On 2020-06-20 11:35:44, John Jason Jordan <joh...@gmx.com> wrote: > I have placed the order for the replacement SSD drive, but some time > before it gets here I want to update the BIOS. My motivation is that > the T61 came with SATA at 1.5GB/s, and by updating to the 'Middleton' > BIOS I can get 3.0GB/s. However, I am pretty lost when it comes to > flashing a BIOS - I've only ever done it once, a long time ago. > Lenovo's website doesn't seem to list mt computer, but I'm probably > looking in the wrong place. The forums provide links for the new BIOS, > and all of them are dead. > > Here are the details from the bottom of the case: > > Type 6460-7EU > S/N L3-C3254 07/09 > > (I think the 07/09 means September, 2007.) > > If anyone has ever flashed the BIOS on a T61 I could use some advice. >
Hello John, Updating the BIOS on a T61 should be fairly straightforward. I've updated the BIOS on a T60, X61t, T440p, and T460 and they're all pretty much the same. I found these two links from Lenovo's website titled, "BIOS Update Utility - ThinkPad R61 14.1inch widescreen with IEEE 1394, ThinkPad T61, T61p" Windows EXE: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/jp/en/downloads/DS013832 Bootable CD: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/jp/en/downloads/migr-67989 The text at the bottom lists a large number of supported models of the R61, which includes "7Ex" which I'm assuming matches the "7EU" of your model. For the T-series, it only lists "T61, T61p", which I'm assuming means it supports all models of the T61. IIRC, there was a 14.1" and 15" model of the T60 and/or T61, and they needed separate BIOSes. Perhaps my memory is mistaken, or perhaps Lenovo found a way to unify the BIOS updates somehow. The easiest way to update the BIOS would be to download the bootable CD, burn it, and boot from it, following the prompts. If you want to save a CD, you can use the "geteltorito" program to extract an image you can write to a USB stick and boot from that: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/geteltorito/ (Packages are likely available in other distros, the above is simply the first link that came up in a search). One thing to mention, when I first updated my T60's BIOS to a newer version, I began to get worried because it appeared to have gotten stuck in a reboot loop right after POSTing. However, after rebooting itself about 4-5 times in a row (one of them getting stuck on the POST screen for a lot longer than the others) the system came up fine and has worked flawlessly for years afterwards. So don't panic if your system reboots several times after updating. Other than that, just be sure to follow the advice in the readme.txt. E.g. Make sure the battery is fully charged and the system is connected to AC power. Updating a BIOS can be a bit intimidating the first time one does it because of the risk of bricking the system if something goes wrong, but so long as you follow the instructions and read the readme files beforehand, they're actually pretty straightforward. Please let me know if you have any other questions! -- Bryan _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
