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

I'd be very willing to pay for such a solution for my x61t, atleast as much as say, 10€. Unfortunately, under x61t sxga+ it says: not relevant, why's that?

 

dear middleton,
I'm a new stupid user in hong kong, I just bought a used X61 & a T61p in second hand mkt, & replaced a OCZ SSD limited edition, can I upgrade my bios for me 2?

 

I created that table as an example that middleton might want to use(??) summarizing recent requests, posted ETAs and released modded bios.

The SXGA+ mod is for x61/x61s users who are using a x61t's SXGA+ LCD and require the modded bios to support it. There's a link with the request at the top of the table. Since the x61t already has bios support for that LCD it's not relevant.

 

just wanted to give a quick summary:

Patch working without issues on my T61. (Intel X25M-G2 80GB)
Also using a 2nd HDD in Ultrabay, everything working just fine.

 

Thanks for good suggestion, I've just edited my original post.

OK, estimated release date of the final version will be next Friday (30/07/2010).

Yes you can. But be careful, current T61/X61 patch doesn't contain SLIC 2.1 and whitelist. If you have Win Vista/Se7en which are activated by SLIC or your laptop uses an unsupported by Lenovo wireless adapter, then you'd better wait for the final version of BIOS patch.
Wait for the final version if you are not sure.

 

Dear middleton
thx for your reply, thosex61 &T61 r come with orginal xp, but I upgraded to win7 64 bit OEM CD
can I use your patch?

 

thank you!

 

I think yes. But choose only one of your laptops and test the patch on it. Then if everything is OK, you may update BIOS on the second machine.

To X61 Tablet owners:

I need one tester. If you want to test the patch on your machine, then PM or email me.

 

Yes, you can! Just download the two files and burn the *.iso's on a CD. Then start from the CD (battery needs to be loaded, AC adaptor needs to be plugged in) or bootable USB Stick by pressing F12 in the post screen. Then the update progress will start.

As written by middleton - use it by your own risk!

Greetz,

XStoneX

 

i tried to burn your file to the DVD rom & reboot by the cd but it show this is not fit my 64 bit window, wht can I do?

 

It should work flashing using the CD-ROM method as I did this myself and it works fine. I use a T61 with Windows 7 64-bit.

- First download the BIOS from middleton.

- Get a blank CD-R and open your CD burning software of choice. If you don't have one use ImgBurn which is free to use. Just point the software to the CD Image file (so if you want the BIOS with the FN+CTRL switch open "7luj26uc" as the source).

- Let it burn the image file to the blank CD, it shouldn't take too long.

- Once done, leave the CD-R inside. Save anything you have opened and restart the system.

- When the Thinkpad logo appears, keep pressing F12 for the boot options.

- Select the DVD/CD-ROM drive of your system and press Enter.

- It will open the Thinkpad BIOS flasher using FreeDOS. Select the 2nd option, make sure the Thinkpad you have is connected to a power outlet and have a battery pack installed. Then proceed to flash and wait. DON'T SWITCH OFF OR PRESS ANYTHING DURING THIS PROCESS.

- It will tell you once it's done, take out the CD-R and reboot.

- You can check if the BIOS is flashed successfully by pressing F1 when the Thinkpad logo appears and check the version which should record as “2.27-1.08”.

 

midton,
how to download your file? how to pay for u? how to pm u?
I'm a foolish computer user, sorry.. thx for your help

 

You should read the whole thread.

But okay, see here: KLICK!

PMs are available when you wrote more than 10 posts.

 

Look, you must be familiar with BIOS flashing if you are reading this thread. I suppose this topic is for advanced users who usually know what they're doing flashing my patch. If you have no BIOS flashing experience, then listen to my advice: Don't try to flash the patch. Otherwise you can easily harm your laptop.

But if you still want to continue, then read two posts above from Hearst555 and XStoneX.
I have no time to teach you, sorry.

 

I am using X60........can i upgrade with it ??


THX

 

No.

Greetz,

XStoneX

 

I am willing to try the X61T patch in my platform if you need a tester. Since I am a new comer from Hong Kong, I can't PM to you, can you email the rom to my email address : [email protected] ?Many thanks!!

Regards,
Jonathan

 

JonathanYiu

Done.

 

Add me to the list of your X61t Beta testers

x61test2010.20.electronicmail [at] spamgourmet-dot-com (you figure it out)

If needed I can supply a fully working Bios for X61t with Slic + No-Whitelist (fully working on Win7).

Furthermore I'd like to know how you patched SATAII as I'm eager to learn new patch modes. Could you share your knowledge or support a tool for patching SATAII (other than PhoenixBiosEditor) ?

THX.

X61t with SATAII= Dream come true !

 

One tester is enough. I want to be sure that in case of troubles only one machine will suffer.
There is no new special method for SATA II patching. For example whitelist is usually patched by the same way. You simply change code in unpacked BIOS then pack it back. In case of SATA we have to replace only two bytes from 0x10 to 0x20.
And I just can't understand why this trivial patch wasn't created much earlier.

 

Thx for your superfast reply.

Well then I will wait for an SLIC/No-Whitelist/SATAII (plus extra one with additional Ctrl-Fn) here.


Can I help you with already working Slic/No-Whitelist Bioses for X61/X61t/T61 ? These are available here ..


Now you really got me interested:

How/where did you patch the Bytes ? Can you provide a sort of dokumentation (pdf) ?

I'm really, really interested and want to learn and understand your patch for SATAII ...

Again Thanks.

If this baby works on X61t you made my dreams come true ..

 

Awesome!! my X61T tested and works with SATA2 now.
thanks man, you make all of our X61 series / T61 series reborn!!

 

Thanks, I've already made SATA II + SLIC + whitelist BIOS for T61/T61p. I'm going to place it here next Friday. X61/X61s/X61t versions will be ready soon too. But if it's not difficult for you, then send me your versions (you can find my email in this thread). Maybe I'll find something new in your BIOSes but I doubt .

If you're really interested and want to understand the patch, then you should read all nando4's posts. Nobody can explain it better.
As for BIOS modification: Anybody can find the place where I patched bytes. It can be done by simple comparing. If you need more information about modding Phoenix BIOS, then welcome to forums.mydigitallife.info. But keep in mind: they'll give you needed tools but won't teach you how to analyze disassembled code. You have to know x86 assembler and all about how hardware works to be able to change BIOS code.

 

my dear heart 555

i tried already with a CD & follow your step correctly,
but when I reboot it, it shows cannot find the driver & show out A> in a black screem

 

dear hearst555
should I type A> icreflsh.bat or A> logo.bat?

 

Dear Hearst555
the screem shows as below:

IBM IDE CD-ROM Driver Version 3.2
Copyright (C) IBM Corp. 1994, 2003 All right reserved
Driver was NOT installed. CD-ROM drive not found

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


IBM DOS Version 5.00
(C)Copyright international Business MAchines Corp 1981-1991
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1991

A>

 

Dear Middleton & Hearst555

Now I tried to use burn the SATA II Full Speed + CTRL-FN swap file with the dock, it works half of it, it shows out:

An update is not necessary at this time. The process has been canceled

Esc=cancel

 

My t61 suffers a wifi signal loss after reflash the bios (from 5 bars to one bar). Any one got the same problem?

 

It means you have the latest BIOS flashed. Now you have 3 ways to continue:

1) Download CD-image with the previous BIOS version from lenovo's site. Burn it on CD and flash the previous version. Then try to flash my patch.

2) You can install 32-bit Windows on other partition of your hard drive. Then use 32-bit version of the patch.

3) And finally: I can make 64-bit flasher based on update utility from ThinkPad T500 BIOS update package. But this way is quite dangerous and has never been tested.

And please don't post here anymore. You'd better create a separate thread where you can ask your questions.

 

Hi stevenp88,

The CD-ROM instructions I gave you is for your T61 as it should have an inbuilt DVD/CD drive. Try flashing without using the dock for your T61. Only use " 2.27-1.08" BIOS for the T61, don't use it for your X61 as it is different. If it reports the version doesn't need an upgrade then you have to downgrade the BIOS first, use this version " 2.26-1.08" and use the CD-ROM flash instructions I gave you earlier. Afterwards, repeat again but using Middleton's T61 BIOS instead.

I don't have an X61 but I try to help you on this. If you still have problems using the CD-ROM method you can try flashing the BIOS using a USB pen. Temporary copy any files you have on the USB pen to a safe location as it will be wiped out (formatted). The original source for instructions is here.

- Download HP Drive Key Boot Utility

- Download the DOS bootable files (win98boot). Extract it to the computer (I say Desktop for now as it be easier to find).

- Download Middleton's X61 BIOS and extract the BIOS using WinRAR. Don’t extract it to the USB stick, put it on the Desktop as well.

- Run the HP USB Format utility, select the USB pen drive connected to the system, select FAT32, create a DOS bootable disk and point to the “win98boot” folder you placed on the Desktop. Press start and it will format the USB pen drive.

- Once it done formatting, copy the X61 BIOS files from the Desktop to the “BIOS” folder inside the USB stick.

- Save any opened documents and restart the computer. Make sure the battery pack and power source is connected to the X61.

- When the Thinkpad logo appears press F12 and choose the USB stick to boot. If it doesn’t appear, press ESC. Restart the system again, when the Thinkpad logo appears press F1 and go to Config and Boot and make sure the USB drive is listed in the boot options then press F10 and “Y” to save. Then on reboot repeat by pressing F12 and access the USB boot drive which should load the Lenovo BIOS.

- It should load the Thinkpad BIOS flasher. Proceed to flash and wait. DON'T SWITCH OFF, REMOVE THE USB OR PRESS ANYTHING DURING THIS PROCESS.

- Once done, restart and remove the USB stick. You can make sure the X61 is flashed successfully by pressing F1 when the Thinkpad logo appears and check the version which should record as “2.21-1.03”.

My T61 have no troubles with the Wi-Fi signal after the flash. Can you specify the T61 model you have and wireless card you have in your system?

 

You got mail.

I'm sorry. Hopefully I didn't bomb you mailaccount with my 21MB attachement ? Really sorry, should have splitted these files ..

 

Dear Middleton & Hearst555

Thx very much for your helps, it's all done for my 2 second hand notebook T61P & X61, they works perfectly with your bios.
Sorry Middleton, that I gave u lots of trouble. very sorry from my deep of my heart.
Hearst 555 thx for your very details explainations. I learned a lot from here.


Best regards
Steven

 

thx for your explain

 

This looks like you're trying to flash the BIOS using the CD method, but you're not using the CDROM drive in the ultrabay on the laptop.

Just an FYI: You won't be able to use a USB CDROM drive or the like to flash the BIOS. You need an ultrabay cdrom drive to use Lenovo's BIOS update CD.

 

Nope.

No signal loss on two T61p units (one a 15.4" nVidia widescreen unit and the other 14" nVidia standard screen unit (in my Frankenpad)) flashed with the SATA-II patched BIOS. Both were equipped with Intel 4965AGN wireless adapters.

 

This is precisely why I had no problems paying you for modifying the BIOS Middleton. I'm a photographer/photoshop artist myself and I love how people will sometimes say "... but it'll take you only 15 seconds to do it! Why should I pay you?". What they fail to realize is that it took several years of trial and error to learn how to do it in the first place.

I tried learning assembler back in the days of the 6502 but never got far with it. I stunk at math but I know how to make purdy pictures.

 

Nope! Mine is working great. Reboot your computer and router to rule out any general weirdness caused by stray cosmic rays.

 

Hey middleton, please let me know your email via PM so I can send you the X61s SXGA+ BIOS as an attachment via email, as it's not possible to attach anything over PM on this forum. Thanks.

 

Got the latest Beta-BIOS from middleton today. Good news for all the T61 users with the "Thermal Sensing Error" (like me): it has been deactivated by him! I upgraded my CPU in 2008 from a T7300 to a T9500 "Penryn" and in this 2-year period I always got the Error after BIOS post - before Windows Start. I always had to hit "ESC", then the T61 was going to boot, otherwise it shuts down.

So a new life for all the T61 modders can begin. Finally it really got the ultimate BIOS for the T61(p) and X61(s)(t) series!

He also deactivated the abort of the BIOS flash, if you have the actual BIOS flashed. So there is no need to flash an older version first. Whitelist (are all cards usable now?) should also be activated, like SLIC 2.1. S-ATA II is also active after flashing it. I couldn't test the whitelist and SLIC 2.1, it's not necessary for me.

So let's wait for the final BIOS release!

Once again really an unbelivable job you have done here, middleton.

Thx & greetz,

XStoneX

 

That is excellent news, i've been waiting to get rid of my Merom based T7100 for the efficient 45nm Penryn processors. Just bought myself a T9300 in light of this news!

Thanks for your hard work Middleton on making the T61/X61 great again! Made a donation for your SATA II uncap and Thermal Sensor Removal work ($30 USD).

 

I am totally impressed with what middleton has achieved!

I plan to use the X61 bios as soon as the final release is out (going to perform the SXGA+ mod so I need that in my modded bios, too), as well as the T61 bios for the T60/T61 I am planning with a T9300 Penryn.

I had come to peace with the idea of pressing Esc on every boot, but these news are just excellent!

I imagine I will not have any issues with neither of the two, and also plan to donate for such great work!

Best regards,
Panagiotis

 

Hi middleton,

Thank you so much for taking the time and modding this BIOS, allowing us to use SATA II speeds!!

Quick questions, is the ISO supplied within the rar file modified as well or just a direct ISO from Lenovo's site? I read through the readme and wasn't 100% clear on this.

Thank you again,
Kamika007z

 

tremendous work middleton, thank you so much Take my donation as a little recoupment for your troubles

 

what a pity

 

Yes, ISO CD-Image is also modified.

 

Thank you!

I wonder if its possible to mod the T60 to allow more than 3GB of RAM>

I believe the chipset can do it (945), but was capped by Lenovo.

Can any else shed some additional light on this?

 

Thank you!

I hope if you can mod the T61 to support T6600 ?

 

If you mean the T6600 Core 2 Duo processor then the BIOS mod has already been completed but is currently going under testing. This will go under the "Thermal Sensing Error" deactivation as the T6600 is a Penryn processor.

Hopefully it shouldn't be too long for the final BIOS release so you can use the T6600 for your T61.

 

Thanks you!
YES, it is the T6600 Core 2 Duo processor .
The T61 bios supports T8300 Core 2 Duo processor but it can't support T6600 or T4400 etc.

 

Nope. Chipset 945 is limited to 3GB of RAM, and SATA-I. You can't do anything about it.