T23 - CRC1 0175 - Where to find BIOS update?

[DarkSamus9000]

Hello, I got my hands on a T23 to restore & my first issue is the CRC1 0175 error I get at power-on.
Per this thread: https://www.forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=133397 I spent $10 on a DB25 breakout board in hopes that I can boot temporarily & apply a BIOS & EC update.

Does anyone know where I can find the BIOS & EC update programs for the T23? All the IBM and Lenovo links I've found are broken, and I haven't seen them elsewhere online. CD-ROM or diskette update programs would be best as I can't install Windows until the issue is fixed

I also understand the latest BIOS (1.20) may have an issue with batteries. If anyone can share an older BIOS & corresponding EC, you get bonus points

[RealBlackStuff]

Drivers at the top of this page.

[DarkSamus9000]

superb, thank you!

[DarkSamus9000]

New question, do you know if older BIOS & EC updates are available for the T23?

The problem is that my T23 already has the latest versions, and so the update software refuses to do anything.

I see other users on this forum were once able to downgrade the BIOS, even if re-flashing the same version was not possible. But the drivers link above doesn't list any other versions for the T23.

Do you know any other sources? I've tried the wayback machine...

[lukee]

I can't help you with your request to find an older BIOS online but if this is feasible and you give me some instructions how to do that, I can try to download mine. My version is 1.08a.
I am dealing with opposite problem - need to upgrade to the newest version but as my battery is dead, flashing program won't allow to start the process of upgrade.
Cheers.

[RealBlackStuff]

Try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGp-Zydc2JM

[DarkSamus9000]

lukee,

Thank you for the reply! Yes if you're able to help, that would be awesome.

The ROM dump option would involve disassembling the laptop far enough to reach the physical BIOS and EC chips on the motherboard. You would need a programmer (e.g. raspberry pi (recommended) or CH341a) + dupont wires & a clip to clamp onto the chips. The chips are most likely in the 8-pin SOIC8 package, so a SOIC8 clip would be what we want, although I can't verify as I haven't disassembled my own T23 yet.

I originally learned how to do this sort of thing using libreboot's flashing guide: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/spi.html
This should be a good resource for learning the pinouts of your programmer & of the BIOS chip & how to perform a read using flashprog (or flashrom). I'm only assuming the EC chip would work the same, and we may want to check a datasheet to verify beforehand.

If this is something you'd be comfortable with doing, I'd be in your debt. But I understand it's a lot to ask, so no worries

Alternatively, if anyone knows where to find older BIOS and EC update packages from IBM for the T23, let me know... and maybe I will search for a donor T23 so I can do my own ROM dump.

[lukee]

I have RaspBerry Pi 1 and 2 somewhere at home and can obtain the cables you are referring to somewhere. Do you know if the BIOS chip is easily located either under RAM/HDD covers or under keyboard? (palmrest disassembly is pain due to possible cracking in its weak spots)

Edit: I found some old BIOSes in Archive.org's Wayback machine, however its servers are crashing nowadays, will try later.

[DarkSamus9000]

Just saw your reply -

I just looked inside my T23, and I don't see anything that looks like a ROM chip underneath the RAM, the wifi / ethernet cards, or under the keyboard. It might be under the palmrest... That's where it was on my X220 and my X230t. On the R500 and T440p it's underneath the magnesium frame. So to say, the chip is usually not easily available.

And yes I've seen how brittle plastics can get with age, especially in the thin strips around the edge of a palmrest (or keyboard). I am apprehensive but willing to do it to restore this laptop to working order.

By the way, how are you searching the wayback machine?? I was not able to find anything when I looked. A BIOS downgrade (followed by an upgrade) would be more ideal than re-flashing with an SPI programmer, so if you've found something there, I'll gladly try that first.

[lukee]

Hi,
I did some research today again and Wayback Machine had old IBM Support pages cached, but no download files themselves. Then I have discovered this page, there seems to be all IBM BIOSes:
http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/mobiles/
Tried to download few of them and download works.

Here is overview of all versions for T23:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090319051 ... 66#changes

Good luck

[BillP]

http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/mobiles/spsu1a62.exe is the 1.18 bios for the T23. The site has bios files all the way back to 1.02. It also has embedded controller files back to 1.03.

[DarkSamus9000]

BillP,

This is fantastic, thank you so much!

There doesn't seem to be any bootable diskette image for the BIOS updates for versions 1.18 and prior, so now I just need to get Windows on this thing and cross my fingers. I was hoping to avoid that since I don't have a hard drive caddy, but I'll make it work

I'll report back once I get Windows installed & I know whether or not this fixes my issue.

[BillP]

ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/mobiles/spsd1a62.exe

This should be the diskette version.

[DarkSamus9000]

Thank you for finding that. I've never been able to make heads or tails of IBM's (or Lenovo's) naming conventions for BIOS updates...

With that I succeeded in rolling my BIOS back to 1.18, but the CRC1 0175 POST error yet prevails. I'll try rolling back the EC next, but IBM's readme clearly states that BIOS 1.18 is only to be used with EC 1.06a, so I'll roll back to BIOS 1.17 before thinking about the EC.

Makes me wish the BIOS & EC updates were rolled into one like they are in modern day, because I'm also not entirely sure that BIOS 1.17 is compatible with EC 1.05. I'll see if I can find more info.

My understanding is that the CRC1 0175 POST error could be tripped by BIOS, EC, or even EEPROM. Hopefully the EC rollback fixes it & I won't have to bother with EEPROM...

[RealBlackStuff]

Time to get the old DB25 plug out... (see your first post).

[DarkSamus9000]

Well, I got the old DB25 plug back out. I rolled EC back to 1.05 and BIOS back to 1.17. No dice. I updated BIOS back to 1.20 and EC back to 1.06a. No dice.

All that leaves is the EEPROM. And as I read through the original LinkedIn post (link here: https://es.linkedin.com/pulse/0175-bad- ... rez-arispe), I noticed a small detail (translated to English):

From here on out the story is easy: access the DOS and re-program the EEPROM so that the validation is correct (just software).

Unfortunately the OP doesn't go into further detail about this seemingly crucial piece. But I found another thread on this very forum where the user had success in using the Hardware Maintenance Diskette to regenerate the GUID on the EEPROM:
viewtopic.php?t=134836

He had a different CRC error (CRC2 0188), but with the BIOS and EC re-flashed on my machine, EEPROM is all that's left. I'm going to peruse through the stash that BillP referred me to & see if I can't locate the Hardware Maintenance Diskette somewhere.

[DarkSamus9000]

Found it! Version 1.75 of the hardware maintenance diskette can be found here: http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/mobiles/i7tm23us.exe

My diskette presents the option to generate "UUID" not "GUID" (probably the same thing?)
I chose this option while the DB25 jumpers were in & rebooted without them. Still got the error.
So I tried again, and this time I unplugged the jumpers before choosing the "generate UUID" option. It seemed to take an extra second, so I figured that was it. But I've still got the error after a reboot.

Any fresh ideas? I was so sure that would be the solution.