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

You can modify the bios of the T60 to get maybe extra few hundred megabytes of ram over the 3 gigs limit, but this is pretty much a pointless exercise.

 

Hey everybody, especially middleton!
Found this post in the german thinkpad-forums.
Many thanx for Your work! I tried some time for myself to get this SATA2 thingy working, but failed, partly because I could not get the whole bios file in one piece (lenovo doesnt provide a method to read it, and the updates are splitted files).
I spent some time reading the datasheets and gathering most needed information though, so if possible, I would be very interested in the way, You finally got it working!
So if You're interested in some tech-talk, plz contact me. Email/MSN is in my profile. Thank You!

 

You can read the solution on how to liberate more 32-bit RAM on a T6x here. The process requiring:

- unlocking D_LCK
- set TOLUD to be higher
- relocate ACPI tables to the higher address (ACPI sits just below TOLUD)

People running 64-bit Win7 can use all their RAM.

Amazing. This thread has had > 10k hits in the last week. Hope middleton's getting some donations.

 

Sadly not very many. Only donations from 9 distinct people so far.

 

It is not sad. It is outrageous. Especially considering that he did not ask for any specific sum.

It must be disappointing.

 

9 donations? I bet you he's had hundreds of downloads, something he'll know for sure based on the downloaded mediafire file count. so might be getting 1-5% donation/download rate.

Is this a disappointing donation rate? Yes.

Other's are redistributing middleton's work. Consider the T61/X61 SATA-II+SLIC 2.1 bios hosted off a Chinese forum. The modder used middleton's sata-II bios files (the hard part, requiring skill), then added the SLIC 2.1 mods.

If you are seeing SSD/HDD performance increased from middleton's sata-II bios, then please donate.

 

Thanks for the info regarding the 3GB for the T60 all!

I seem to be having issues with screen dimming via FN+Home/End, but this seems to be only happening in Windows.

Is anyone experiencing this as well?

EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot to add a line in the INF for the nVidia driver to allow this to happen

 

how do you people know how many donations are going to Middleton's account? 9 donations sound awfully low considering how many people voted yes for donation.

 

This does create an interesting situation. You could create a T61 FrankenPad with the FlexView screen.

 

That was possible even before this patch.

Now our T61p Frankenpads are just much better than they were before (i.e. SATA-II, WWAN whitelist and no need to press ESC on POST when using Penryn CPUs)

 

so you mean to transpose a T61 4:3 motherboard into a T60 15 inch chassis?

That would be good, if the Nvidia GPU in The T61 wasn't so prone to failure.

 

If you are afraid of possible nVIDIA GPU failure then you can use a T61 motherboard with Intel GFX instead.

 

That's what I was saying. Before it was a either a flexview with SATA I and a 3GB memory limit. Now potentially you could have a FlexView FrankenPad T61, which would have up to 8GB of memory, SATA II speeds and a T9500. That's if you value it enough to fork over the cash.

 

Since middleton can't receive Paypal in his native Russia, we have an arrangement where I'm aggregating the donations and will be sending him funds via Western Union.

 

I guess that has value for people whom wants a high quality LCD with 4:3 inch format. I got mine T60p, and T61... i am content with the way it is.

Regarding the Paypal donation... there is sure a lot of people whom said yes to donation, but sure not alot of people kept to their promises. Basically, lot of people want something for nothing.

This is also why Lenovo was reluctant to go with the high quality LCD and 4:3 route that people demanded, many people say they will pay the premium for it, but when it really comes down to it, only couple of these people will actually pay the price hike.

 

It may be a case of people waiting for middleton's combined firmwares slated to come out on July 30th. At least I hope that's the case.

 

I the FlexView issue is multi-faceted. The users here do to a larger degree care about screen quality, but were such a small slice of the pie, we're probably not statistically significant.

You're right in that most, not the people here, but your typical buyer, aren't very concerned about screen quality as long as it's not horrible. The cost to add a IPS or AFFS screen probably pushes it beyond what the typical buyer is willing to pay.

Another big issue is supply. If you're going to offer these screens on the T or X series, you'd better have a steady supply of screens lined up. That was a problem in the past causing delays.

The other issue I think is Lenovo's competitors until recently weren't offering them either. Lenovo doesn't really have an incentive to do better, which is sad. You now have the DreamColor 2. While it's great HP is offering and hopefully it will pressure Lenovo to do the same, it's still a $3k notebook that HP won't sell in great numbers. It won't become interesting until Lenovo or a competitor offers them on a mainstream notebook like the T or X.

 

Dreamcolour panel on the HP does look very interesting, wonder whether it is possible to get it put into the W70x series, as an aftermarket upgrade.

 

X300 sata-II bios mod available

The T61/X61 sata-II mod has also spawned a X300 sata-II+SLIC bios mod courtesy of Leokim.

Just need a R61 bios mod and I believe the ICH8M-equipped Lenovo notebooks would be all sata-II enabled.

 

lot of people in the chinese forum claimed they donated money, albeit only a couple of USD taking account the exchange rate. Did you get those?

 

Attention!

The final versions of the patch are ready. Now I need testers. Especially those who will flash the patch under Windows 32-bit because I patched WINUPTP.EXE. Now It should flash the BIOS even if the new and your current versions are the same.
Send your requests via email ([email protected]).

 

There is only a single donation at this time that can be identified as coming from someone in China for a relatively low USD dollar value.

Seems like people enjoy getting the BIOS for free and aren't stepping up to support the innovation and effort middleton has put into building this for the community.

 

Only NINE??!? Hopefully my donation is counted in that list (I sent it from my comcast.net address).

Those of you who said you'd pay but haven't or won't... it's time to put up or shut up.

 

Yup, you're one of the few.

 

At the moment I have 533 downloads of the patch. 9 / 533 = 1.7 %. Not bad .

Hey X61/X61s & X61 Tablet owners. If you don't want to test the final version, then I'll place it here without any checks.

 

I can test your beta bios file for the X61. My contact e-mail is blackpit at gmail dot com(can't accept PMs due to forum limit of 10 posts). I don't know if I can give you adequate information (I don't own an SSD), but if some software can inform of SATA-I or SATA-II speed and/or any other useful information, I can provide the report.

Regards,
Panagiotis

 

I would suggest not posting your email online unless you like spam.

 

I'm a linux user. Should I be worried about this SLIC thing? or whatever it's called...

Thanks.

PS: I do not have an SSD yet.. but I'm looking into getting one.

 

Don't want to go offtopic, but thanks for your correction, I appreciate it.

Panagiotis

 

Simply download the Intel Rapid Store Technology V9.6.4.1002 driver. In the information center you can see, if there is the Serial ATA Generation 2 activated.

Greetz,

XStoneX

 

As a linux user you don't need to worry about SLIC. This is basically a Software Licensing Description Table which is used to verify the system's activation status for Windows OS such as Vista or 7.

 

Thank you.

 

It seems everything works fine. Now you can download the final versions from page 8.

 

Thanks for the latest patch Middleton really appreciate it.

I just reflashed my T61 with the new patch via the CD-ROM method (using BIOS update + CTRL-FN swap) and notice there is a slight change to the CD-ROM flash interface. The latest BIOS flash interface is purely command based (no options select) and requires "Flash Over LAN" enabled in the BIOS. Though overall it seems to work fine for me.

I'm going to re-verify by downgrading my BIOS to 2.26-1.08 again and upgrade to the latest modded BIOS to confirm. I had 2.27-1.08 (Middleton's 1st Rev) already when I reflashed so i'm just going to check over. I just don't want some people freaking out when they see just command lines and switch off their machines when in fact the system is doing something!

EDIT: Just downgraded and reflashed (2.26-1.08 > 2.27-1.08 rev.2), so far no problems. SATA mode is in 2nd gen according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology. **I just got my T9300 today!** The BIOS recognises the chip no problems and boots like normal, no errors. Temperatures are still read by the sensors and are reading normal. However I can confirm there is a slight change on the interface when flashing via the CD-ROM.

- You don't need to downgrade first on this particular BIOS but if you really want to compare just to make sure it works then you're free to do so.

- First ensure your battery pack and power adaptor is connected to the Thinkpad before commencing. There won't be a chance to do this in the middle as it goes straight to flash!

- *Tip* Now if you got some headphones lying around you can plug it into the headset jack as normally when the flash completes it will emit a very loud beep. If you get freaked out by this loud beep then the headphones when in the jack will take the brunt of it instead. Don't put it on your ears during this!

- If it's off, turn on "Enable Flash on LAN" in the BIOS via the Config -> Network section - otherwise it won't start the flash.

- On the ThinkPad logo on startup press F12 and select the DVD/CD-ROM drive.

- It will load the drivers and environment first then and will say something like "Start Flash...". During this DON'T PRESS ANYTHING OR SWITCH OFF THE SYSTEM! It hasn't frozen nor will it load the usual Lenovo Flash interface via DOS, in fact it's already begun the flash process! Be patient and wait.

- Afterwards a loud beep will indicate a sucessful flash and will say something like "Start Flash - Done". It will then automatically restart the system, take out the CD and check the BIOS to make sure everything's fine.

 

CD-ROM flash interface was changed to allow flashing even if the new and the old versions are the same. It's the only reason.

 

OK, I just want to make people be aware of the change so they don't get confused and do anything drastic to their systems while flashing!

 

I would be nice that the orignial version (without slic2.1 and whitelist) be kept for those who don't require them. Also where is the 2.27-1.08 version without the FN-CTRL swap version?

 

does x61 include sxga+ version
this must be perfect for x61 user

 

I don't think there are any performance penalties of having SLIC 2.1 and whitelist in the BIOS, I don't use either of the two myself (as yet) and found no major impact on bootup.

The non CTRL-FN swap version is also in the same RAR file. Just select the "BIOS Update" folder instead of the "BIOS Update + CTRL-FN Swap".

 

Just flashed my X61t under Windows 32-bit
with SATA-II_Whitelist_SLIC21_ThinkPad_X61_Tablet_BIOS_(1.24-1.02) - no ctrl-fn swap.

(However I got the impression that winuptp.exe started twice ?)


No problems so far.

Intel RST however says SATA Generation 1 but I assume this is due the firmware of my "old" Fujitsu MHW2080BH Sata drive. So I still have to test this with a decent SSD or a gen2. harddrive.

Sl*c ist 7V btw.

Thanks middleton for your wonderful work.

I will send you an email regarding our conversation.

Big THX !

Please donate. It's worth every penny.

 

Just flashed the T61p with the full BIOS - everything appears to be working well!

Great work, Middleton!

Come on folks, show your appreciation and donate!

 

I checked the SLIC Version with the SLIC Toolkit. It's 2.1, as promised. I don't need it, but maybe it's good to have...

 

I feel confused.. can I use modified BIOS 2.27-1.08 (for T61, T61p, R61/R61i (14.1, IEEE 1394)) for my computer?
Specs are:
R61 - 14.1 inch widescreen model with IEEE 1394 (7743-P7G)
(I'm asking, becouse downloaded file name is ...ThinkPad_T61_T61p_BIOS, not mentioned R61 series)
Thanks, Slawek. (If it will be working, I'll donate)

 

The 14.1" R61/R61i with IEEE 1394 can take the same BIOS as the T61 (2.27-1.08). So your particular R61 model can take this mod.

However R61/R61i 14.1" models without the IEEE 1394 and standard 15.4" R61 models uses a completely different BIOS altogether. Please don't flash the modified BIOS if you have these otherwise you risk bricking your system.

 

Lenovo's flashing tools always check BIOS version. Winuptp.exe or flashing utility on CD won't let you update the BIOS if the new version isn't intended for your system.

 

mod BIOS is working on my R61
I had to make bootable CD with *.iso file becouse of my 64-bit windows 7
Unfortunately first time I've seen error:
"Error Code =99 (179) Updating you BIOS while MS Bitlocker drive.... "
I have BitLocker turned off, but I tried to turn off TPM module and.. BINGO! My BIOS has been updated without any errors.
Thanks, good job.

 

I have just flashed my t61p with Intel X25 80GB (G1) and my average read transfer rate went from 115 MB/s to 190 MB/s!

Great work Middleton, I have just donated $30!

Will my X300 with stock Samsung 64GB SSD also benefit from modded BIOS or is the SSD performance under the SATA1 cap?

Have anyone experienced any impact on battery life with the modded BIOS?

 

Hey guys are you noticing any real world performance gains, and what benchmark utility are you using, it'd be nice if everyone used a similar one. Also what this talk about T61p and SLIC, I use win 7 x64 ultimate and have not run into any licensing issue.

Thanks

 

I am using AS SSD Benchmark, you have seen it here in several screenshots. If the language is german, switch it in "Sprache" to english.

Here you can compare the benchmarks with typical results of other users. Most SSD are enumerated here.

It's not easy to notice real performance gains, Windows starts faster, everything is a bit more jaggedly. Try it for yourself!

Greetz,

XStoneX

 

I beta-tested the BIOS mod for X61s with SXGA+, works wonderfully. I also flashed BIOS mod for X61T, no issue either. Thanks for the brilliant work, middleton. Donated!