the BIOS? any input will be highly appreciated.

 

Does anyone know what happened to Middleton and if there is any chance to implement enabled ASPM into these bioses?

That is a very important function for the battery life and heat prevention.

 

If #1 does not work, try to follow it straight away with #2 - don't revert back to your original BIOS in between.

 

This may be a somewhat stupid question (maybe the hardware won't support it), but is there a similar SATA BIOS upgrade for an X60 Tablet? I managed to get one cheap, and have an SSD, but I'd like to get as much performance out of it as possible.

 

No.

The chipset in X60T simply doesn't support SATA II (3.0) speeds, so there were never any such mods for *60 series ThinkPads. There is a modded BIOS that gets rid of the wi-fi whitelist, but that's about it.

That being said, they are still fairly capable little machines.

 

Thanks for the reply. Since the battery and PS works on an X61, I'll keep trying for one, and just keep both. Still haven't fired up the X60 to see if it has the rare SXGA+ panel or not, hoping it does.

 

I heard a shop keep of old computer parts say theres BIOS firmware that shall unleash SATA speed limit and remove Thermal Sensing Error for Merom to Penryn
is it true?
I really dont want to mod the motherboard...
(For T61)

 

yes this is true, just download the iso and burn it on a cd, boot to cd and follow the instructions.

 

Hi guys,

Just experienced some weird...

I have a R61 7733 and as I need to install a new WiFi card I did the middleton BIOS flash, then: My bluetooth stopped to work at hundred per cent. The light in the bottom of the screen just shows when I press the button to turn up the system, but few seconds later is going off and in Windows isn't detecting the device.

I have been flashing several BIOS, from the lowest version to highest one and finishing with the middleton, no chance to revert back the bluetooth to work...

Does someone has same behaviour as me ?

Any comments or advices are welcomed and will be much appreciated.

Many thanks before hand and best regards.

 

Welcome to the forum!

I'd boot a "live" Linux CD and check for BlueTooth behaviour there...

Good luck.

 

Hello,

I found this thread while searching for Thinkpad X61 tweaks. I came around one of these just recently, when they were replacing laptops in a large company. I decided to flash Middleton's BIOS for various reasons. but mainly SATA in case I replace the drive (I am planning to do it soon). However, there are some puzzling issues I would like to have resolved.

1. BIOS flashing procedure - ISO

As I am linux user (Debian Wheezy), I decided to use this guide to make a bootable USB stick (I actually used micro SD card in a micro reader, as I no longer have USB stick smaller than or equal to 4GB). Everything worked and the BIOS version is 2.22 according to the main BIOS screen. I used ISO #1 (Fn - Ctrl swap) and the Fn - Ctrl swap did not work. Middleton's readme.txt says I have to use ISO #2 when #1 does not work, but the Flash utility says there is no update necessary (as the version is the same) and the operation is aborted. As you see, I don't have the opportunity to use Windows, therefore I would like to know a way to fiddle with the batch file running update utility, so it does not check the version. Is it possible?


2. SATA with original HDD - Fujitsu MHZ2080

I found this device should be SATA II compliant, but even after flashing the BIOS, negotiated speed is still 1.5 Gbps. Please see attached code:

The very interesting line is this:

I went through old system logs and found it to be this way:

Therefore I presume the BIOS update worked well. But now I don't know what caused the negotiated speed to be only 1.5 Gbps - is it the hard drive or the controller? I am planning to replace the HDD, but currently don't have any spare one to check if it is a hard drive or controller issue.

Did anyone experience something like this?

Thank you,

 

Welcome to the forum!

The issue is the hard drive, not the controller. Once you put a SSD in there, you'll see proper SATA II speeds. Spinning drives won't do.

 

Hi,

Thank you for your answer. I understand the actual speed hardly achieves SATA I specifications, but when I compared the logs on my "big" computer, the negotiated speed was indeed 3 Gbps and the hard drive is a spinning one. Hopefully this won't affect SSD drives, so I guess I will buy one first and then see what happened.

 

Hey everyone,

thank you very much for your work to create these BIOS versions.
Unfortunately I have a problem to update my BIOS (on T61). I downloaded the image, burned it, and after a restart the flash procedure begun until an ERROR occurs:

"Error = 99 BitLocker problem"

I checked in Windows(7 64Bit) but BitLocker is not activated!

This is kind of a strange problem!?! Am I doing something wrong?
THX for you help :thumbsup:

 

Anybody got an idea?

 

Update: It's been a month of hitting the "Esc" key. Still hope the Middleton BIOS will have a release newer to 2.30...


Hi,

Are you ever going to "touch" your mod BIOS? I made a mistake by updating my T61 BIOS to 2.30 via the official channel before I upgraded the CPU from T7500 to T9300. Now I am left with the annoying "Thermal Sensing Error". I cannot flash the BIOS to your version as I am given the message "update is not necessary..." at every attempt.

Thanks very much for your reply in advance.

 

Hi again,

I have a problem with my intel SSD and I don't know if it's a BIOS problem or not. After successfully upgraded my BIOS and unlocking the SATA-II speed, I bought an Intel 320 160GB SSD and I tried to make the TRIM working, but without success. I tried all the methods posted on the internet, but the TRIMcheck tool still reports that TRIM is not working. I'm using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on my T61 8889 Thinkpad. Also the OS reports that TRIMS is activated. I'm wondering if the hacked BIOS has anything to do with my TRIM problem. Intel SSD Toolbox crashes when launched with the following message:
Faulting application name: Intel SSD Toolbox.exe, version: 3.1.9.400, time stamp: 0x5255bade
Faulting module name: MSVCR90.dll, version: 9.0.30729.6161, time stamp: 0x4dace5b9
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0003b9f0
Faulting process id: 0x1724
Faulting application start time: 0x01cee2c4d9c996ed

Is there anyone here with the same problem as mine? Thank you!

 

yummy news thanks!!
I wonder which is the most updated iso? shall I have the link please? 2.29-1.08 for T61?
much appreciated!!

 

Fixed! I uninstalled Intel Turbo Memory driver and also Intel Matrix Storage driver. It seems like Intel SSD Toolbox can not start properly when these drivers are installed...

 

This forum thread is huge, could some confirm that updating the my T61 to the Middleton 2.29-1.08 bios will not affect my SATA II HDD reliability in the Ultrabay? (I will be using a Samsung 840 Pro SATA III SDD as the primary drive). I understand that the Ultrabay interface is PATA to SATA I?, which is already bandwidth limited, so my Ultrabay HDD has been happy operating at SATA I. Does the Middleton bios even impact the PATA to SATA module in the Ultrabay tray?

Also, which bios update method will let me go back to the original 2.29 bios if I run into trouble? I thought Middleton has a mod for one of the bios update programs?

Thanks for any help in getting me started.

 

Welcome to the forum!

No.

What kind of "trouble" do you expect to run into?

 

thanks for the quick reply ajkula66!

It seems pretty clear that the primary drive will be fine at SATA II, I am concerned that the Middleton bios has not have very much attention regarding a SATA II HDD in the Ultrabay and interations / data loss that may occur.

So any Ultrabay issues I should be concerned about?

 

No.

Your Ultrabay drive will function in the same manner as it has prior to Middleton's BIOS.

 

Update: It's been a month of hitting the "Esc" key. Still hope the Middleton BIOS will have a release newer than 2.30...

 

I'm not affiliated with Middleton, but wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

Downgrade the BIOS to 2.28 and then re-flash Middleton's version.

 

I made the same mistake as you when I changed my T61 system board, updating to 2.30 first. But the Middleton bios boot CD will overwrite any version of bios you have on your system board.

 

Hi there, my first post. Very impressed with the quality of discussions here, hope to get up to the high standards and be able to contribute.

I purchased a used Lenovo Thinkpad 61, type 7663 D93.
Decide to use Middleton's BIOS, I burned a CD-ROM because my system had Vista 64 installed. Before booting to this CD, I loaded standard BIOS parameters (F9 in BIOS setup). Boot with the CD-ROM, the process started...
But I interrupted the flash process... after reading the first "...done" message, I waited only a few seconds and turned off the notebook. The result, as expected, was a brick. No boot, only CAPS LOCK and NUM LOCK leds turning on.
Today I took it to a technician. He said that it would not be possible to flash the BIOS with the files provided neither by Lenovo nor by Middleton's, because they require a functioning notebook. He went to his pile of spare parts and found a motherboard similar to mine, most likely the difference was only the speed of the processor. Using an external programmer, he was able to make a copy of that motherboard's BIOS and then transfer it to my motherboard's BIOS chip.
At first it seemed to work, notebook turned on... but then the security chip was triggered. Now I cannot boot to anything, after the BIOS logo, the infamous "Error 0192 Embedded Security hardware tamper detected" appears.
I understand that now this motherboard is definitely a toast, no circumvention possible - or am I wrong?
I noticed that the network MAC address is different from the one in my original BIOS (I have a picture of the screen).
I paid for the service, but I never was expecting to trigger the security chip... I am uncomfortable to blame the technician, but it seems that he was the one who should tell me in advance that this could happen.

I do not like to be unfair, but should the technician take any action to prevent the triggering of the security chip?
Would it be possible to flash a new BIOS without triggering the security chip?
What would be a fair resolution? Ask my money back?
Your advice would be helpful!

 

I read the downgrade process can be quite tricky, and I don't know how to even start. I guess I'll keep hitting the Esc key till this thing gets really tired... . Thanks for the response though.

 

You must be lucky. When I put the Middleton BIOS cd (with one file burned on essentially), in my recollection, the system responded with "bios is 2.30 and newer" or something alike. It did not give me an "update" button or anything actionable. So all I could do was to close the dialog box and move on...maybe I missed something?

 

To be exact, I used the BIOS with the bootable image named 7luj27uc.iso (the one without the FN CTRL swap). Burn it on a CD-RW, pop it in my T61. There wasn't any prompt or anything, it just started the flashing process automatically, just an "Updating..." message. Takes around a minute.

My T61 is a 14.1 Widescreen model with a T8300.

 

Just curious but is the procedure reversible? Would I be able to reflash back to the official Lenovo BIOS after applying the Middleton BIOS?

 

Yes.

I honestly see no reason why you'd want to, though...

 

Just covering all bases in case something went awry is all. Thanks for answering!

 

Well, in cases when a BIOS update goes awry, one is left with a doorstopper...

 

lol not the kind of results I want to see!

I now have a question regarding the actual flash. I am attempting to flash an x61s and it is not working. I have extracted the contents of the modified bios found in this very thread for the x61s. The x61s is hooked up to an external USB drive (which works fine with running live linux CDs), has enough charge in the battery and is plugged into AC as well. I am attempting to flash the BIOS without the swap of CTRL and FN. I have created a bootable CD using the ISO image '7nuj22uc.iso' and which I have attempted to boot with as well. It does not work. I get this message in DOS.

Code:

 
IBM IDE CD-ROM Driver Version 3.20
Copyright (C) IBM Corp., 1994, 2003 All rights reserved
Driver was not installed. CD ROM drive was not found

Device driver not found: 'TPCD001'. 
No valid CDROM device drivers selected. 
Bad command or file name. 
Invalid driver specification. 
Invalid drive in search path. 
Bad command or file name. 

Any idea why I am getting this message when attempting to flash the bios? Just to be certain I've run (2) different linux distros via bootable CD and they both work fine with the external drive. Hope to get this resolved soon. TIA.

EDIT:

Not sure if this has any bearing but I noticed the name of the ISO file '7nuj22uc' is changed when the bootable CD is created. I am wondering if the file name of the newly created bootable CD should match the file name '7nuj22uc'? The last (2) CDs I have created of the ISO file show '7NETC1US.' Is that expected?

 

Update:

Apparently the x61s I was working on requires it to be docked to flash the BIOS. Here is a screenshot of the instructions from Lenovo Support:



Those instructions are located HERE. Scroll down around the middle of the page and the instructions are located under the subheader "Requirements." Hopefully this will save someone from frustration if they attempt to flash using a USB CD driver as I did initially. This was my first experience where the dock was specifically required to flash a BIOS. From what I hear some x61s may not require the dock to flash but YMMV.

 

@ ajkula66, the update worked out well! I did some benchmarks which show the huge improvment on the primary SATA interface. The Ultrabay did not change as you mentioned. The laptop has been stable for over a week now.

Lenovo BIOS 2.27 with HDD


Lenovo BIOS 2.27 with SSD


Middleton BIOS 2.29 with SSD

 

Hello! I have this problem.
My second drive in Ultrabay adaper is in Multi-word dma 2 mode.

I can change it in MasterDeviceTimingMode to dword:00010010 (It is dma 5 mode)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0007 -> MasterDeviceTimingMode"=dword:00010010

But after restart or wakeup this key become "MasterDeviceTimingMode"=dword:00000410 (multi-word dma 2 mode)
Also MasterIdDataCheckSum always become exactly dword:0001b514

I have read many information about dma and pio mode. But nowhere I can not find information how to fix dma mode.

Anybody resolved this problem???
UPDATED
I have resolved this problem!
I add ultrabay disc to boot priority order in Bios/Startup/boot/
before it is in exclude from boot order menu

 

I have a T61p with Vista 64 Bit with no battery
I followed this guide to make a flashable USB:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...sh-drive-flash-aw-bios-updates-under-dos.html
I put all the files (ISO plus 32bit folder contents [minus the old flash.bat]) in the root of the USB drive.
Whenever I try to flash it following the instructions, I get "Bad command or filename - 'PHLASH16'"
Is there any solution to this?

 

There is new bios for t61 et all available from Lenovo, 2.30(-1.08) Drivers and software - ThinkPad T61, I'd so like to have this one modded too (without Fn-Ctrl patch), any possibility for this?

 

Try this:
1. Install newest modded bios from middleton
2. Install newest bios from Lenovo
3. See if mods stick

 

Do not bother.

It will NOT stick.

 

It did for me. Plus, that's what middleton is advising.

 

Are you saying the version changed to latest LENOVO BIOS and the mods from MIDDLETON remained? Can you check and confirm please? Which laptop model did you do this on?

 

Of course I confirmed it. I wouldn't be using latest W500 bios since 6 months (and R61 before) if it hadn't retained mods from a 2 year older middleton bios.

 

Link, pretty please...

I don't see how W500 is relevant in this particular discussion since it runs at SATA 3.0 straight from the factory...

 

Private correspondence.

It wouldn't be relevant if SATA was the only mod introduced by modded bios.

Now, you can say that if other mods stick, that doesn't mean SATA will. Sure. But it might, and it's a damn good reason to at least try.
Especially, since there will not be any modded bios updates.

 

While not the only one, it's arguably the most important one on the *61 generation

I'll stick with what I have (Middleton witn no update from Lenovo), thank you very much, obviously to each their own...

 

Sure thing.
I am just curious what misfortune you envisage befalling you if you update the bios and discover SATA II didn't stick. It takes one minute to downgrade the Bios back to the old Middleton version.