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ThinkPad BIOS whitelist (error 1802/1804) *READ 1st MSG*
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Simple question, if we enable the card like an official, will it be detect by the connection manager and can be disable with (Fn + F5 - on my X61T) ?
If it's a MC8775 (in x61T) it's like the original lenovo one so it should work ... but i suppose that if we put another card it's different.
When the bios will be tested on T60,... could the user try what i suggest and report the results please ?
If it's a MC8775 (in x61T) it's like the original lenovo one so it should work ... but i suppose that if we put another card it's different.
When the bios will be tested on T60,... could the user try what i suggest and report the results please ?
I would love to see your notes on this, as I tried a multitude of tools and could not get a t60 bios to recompress myself. If you have also identified the procedure that runs the check, can you see in the old bioses where it checked the bit in nvram, and does it still do it in the newer bioses? Its great news that someone has at least cracked recompressing a modern thinkpad bios, but finding if it still has a cmos bit that can disable the check would be even better, as its way less risky and can be implemented as a live cd like no1802.
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I've tried to follow the code, but can't tell. The main problem is that there are references to F000 memory segment, which I was unable to locate in the BIOS modules. Maybe I'll try to understand the code better in the future, but disassembling and seeing what it does takes quite a lot of time, at least for me who has no experience with machine code/assembler.
As for recompressing, I'm definitely not doing whole BIOS recomposition, that's too dangerous. In the beginning I've enlarged one module in the BIOS file, but even then it was done manually. I looked at what happens when a module grows and did only necessary changes to the BIOS file (move modules before the grown one back, put the grown one in place and correct offsets of modules in the block).
But that was when I wanted to change the device/subsystem IDs, which are eight bytes long and usually repeat many times, so modifying it was likely to alter the compressed size. Now when we only change one instruction for the processor (return success instead of failure), the compressed size stays and it can be just replaced in-place, checksummed and that's done.
As for recompressing, I'm definitely not doing whole BIOS recomposition, that's too dangerous. In the beginning I've enlarged one module in the BIOS file, but even then it was done manually. I looked at what happens when a module grows and did only necessary changes to the BIOS file (move modules before the grown one back, put the grown one in place and correct offsets of modules in the block).
But that was when I wanted to change the device/subsystem IDs, which are eight bytes long and usually repeat many times, so modifying it was likely to alter the compressed size. Now when we only change one instruction for the processor (return success instead of failure), the compressed size stays and it can be just replaced in-place, checksummed and that's done.
Can you tell me where you are changing the id's as I have been trying to do this for a wan card, and there is only one file (bioscod5.rom) that has the id's for my card and it also has the wireless card id's in it at an offset just before the WAN card ones. Are you changing the id's or disabling the check? You say your are uncompressing manually? I am a bit confused as to what your actually doing. Heres a link that might help with the F000 explanation a bit. Its all quite over my head, but I'm as keen as you are in working around this whitelist.
http://www.geocities.com/mamanzip/Artic ... guide.html
http://www.geocities.com/mamanzip/Artic ... guide.html
Zender.. If you'd make the BIOS mod for the X60s, and Holmsteen is willing to try the BIOS -Holmsteen wrote:Hi. I have the X60s, i tried to fit it with this AR5008E 802.11 a/b/g/n XSPAN 300Mbps but no luck, must remove and restart... can i use this new bios fix?.
Kind regards
Michael
I'd be willing to both help him do the flash AND exchange his motherboard, if need be. Not pay for it, though.
But I must admit I really have high thoughts about your work, Zender. So I too think the risk is as close to zero as can be.
i'll write him a BP on Danish (we live in the same town, I think).
X200 - P8800 2.66 MHz - 8 GB RAM - Samsung 500gb 860 SSD - WLAN - Bluetooth - WWAN - FP*reader
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darn XXXX... bad news for me because i want the feature ...Zender wrote:I think the answer is also simple. It won't work that way, cannot be disabled by F5 or wireless switch, WWAN led will not blink and cannot be used by AccessConnections. Unless you load it with the Lenovo-branded firmware, which is responsible for all this.
Is there another way to quickly enable/disable the wwan ? (like a shortcut)
Can we add wathever wwan we want ? If so i would like to try with my option card (after the first tests on T60)
MOD EDIT: Please keep your language clean, thank you.
I remember something with short cutting 2 pins on the Wlan card..Switchcorp wrote:Is there another way to quickly enable/disable the wwan ? (like a shortcut)Zender wrote:I think the answer is also simple. It won't work that way, cannot be disabled by F5 or wireless switch, WWAN led will not blink and cannot be used by AccessConnections. Unless you load it with the Lenovo-branded firmware, which is responsible for all this.
Can we add wathever wwan we want ? If so i would like to try with my option card (after the first tests on T60)
or maybe removing a pin with a razor...
wasnt relevant to me, though, so didnt keep the link.
Please do a google search on the topic.
EDIT: or in this forum.
X200 - P8800 2.66 MHz - 8 GB RAM - Samsung 500gb 860 SSD - WLAN - Bluetooth - WWAN - FP*reader
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T60 progress
Just to post an update for everyone. I would like to thank maimbourg for cooperating with me, as it seemed to be a neverending story of unbootable CDs and bad BIOS file checksums.
Yet finally, it appears that he has booted the machine with a Novatel EV620 miniPCIe card, which definitely is not approved and used to trigger the 1804 error. Yay. Though he couldn't test if the card actually works, as it seems there are no freely available drivers for it (but Windows see the card).
For all others who volunteered to try the BIOS, please be patient, I don't want to brick more computers at once
Yet finally, it appears that he has booted the machine with a Novatel EV620 miniPCIe card, which definitely is not approved and used to trigger the 1804 error. Yay. Though he couldn't test if the card actually works, as it seems there are no freely available drivers for it (but Windows see the card).
For all others who volunteered to try the BIOS, please be patient, I don't want to brick more computers at once
Google says that the Novatel card is supposed to show up as a USB device.
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb-d ... 51872.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb-d ... 51872.html
Add an ID to recognise the Novatel EV620 wireless adapter.
http://www.novatelwireless.com/products ... ev620.html
It looks like a mini PCI-Express adapter. The mPCIE connector includes USB pins... the card shows up to the system as a USB device, and powers itself from the PCI bus.
Nice job, Zender. Keep up the good work!!
BTW; I definitely think you should make all BIOS mod versions (R32, T60,...) widely available on the internet, as many ppl who have this problem are not users on this forum.
AFAIK IBM would not be able to object to this, nor take any legal steps towards this.
BTW; I definitely think you should make all BIOS mod versions (R32, T60,...) widely available on the internet, as many ppl who have this problem are not users on this forum.
AFAIK IBM would not be able to object to this, nor take any legal steps towards this.
X200 - P8800 2.66 MHz - 8 GB RAM - Samsung 500gb 860 SSD - WLAN - Bluetooth - WWAN - FP*reader
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Anyone here with T60 and access to a 875U modem or a generic (non-Lenovo branded) Sierra Wireless MC8775 miniPCIe card?
Edit: not needed anymore
Edit: not needed anymore
Last edited by Zender on Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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It does, but the point is different. Short101 has the said modem and when he takes the miniPCIe card out of it and puts it into his T60, the machine will boot even when no BIOS modifications are present - but it will not work. The WWAN LED lights up, after few seconds goes dark and the OS does not see it at all.
another T 60 P anxiety
Im trying to upgrade my ABG card to AGN - both Intel and I get that Bios boot error. Waiting anxiously for your fix. One question re: with future bios updates and future continued compatibility remains.
Jay
Jay
Zender,
I have the modified 2.20 bios and the Sierra Wireless MC5725 Rev A card installed in my T60.
The laptop boots through POST and loads the OS perfectly.
I loaded the MC5725 driver from Lenovo (the one listed for the T61 machines), installed the Verizon Wireless software application intended for the embedded MC5725 card and have successfully connected with EV-DO rev A to the Verizon network.
The FN-F5 key combination works just find and allows me to turn off the WWAN, WIFI, BlueTooth devices via this key combination.
I will keep the forum posted if there are any issues in that surface in the coming days.
Once again thank you for your hard work and devotion to making this work for so many of us...Excellent Job!
Maimbourg
I have the modified 2.20 bios and the Sierra Wireless MC5725 Rev A card installed in my T60.
The laptop boots through POST and loads the OS perfectly.
I loaded the MC5725 driver from Lenovo (the one listed for the T61 machines), installed the Verizon Wireless software application intended for the embedded MC5725 card and have successfully connected with EV-DO rev A to the Verizon network.
The FN-F5 key combination works just find and allows me to turn off the WWAN, WIFI, BlueTooth devices via this key combination.
I will keep the forum posted if there are any issues in that surface in the coming days.
Once again thank you for your hard work and devotion to making this work for so many of us...Excellent Job!
Maimbourg
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It is a Lenovo one so that's why the FN+F5 keys work - Yes.
All I really needed was for the Rev A EV-DO embedded card to work in my T60 (replacing the Rev 0 EV-DO one) so I would have the faster speeds when accessing the internet. Upload speed is been sped up and the downloads speeds push 1.5 MBs which is nice compared to the Rev 0 transmit/receive rates.
Getting non-Lenovo cards to react to the FN-F5 key combination would be nice and maybe someone will provide a work around in the near future.
All I really needed was for the Rev A EV-DO embedded card to work in my T60 (replacing the Rev 0 EV-DO one) so I would have the faster speeds when accessing the internet. Upload speed is been sped up and the downloads speeds push 1.5 MBs which is nice compared to the Rev 0 transmit/receive rates.
Getting non-Lenovo cards to react to the FN-F5 key combination would be nice and maybe someone will provide a work around in the near future.
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Ah yes I remember the problem of Short101 ! It's strange because with other modem like mine there are no problems on booting and being detected by Windows.Zender wrote:It does, but the point is different. Short101 has the said modem and when he takes the miniPCIe card out of it and puts it into his T60, the machine will boot even when no BIOS modifications are present - but it will not work. The WWAN LED lights up, after few seconds goes dark and the OS does not see it at all.
I have finally found x64 drivers for my option card so I can test one of your firmware mod's on a X61T (i assume that it's not very different of T60 firmware) What's the procedure ? what do you need ?
(and i've also found that my problem after hibernating were not due to Lenovo -and some kind of incompatibility with Option wwan - but it was due to the option card drivers!)
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Almost there.
So it seems we're almost there
As for the question about future BIOS updates. The modification is always done to a particular version of particular machine BIOS. Even though I'm probably going to make a tool which will, when given the correct set of tools (phcomp, phnxdeco, prepare), search for the right patterns and modify them, independant of a particular BIOS/version, I'll have to implement some "1804 error" in it, so that it's not used on new BIOSes without proper testing. We don't want people mass-destruct their ThinkPads, do we
Next: beta-testing. We need to be sure there are no side-effects, so I'll PM people from this thread one by one and send them BIOS mod for their machine. Anyone wanting to jump the queue, please PM.
As for the question about future BIOS updates. The modification is always done to a particular version of particular machine BIOS. Even though I'm probably going to make a tool which will, when given the correct set of tools (phcomp, phnxdeco, prepare), search for the right patterns and modify them, independant of a particular BIOS/version, I'll have to implement some "1804 error" in it, so that it's not used on new BIOSes without proper testing. We don't want people mass-destruct their ThinkPads, do we
Next: beta-testing. We need to be sure there are no side-effects, so I'll PM people from this thread one by one and send them BIOS mod for their machine. Anyone wanting to jump the queue, please PM.
Last edited by Zender on Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Zender,
Just want to say a quick thanks for all your work. It is very much appreciated by all of us!
Thank you!
May I humbly suggest that we forum members who benefit from Zender's excellent work, PayPal him a little donation in appreciation?
Just want to say a quick thanks for all your work. It is very much appreciated by all of us!
Thank you!
May I humbly suggest that we forum members who benefit from Zender's excellent work, PayPal him a little donation in appreciation?
T60p: T7400, 4GB, 15" UXGA Flexview, V5200, Seagate XT 500GB 7200rpm hybrid, DVD-RW, Atheros AGN, BT, Win7 Ultimate x64
X200s: SL9400, 4GB, WXGA+ LED, 160GB Intel X25-M G2, WiMax/WiFi Link 5350, MC8781 WWAN, BT, Win7 Ultimate x64
X200s: SL9400, 4GB, WXGA+ LED, 160GB Intel X25-M G2, WiMax/WiFi Link 5350, MC8781 WWAN, BT, Win7 Ultimate x64
Zender,
Tried to PM you this - but for some reason it's not going through PM -
OK - here's what I had to do to get the modified BIOS working -
The bios upgrade didn't work out of the box because I already had the latest version of the BIOS loaded on my thinkpad..
I was originally going to try and downgrade the BIOS first, then re-upgrade.. but I was feeling lazy.. During the startup of the ISO CDROM, I pressed control-c (during the loading mscdex portion) - then manually loaded the mscdex component to load the cdrom drive (type autoexec.bat and do the highload mscdex.exe /(whatever options were in autoexec.bat))
After experimenting for a while, found that flash2.exe /U (from the d: cdrom drive) upgraded the bios without the 'bios upgrade not required' check..
It allowed me to bootup and install the drivers for my Gigabyte GN-WI106N (mini) PCI Expres WLAN Card (GN-WI06N-RH) - but it is telling me hardware disabled:( (The hardware WLAN switch is on..) - I've also checked the BIOS settings and the WLAN/WAN (everything really) is enabled...
I'll write back if I'm able to get this working, but so far.. although the card is visible to the OS now and I'm able to load drivers for it, it thinks that the hardware switch is off and is disabled:( (the actual messsage from the Gigabyte client utility is "Radio Status: Hardware Disabled"
In the BIOS, there's two options for WLAN - enabled, or hidden.. If hidden, then the OS just doesn't see it.. If enabled, then the driver comes back with "Radio status: hardware disabled"
-mark
Tried to PM you this - but for some reason it's not going through PM -
OK - here's what I had to do to get the modified BIOS working -
The bios upgrade didn't work out of the box because I already had the latest version of the BIOS loaded on my thinkpad..
I was originally going to try and downgrade the BIOS first, then re-upgrade.. but I was feeling lazy.. During the startup of the ISO CDROM, I pressed control-c (during the loading mscdex portion) - then manually loaded the mscdex component to load the cdrom drive (type autoexec.bat and do the highload mscdex.exe /(whatever options were in autoexec.bat))
After experimenting for a while, found that flash2.exe /U (from the d: cdrom drive) upgraded the bios without the 'bios upgrade not required' check..
It allowed me to bootup and install the drivers for my Gigabyte GN-WI106N (mini) PCI Expres WLAN Card (GN-WI06N-RH) - but it is telling me hardware disabled:( (The hardware WLAN switch is on..) - I've also checked the BIOS settings and the WLAN/WAN (everything really) is enabled...
I'll write back if I'm able to get this working, but so far.. although the card is visible to the OS now and I'm able to load drivers for it, it thinks that the hardware switch is off and is disabled:( (the actual messsage from the Gigabyte client utility is "Radio Status: Hardware Disabled"
In the BIOS, there's two options for WLAN - enabled, or hidden.. If hidden, then the OS just doesn't see it.. If enabled, then the driver comes back with "Radio status: hardware disabled"
-mark
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Mhm. If you had the old wireless card disabled before removing it (not neccessarily by the switch, power off in AC is enough), please try putting it back, powering it on, then switching the computer off and going for the new card. Seems you're not the only one who has such problem, because searching for gigabyte "hardware disabled" yields a few results...
So putting in old card/turning on/powerng on/removing/putting in new card didn't work..
BUT I got this working!
Here was the fix on the old mini-pci specification/cards - basically taping over pin 13..
http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/MiniPCI
A similar fix worked on this mini-pci express - except that I had to figure out that it's pin 20 that needs to be taped over -
http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pc ... es_ECN.pdf
(Pin 20 is on the underside, 2 pins away form the key.. the numbering works from the left side, top 1, bottom 2, etc...)
The gigabyte utility keeps crashing, but disabling that and using the windows client to manage my wireless means that I'm now online at 300mbps:)
-mark
BUT I got this working!
Here was the fix on the old mini-pci specification/cards - basically taping over pin 13..
http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/MiniPCI
A similar fix worked on this mini-pci express - except that I had to figure out that it's pin 20 that needs to be taped over -
http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pc ... es_ECN.pdf
(Pin 20 is on the underside, 2 pins away form the key.. the numbering works from the left side, top 1, bottom 2, etc...)
The gigabyte utility keeps crashing, but disabling that and using the windows client to manage my wireless means that I'm now online at 300mbps:)
-mark
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