How to Upgrade the Thinkpad x61 BIOS

[drear]

Good instructions, thank you. Flashed my x60s and everything worked out fine.

[sunny_s]

Excellent! I have flashed my x61 tablet from 1.23 to 1.24 and it is working perfectly. Thanks a lot.
(Linux method)

[SaintDanBert]

For those who are interested, there is a fresh, Thinkpad X61 and X61-tablet BIOS update available in January 2010. Visit http://www.lenovo.com for download.

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan

[mbsullivan]

For those who are interested, there is a fresh, Thinkpad X61 and X61-tablet BIOS update available in January 2010. Visit http://www.lenovo.com for download.

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the update! I didn't find any BIOSes from January 2010, though. The newest I could find were (2.21, 11/4/2009) for the X61/X61s and (1.24, 11/9/2009) for the X61 tablet.

I updated the links for those BIOSes, though. Could you post the exact links for the BIOS updates you were referring to?

Mike

[guybrand]

Thank you for these instructions, they worked for me to upgrade my Lenovo ThinkPad X61s using the Linux way to upgrade from BIOS revision 1.02 to revision 2.21:

Jul 29 10:56:22 kernel: thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad BIOS 7NET21WW (1.02 )
...
Jul 29 11:44:45 kernel: thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad BIOS 7NETC1WW (2.21 )

I used a 1 GB USB key and copied the win98usb.img with dd without problem (getting this image from this forum was the step that took the longest time!).

[mbsullivan]

Thank you for these instructions, they worked for me to upgrade my Lenovo ThinkPad X61s using the Linux way to upgrade from BIOS revision 1.02 to revision 2.21:

Jul 29 10:56:22 kernel: thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad BIOS 7NET21WW (1.02 )
...
Jul 29 11:44:45 kernel: thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad BIOS 7NETC1WW (2.21 )

Wow, that's quite a jump... I'm glad it worked for you!

I used a 1 GB USB key and copied the win98usb.img with dd without problem

Thanks for the info!

Mike

[rocksockdoc]

Hi Mike,

Can someone help me debug why this procedure failed for me?

I'm very experienced with computers but this is my first of everything here (my first experience with the X61 tablet PC, Ubuntu 10.04, & flashing its BIOS) and even my first post to this forum (which I found by googling for how to update the BIOS). I read EVERY post in this thread; and I followed the Windows installation instructions (logged below). (I have flashed BIOS's before but never had this problem and never from a USB stick and never with anything other than Windows.)

The problem is when I tried to boot to the USB flash drive on my Lenovo X61 (model number 7762B6U), I got a black screen with a flashing dash prompt at the top left corner, which, even after an hour, remained unchanged.

Twice this black-screen-flashing-dash-prompt happened and I had to pull the plug both times (a scary thing given the warnings here about interrupting the BIOS upgrade).

Can you help me debug? Here is a log file of what I did so far following your instructions whenever I could (deviations are noted when/where they occur; I suggest we improve the instructions even further for the items noted below so others don't have this problem).

Thanks!

================================================== ==========================
How I tried to flash my Lenovo X61 tablet (model number 7762-B6U) BIOS:
================================================== ==========================
Summary:
- I followed instructions and had a couple of minor problems following them,
but overall didn't deviate much; but the end result was a black screen with
a dash prompt which didn't go away. Tried twice and failed both times.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environment:
- WinXP PC: Newly re-installed Windows XP (service pack 2) Dell laptop
- Linux PC: Lenovo X61, Model 7762 B6U, BIOS/EC 1.04/1.02, Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem Summary (major):
- Failed to boot from the USB drive to flash the BIOS. Nothing happened.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem Summary (minor):
Note: Nowhere does the Lenovo X61 PC say it's a "tablet" but it has the pen
& swivel screen so I used the X61 tablet BIOS files (7suj18uc.iso).
Note: I first tried an 8GB flash stick but the HPUSBFW tool reported:
"Error: Volume is too big"
The final flash drive space used was 6.75 MB on my 4GB SanDisk flash drive.
Note: The SanDisk flash drive had U3 removed long ago & has been formatted
many times since.
Note: The COMMAND.COM originally copied to the flash drive must have had
the read-only bit set because the copy of the ISO contents didn't
overwrite it even after I said "Yes" multiple times. I had to delete
it and copy over the COMMAND.COM separately. The instructions aren't
really clear on this point. They say you "should" overwrite the larger
HP COMMAND.COM with the smaller Lenovo COMMAND.COM so I assumed I
"must" overwrite it; hence the need to delete it because the "Yes"
(which should have worked), didn't work.
Note: A very minor problem is that the instructions are backwards when it comes
to the creation of the USB stick. The instructions are in the forward direction
in my notes below but that's only because I had to mentally switch the
tasks midstream. They were explained well; just not in the order of
occurrence. It's not a big deal; but it's worthy of note.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loaded the USB drive from Windows XP SP2:
- Downloaded "Win98 DOS boot disc" files (win98boot.zip) to my XP hard drive;
- Extracted by clicking on "win98boot.zip" (which created win98boot);
http://start.ubuntuforums.org/attach...8&d=1212559077
- Made a note of the location of the resulting directory:
(e.g., C:\tmp\win98boot)
- First plugged a blank 8GB SanDisk USB stick into the WinXP PC but that
failed in a step later so redid these steps with a 4 GB SanDisk USB stick;
- Downloaded "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool" (HPUSBFW.zip)
- Extracted the "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool" (C:\tmp\HPUSBFW);
http://start.ubuntuforums.org/attach...7&d=1212559077
- Doubleclicked on the C:\tmp\HPUSBFW\HPUSBFW.EXE executable to bring up the GUI;
- Selected FAT (FAT16) filesystem; & "Create a DOS Startup Disc";
- Under "using DOS system files located at", pointed to the "win98boot" folder;
- Clicked "Start" to format the USB into a bootable DOS-wielding device;
- Three files of 384KB total size resulted:
(command.com, io.sys, mosdos.sys);
Note: The read-only permission of command.com caused problems later so
in hindsight, I probably should have run "C:\> attrib -r E:\command.com".
- Downloaded the Lenovo "BIOS Update Bootable CD" files onto the WinXP PC;
X61 tablet Make a note of the resulting location (e.g., C:\path\7suj18uc.iso):
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-68006

I assume (since the X61 has a pen and swivel monitor) it's an X61 tablet
so that's why I did NOT use the X61/X61s files shown below:
X61/X61s (7nuj21uc.iso);
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-67983
- Created a directory to store the MS Virtual Control Panel files:
(e.g., C:\tmp\winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel)
- Downloaded a program to allow WinXP mounting of ISO images as a virtual CD:
Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel v2.0.1.1
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...olpanel_21.exe
- Doubleclicked on the winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe to unpack the 3 files;
(readme.txt, VCdControlTool.exe, & VCdRom.sys)
- Copied VCdRom.sys to the WinXP SP2 %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder;
- Doubleclicked on the C:\path\VcdControlTool.exe to bring up the GUI;
- Pressed the "Driver control" button & then the "Install Driver" button;
- Pointed it to %systemroot%\system32\drivers\VCdRom.sys & pressed "Open";
- Pressed the "Start" and "OK" buttons;
- Pressed the "Add Drive" button which added a "Z:" drive;
- Selected that Z: drive and pressed the "Mount" button;
- Navigated to your Lenovo ISO image (c:\path\7suj18uc.iso) & pressed "Open";
- This mounted the ISO as a "CD Drive" named:
7SET38WW (Z CD Drive
- Opened up a WinXP command window
- Copied the mounted ISO files to the USB stick:
Start -> Run -> cmd
C:\> copy z:\*.* e:\
- You should see the message "32 file (s) copied";
- Note: At first, I got the write-permission error (even though I said "Yes"):
...
z:\CHKBMP.EXE
z:\COMMAND.COM
Overwrite e:\COMMAND.COM? (Yes/No/All): y
Access is denied.
z:\FLASH2.EXE
z:\lcreflsh.bat
...
31 file(s) copied.
...
- Note: I had to delete the old HP command.com because the instructions
aren't clear whether you want to overwrite the HP command.com with the
Lenovo command.com (they say "should" so I assumed it "must" be done).
The resulting Lenovo E:\COMMAND.COM was 8 KB (not the 92 KB HP COMMAND.COM);
- The resulting amount of space used on the flash card was 6.75MB;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- I shut down the Lenovo X61 Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid machine;
- At first, I left the flash drive in place when I let it reboot but it hung
with the black screen and permanent dash prompt; so I thought better of that
the second time and REMOVED the flash drive and did a complete power down.
- Powered on the X61
- Pressed the blue "Thinkvantage" button at the ThinkVantage/Lenovo/Intel screen;
- Pressed "F1" to enter the BIOS setup;
- Navigated to the BIOS "Startup" and then to the "Boot" screen;
Note: I wasn't sure which of the three USB options is a flash drive:
With the flash drive in, the available USB options were:
- +USB HDD
- USB CD
- USB FDD
With the flash drive NOT in, the available USB options were:
- -USB HDD
- USB CD
- USB FDD
I don't understand what the plus & minus means but I put the "-USB HDD"
in the number one position (let me know if that's not the right thing to do).
- I wrote down the BIOS & Embedded Controller versions:
BIOS 1.04 (7SET18WW) 2007-07-03
Embedded Controller Version 1.02
- I powered off the X61 (at first I just let it reboot but that failed with
the black-screen-left-corner-prompt, so this time I powered off the X61!
- With the X61 powered off, I placed the USB drive in the #1 slot:
Note: I am using a SanDisk 4GB with NO U3 software (U3 was deleted &
the USB stick has been formatted many times since U3 was deleted);
- I powered up the X61 in order to follow the on-screen instructions to
flash the BIOS.

Results:
- In both attempts, the screen was black with a blinking dash prompt at the
top left corner and remained this way for an hour the first time and for
ten minutes the second time until I had to power it down and try again.

Potential problems:
- I'm asking if you have any idea WHERE the potential problems might be?
(I will try the Linux method next but I don't want an X61 brick so that's
why I'm asking first).

TIA
================================================== ==========================
================================================== ==========================

[rocksockdoc]

when I tried to boot to the USB flash drive on my Lenovo X61 (model number 7762B6U), I got a black screen with a flashing dash prompt

I waited for help on the ******* side but it looks like it's not forthcoming so I tried flashing the wholly Ubuntu procedure Mike outlined. Since I'm new to Linux (not new to operating systems, just new to Linux), can someone help me here...

I'm stuck at the last step of creating the USB stick files:

rocksockdoc@ubuntu:~/tmp/flashbios$ sudo fdisk -l
...
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 490 3928032 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
...

rocksockdoc@ubuntu:~/tmp/flashbios$ sudo cp -af /cdrom/* /dev/sdb1
cp: target `/dev/sdb1' is not a directory


What am I doing wrong?

[rocksockdoc]

In order for you to better help me, here are the details regarding the plea for help above:

GOAL: Flash Lenovo X61 tablet PC using only Linux and a USB stick following
the Linux-only instructions at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=817897
---
Placed a ******* formatted 4GB SanDisk USB stick in the X61 tablet PC
left-side USB slot. The USB icon showed up on the Ubuntu 10.04 desktop.
---
$ sudo fdisk -l
Reported:
/dev/sdb1 ... W95 FAT16 (LBA)
---
Obtained win98usb.tar from:
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.p...6&d=1243462998
---
$ tar -xf ./win98usb.tar
$ ls -a win98usb.img
Reported:
-rw-r--r-- 1 x x 621568 2009-05-27 14:14 win98usb.img
---
$ umount -f /dev/sdb1
This removed the USB stick icon from the desktop
---
$ sudo dd if=win98usb.img of=/dev/sdb1 conv=notrunc
Reported:
rocksockdoc@ubuntu:~/tmp/flashbios$ sudo dd if=win98usb.img of=/dev/sdb1 conv=notrunc1214+0 records in
1214+0 records out
621568 bytes (622 kB) copied, 0.88862 s, 699 kB/s
---
$ sudo mount -o loop `pwd`/7suj18uc.iso /cdrom/
$ ls /cdrom/
Reports:
lots of files ... COMMAND.COM PREPARE.EXE UTILINFO.EXE ... etc.
---
$ sudo cp -af /cdrom/* /dev/sdb1
Reported:
cp: target `/dev/sdb1' is not a directory
---
$ sudo cp -af /cdrom/* /dev/sdb1/
Reported:
cp: accessing `/dev/sdb1/': Not a directory
---
$ sudo cp -af /cdrom/* /dev/sdb1/*
Reported:
cp: accessing `/dev/sdb1/*': Not a directory
---
$ cp: accessing `/dev/sdb1/cdrom': Not a directory
---

I followed the instructions exactly (I think).
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=817897

What am I doing wrong?

[mbsullivan]

Hi rocksockdoc,

That's quite a detailed description! So, going through:

Note: Nowhere does the Lenovo X61 PC say it's a "tablet" but it has the pen & swivel screen so I used the X61 tablet BIOS files (7suj18uc.iso).

That sounds reasonable to me.

Note: I first tried an 8GB flash stick but the HPUSBFW tool reported:
"Error: Volume is too big"

Hmmm, that's probably because you're trying to format it as FAT16, which can only work on up to a 4GB logical partition. This is probably noteworthy in the tutorial.

Note: The COMMAND.COM originally copied to the flash drive must have had the read-only bit set because the copy of the ISO contents didn't
overwrite it even after I said "Yes" multiple times. I had to delete
it and copy over the COMMAND.COM separately. The instructions aren't
really clear on this point. They say you "should" overwrite the larger
HP COMMAND.COM with the smaller Lenovo COMMAND.COM so I assumed I
"must" overwrite it; hence the need to delete it because the "Yes"
(which should have worked), didn't work.

Yep, you "must" overwrite it. Otherwise, you'll get a command prompt (I believe). Definitely not the right thing, but it won't break anything.

So... getting to the meat of your question, I'm not sure what's going on with your Windows Thumbdrive. I do know why you can't get the Linux files on there, though, so let's go from there.

You need to have both your ISO AND your USB thumdrive mounted to a folder on your filesystem in order to copy files between the two. You only have the ISO mounted at this point. So, do an fdisk -l to find which device is the USB drive (you previously said /dev/sdb1), and then:

sudo mkdir /mnt/usb
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb
sudo cp -af [ISO mount point]/* /mnt/usb/

I wouldn't worry about shutting down the computer when there's the blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. You'll know when it starts to flash your BIOS, which is the risky part. At the very least, there's some user input required first, it doesn't just begin without you hitting any keys.

Mike