T60 Bios Update Nightmare

Hi there, can anyone help me, or point me to some advice that is similar to this.
I used the thinkvantage button.
I was bored and there inforn of me it said, check for BIOS updates, so I thought why not, updated bios must surely be better than the ones I already had.
They took about 5 minutes to download.
then it said, the system must restart in order for the bios to work, the system shut down, and now will not start up again.
NOTHING. When I press the poweer button, a few lights come on, but not the Hard drive light.
I've just killed the laptop.
Is there anyone how can help me to reanimate it...I've only had it three days.
It's a T60 1952 A32
Thanks.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Well I guess my problem is sorted, aparently it was a faulty Mother Board, which will be replaced because the warranty is still valid.
I can't help thinking though that the problem of ThinkVantage computer updates causing a complete nightmare is quite a serious one.
On a positive note, the support provided by IBM is great. Within minutes of calling, I was talking to someone, who gave me a fe ideas to try, then when they failed, arranged for a engineer to come out.
ThinkVantage problems, Thumbs down
IBM Thinkpad Support, Thumbs up.

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NF980-G65 BIOS Update Nightmare!!

There is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for stupidity like this!!
Okay, I'm pretty sure someone or several people at MSI have their head up ass!
I have an AMD 1090T x6 going into a brand new board. The factory shipped bios is v1.2 which doesn't identify the CPU correctly. Trying to update to 1.4 and it cannot be done. I've tried the HP Utility on this board, the MSI Utility on the board as well as several other bios boot diskettes, CDs, and USB Boot tools and it just hangs.
For gosh sakes, send the boards out with 1.4.
I am on a deadline and instead of installing an operating system tonight, I spent the last 5 hour F#%@ing around trying to flash a bios so I can proceed with my install.
I am using the default dumbed down bios settings, I have one stick of ram in the system, and nothing helps or works! This is just plain retarded!!
The last time I went thru this a couple weeks ago, I ended up having to put an AMD 965 x4 into the board to flash from 1.2 to 1.4, then put in the x6 to carry on.
If ALL these companies were held accountable for the time people have to waste on their stupidity and mediocrity, this kind of crap wouldn't happen.
This kind of stupidity costs me money everyday!! Only I have to suck it up and eat the loss everytime this kind of braindead crap is encountered.
A solution would be nice but I bet I won't get one.

Quote from: Mike on 31-January-11, 00:14:01
How can a board be sent out with 1.4 if it was manufactured when only 1.2 was available. You can't blame MSI for a retailer sending you older stock. Contact the retailer and have them flash it or use a supported CPU. If you don't have another MSI board or notebook with Windows installed(you'll need to download the bios to the other computer) where you can use the forum's utility to prepare a USB stick, >>MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<< , then use one of the other methods in the sticky for flashing the bios under If you are unable to use the MSI HQ USB BIOS Flashing Tool, https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=119375.0 .
We understand your frustration, but please calm down and let's try to help.
Thanks mike for posting this link ... once I get my board fixed and resent I will try this flasher. Thanks again for your help!

MOVED: NF980-G65 BIOS Update Nightmare!!

This topic has been moved to AMD64 nVidia boards.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=145326.0

Quote from: Mike on 31-January-11, 00:14:01
How can a board be sent out with 1.4 if it was manufactured when only 1.2 was available. You can't blame MSI for a retailer sending you older stock. Contact the retailer and have them flash it or use a supported CPU. If you don't have another MSI board or notebook with Windows installed(you'll need to download the bios to the other computer) where you can use the forum's utility to prepare a USB stick, >>MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<< , then use one of the other methods in the sticky for flashing the bios under If you are unable to use the MSI HQ USB BIOS Flashing Tool, https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=119375.0 .
We understand your frustration, but please calm down and let's try to help.
Thanks mike for posting this link ... once I get my board fixed and resent I will try this flasher. Thanks again for your help!

Is it possible to install the T60p BIOS update without a battery pack?

Hello,
I was running some maintenance on my gfs Thinkpad T60p, model 2007EC1, and the BIOS update failed since she does not have a battery pack. The battery pack is unavailable as it was left behind when she came here for the summer. Is it possible to install the BIOS update with out? Is there a work around?
Thanks for your time.
Edit: Sorry i forgot os. It is currently running win xp sp3
Message Edited by stellar on 06-27-2009 05:20 PM
Thinkpad T60p 2007ec1

There used to be some jumper hacks on the web for the older Thinkpad models. Try a Google search and see if you find anything.
Keith
Formerly 600E 2645, T30 2366, X31 2673, T40 2373, T41 2379, T42 2373, T42 2379, T60 1952, T61p 8889, T61p 8891
Currently T420 4177-CTO, T430 2347-A54, T430 2349-L64, T430 2347-UN9, T430 2342-CTR, Ideapad K1, H520S 2561-1LU

T410s Bios Update Gone Wrong

I hoping someone can direct me to a fix for this issue. Seems to me I can't be the only one having this particular issue.
I downloaded the windows bios update utility and proceeded to update the BIOS. The utility ran for 10 minutes and it just hung there. Eventually I ended up rebooted the computer and once I did that the computer would not start again.
One long been and two short beeps and this indicates a system board failure.
Here is what I did;
1. Updated bios in windows
2. Computer would not start
3. Unplugged power and removed battery
4. Held power for multiple 30 seconds
5. Disconnected battery under the keyboard (waited two hours before trying again)
Any advice is very much appreciated.
Shawn.

If the machine is still under warranty call Lenovo and tell them that the BIOS update killed the motherboard. It might or might not get you where you need to be.
In case of an expired warranty, you're on your own an the motherboard replacement is going to be on you...
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

BIOS update 3.12-1.06 / ThinkLight killed / x200

I did a ThinkVantage System Update which updated 11 items including BIOS update 3.12-1.06 and Intel Chipset Support for Windows XP/Vista/7, and now my ThinkLight on x200/XP does not work. The on-screen display toggles with Fn-PgUp, but the ThinkLight does not work. I understand the ThinkLight is controlled by the BIOS...should I revert to a previous BIOS? Is there another way to control the ThinkLight?

There is a ThinkVantage Toolbox from lenovo that tells about hardware issues, however it doesn't tell regarding ThinkLight problem, I think your best bet is to contact lenovo support for this (assuming you have warranty), before doing so, give TPFanControl a try, when it displays a menu in the taskbar, there is an option to turn ThinkLight on/off.
Maliha (I don't work for lenovo)
ThinkPads:- T400[Win 7], T60[Win 7], IBM 240[Win XP]
IdeaPad: U350
Apple:- Macbook Air [Snow Leopard]
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A31 BIOS update problems

I just downloaded the 1gxxxxxx bios update, and it didn't go. I got to the update screen, read everything, and had the fully charged battery and the power cable plugged in. it then gave me an error that the power cable wasn't plugged in. What can I do?

Take a look here and check whether you can get away with it:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1363
I've never tried this approach myself - proceed at your own risk.
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

Thinkpad Yoga BIOS Update Problem after installing Windows 10

Hi all, I've been reading tonnes of threads here trying to solve my problems (which seem to keep getting worse) to no avail. I'm reaching out to anyone that can suggest some help before I end up bricking my yoga by accident or running it over on purpose. I'll give you a timeline of the events. The machine in question is a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 12.5" 20CD-0032USIntel Core i5 4200U 1.60GHz Processor4GB Ram128GB SSDWindows 8.1 64 Bit preloaded (recently upgraded to Windows 10) So the saga begun just a short two days ago. I had some spare time at home and decided to download and install my free upgrade to Windows 10. I backed up all of my important documents etc to OneDrive as I intended on performing a clean install. Said clean install went flawlessly with Windows 10 installing the first time with no issues or errors. Since I had performed a clean install, all my previous apps, including the stock Lenovo apps, had been deleted. I had anticipated this and only really desired to reinstall the app that automatically adjusts the screen orientation when folding the cover back. So in an effort to find this app and any Windows 10 related updates that may be available I went to support.lenovo.com and used the handy Lenovo Bridge app to automatically detect my hardware and suggest relevant updates. While combing through the suggested software I noticed a BIOS update that noted added support for Windows 10. How great, I thought, that Lenovo would have a BIOS update ready so quickly once 10 became ready for mass consumption. I went ahead and downloaded the exe version (not the bootable CD due to the lack of CD drive on the Yoga) and ran the BIOS update. As I ran the update the laptop was plugged in, and no errors were presented, a success message appeared and indicated a reboot was necessary, after a couple seconds the system rebooted itself. Enter nightmare level 1. As soon as the system rebooted, I fired up IE about to look for more updates and......BSOD stating that there was and issue with a driver, after another reboot BSOD again with a completely different file name stating driver file missing or corrupt. Sorry I didn't write any of the file names or errors down. At this point I'm thinking that something is not jiving here between the BIOS and OS. So I tried running repair, and recovery and each time I would end up with a BSOD of some design. It was at this point I made a USB with the Windows 10 x64 ISO from Microsoft in an attempt to run the repair utilities from the USB. Again to no avail. Enter nightmare level 2 After attempting multiple tries at recovering Windows 10 and getting multiple BSOD's through the process I decided to use my Windows 10 USB to simply reformat my hard drive to eliminate any traces of my now apparently corrupt OS and do a fresh install of Windows 10. This appears to have been a significant error on my part. Now I have no OS (BIOS is still intact so at least I think I have a not-bricked motherboard) and everytime I try to boot Windows 10, or 8.1 for that matter, from a brand new USB stick I get constant BSOD's.Sometimes I get as far as the Preparing installation files 22% but am interrupted by a BSOD error at some point. So I am pleading for some help here. To me it seems like the BIOS update was the issue. I was not smart enough to have checked the BIOS version before updating so that I would know what to roll back to safely. What would you all recommend for a rollback and how do I go about doing one with no OS on the machine. I know I'm asking for a tl;dr here but appreciate any advice offered. I really dont want to get to nightmare level 3, which I guess would be a bricked laptop and a bill for a new motherboard or laptop. The BIOS I currently have is GQET45WW (1.25) -Garrett

Thanks for the reply ColonelONeill, It turns out that Lenovo uses an obscure PERL disk image called "eltorito". As such the directions in the link you provided did not work as most common tools (WinZip, 7zip, and WinRAR) cannot extract the image file from an eltorito iso file. I instead just bucked up for a $50.00 Asus USB CD drive and burned the iso for version 1.25 and 1.24 onto discs. I then disabled the setting in the BIOS that prevents rolling back to a previous version and flashed to 1.24 from the disc. While this appeared to go successfully, as soon as I tried to boot from my Windows 8.1 CD I start receiving BSOD's again during installation. I then used the CD with 1.25 to go back to where I was in case it was simply a bad BIOS update at the time. Most of the BSOD's are driver related (qlfcoei.sys) which I don't understand since there is no OS other than what is on the bootable CD (or USB I've tried both) Is there anyone with a stable install of Win 8.1 x64 or 10 x64 running on a 20CD0032US that can tell me what version of BIOS they are running? My next step is to go back to a version that someone else can verify is working. Thanks again for any help.

Thinkpad T60 BIOS crash...

I have a Thinkpad T60 that has Vista 32 bit installed on it. It ran well for several months and then I did a BIOS update that froze and never finished. Now the machine is a brick. When I boot, all I get is the power and battery indicators. I believe the BIOS was wiped out. Is there a way I can restore the BIOS without having to replace the Mother Board...

If you can hook up a floppy disk and boot from that, you may be lucky, trying to do the BIOS update that way.
See also this article from Lenovo they also mention a separate widescreen BIOS. Did tou try to load the wrong version?
I think the BIOS is socketed, you may be able to get a fresh replacement here

T60 BIOS Erased / Brick

So, I was updating my T60 notebook and decided it was a good time to get all the drivers and such loaded. I used the April "Windows" BIOS updater, (which, I know, was stupid). It ran to the point where it said it was "Reading BIOS" where it hung. Ultimately, the process crashed, and since the progress bar had never gotten to the point where it said it was updating, I thought I was safe ..
Well, we know what happened next - complete brick. The worse part was my warranty expired 3 days before this occurred, so support said "No thanks" and simply cancelled my request.
Given the sheer number of reports of this happening out in the world, there must be a better solution than to replace the planar - a $500 fix for a $250 notebook isn't very palatable. Are there any other acceptable fixes available?
Thanks!

rickbu wrote:
I looked into the warranty extension which was $149 for mail-in - between the cost and the nagging sense of unfairness of me buying a warranty for something that's not, technically, working makes me shy away from that.
I also heard from a guy who wants to sell me a replacement chip, involving surgery and solder, which sounds like a science project with a almost-certainly bad result in the end ...
The BIOS recovery service sounds useful, but the cost and shipping has me wondering if that's worthwhile for a 4-year-old laptop. Wish I knew what he did to recover it ...
Personally, I think this a design flaw, hopefully fixed in newer models. There should be a boot of last resort - that's what I was hoping to find here ...
If a virus writer had done this, I could probably have them prosecuted. If the update program is causing such damage, I'd suggest Lenovo stop distributing it, and only distribute the stand-alone version. I mistakenly thought that, should the worst happen, I'd still be able to recover.
Anyway, thanks for the ideas.
well Thinkpad uses a Phoenix bios, so you should google it in that context.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

Thinkpad T60 Bios Issue

At startup, my Thinkpad T60 displays a Fan Failure message but the fan seems to be running fine. Before replacing any hardware, I thought it might be helpful to update the bios to see if that resolves the problem. Unfortunately, I'm unable to access the bios. When I tap the F1 key the computer beeps consistently and I am unable to enter the BIOS Setup Utility. When I stop tapping F1, the Fan Failure message once again appears on the screen and the computer fails to boot to the operating system. Any suggestions for resolving this issue are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Not sure what the cause of your error is, but I can tell you that it wasn't caused by anything that a bios update would fix, and I'd never recommend trying to flash a bios on an unstable system, you could turn a $12 repair into a $600 one.
In an attempt to gather more info for somone who may have seen this error before, how do you know the fan ""seems to be running fine", if you can't boot your system?
One thing you can try is to plug a known good fan into your system board, then try booting/loading bios. Even if you don't actually install the fan, it could tell you if you actually have a fan motor failure. My theory is that yor systemboard would detect an open/shorted circuit in the fan motor and prevent boot to keep from damaging your system. By plugging in a working fan (even if not installed), your system would no longer see the error. However, if it does boot, don't run it for more then a couple mins without a good working fan installed.
I'm sure it's also possible that a systemboard failure could generate such an error, so if a known good fan also triggers this error, that would be the most logical cause, but perhaps there is something another member can offer here that I'm unaware of.
Good luck
ps. You can buy the fan motor (without heatsink) for about $12 on ebay from various sellers. I keep one in stock, in case I ever have need of it, then order a replacement as I use them.
ssheperd wrote:
At startup, my Thinkpad T60 displays a Fan Failure message but the fan seems to be running fine. Before replacing any hardware, I thought it might be helpful to update the bios to see if that resolves the problem. Unfortunately, I'm unable to access the bios. When I tap the F1 key the computer beeps consistently and I am unable to enter the BIOS Setup Utility. When I stop tapping F1, the Fan Failure message once again appears on the screen and the computer fails to boot to the operating system. Any suggestions for resolving this issue are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
ThinkPad W-510 i7-820QM(1.73-3.06GHz) Quad Core... ThinkPad T500, T9900, 8gb SSD...FrankNpad T-60p/61p (X9000 2.8ghz) 8gb SSD ips FlexView...ThinkPad T-61p (T9300 2.5ghz) 8gb ram...Thinkpad X-61 Tablet 4gb ram...ThinkPad A-31 (1.9ghz P4 1.5gb ram)

Bios update gone bad

I have a T60 and I just tried to update the BIOS using the following utility from Lenovo:
Version:                  7IET33WW (1.14)
Release Date:        2008/04/25
File link                   7iuj12us.exe
File size                  2,781,304
File description     ThinkPad BIOS update utility
After the utility completed the update, I followed the instructions to restart and verify the version. After hitting F1, I am presented with a lock icon which has a screen beside it, which I believe to be a prompt for a power on password. Not knowing what it is since I never had one set up, I try my windows password and that of my wife's which we use on the computer (set up when we set up the fingerprint log -in). Nothing works. I can hit enter and access the BIOS setup, but no changes can be made in "user mode" (I never set up a Supervisor password either).
I did read/try the solution which Mark_Lenovo (Admin) posted in other threads regarding removing the battery and backup battery, but it did not work. What is funny is that the power on password is only requested when trying to access the BIOS, I can log on and use the computer normally with the fingerprint reader. I just can not access the BIOS.
I am hoping others who had similar problems might have had better guidance on how to proceed. My initial call to Lenovo proved to be less than comforting stating that even the POP can not be reset and can only be fixed by MB replacement at my cost.
Thanks in advance for any help.
System is a T60, type 8743, WinXP, T7200, 2Gb, current BIOS after update 1.14 (7IET33WW) dated 2008-04-16, Embedded Controller Ver 1.07, old BIOS version unknown, system build Dec 2007.
Calvin

Calvin, welcome to the forum,
I'm sorry; this subject is not allowed to be discussed here as stated in the forum rules - Thread locked
No posts shall include instructions or directions intended to subvert security measures, including passwords, locking mechanisms, fingerprint scans, etc, nor shall any posts provide descriptions to the location of, nor direct links to content related to these topics.
Andy ______________________________________
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T430 Bios update

I am having a problem with the T430 bios update utility. But, I only have a problem when running the update using the -s option. If I run the update without being silent then the bios gets updated. If I use the -s option then I get this error message:
Secure flash authentication failed
press esc to continue
Anybody have any clues?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Thank you for the response. Not to sound ungrateful on the response but referenced was using -s in first post. With previous models (T60, T61, .....) when using bios update everything happened in Windows. Now with T430 it looks like (guessing because of new UEFI) it does 2 parts: part of the update within windows and after reboot there is a message comes up:
Flashing embedded controller
Please wait
This stays up for a few seconds and then restarts and then the error comes up. The log file looks like only shows what happened in windows which went fine looks like from log:
OS = Windows 7 32bit
Driver Loading....Done
System BIOS Version -> G1ET42WW
Applying BIOS Version -> G1ET44WW
System EC Version -> G1HT29WW
Applying EC Version -> G1HT29WW
AC adapter/Battery check....OK.
EC Flashing....EC Flash completed.
BIOS Flashing....BIOS Flash completed.
Again, if I run the update without silent parameter it works. Only if supply the -s parameter it has this "Secure flash authentication failed". I did notice this SCT utility comes up during the manual update that doesn't come up during the silent update. Here is a log of a manual update:
OS = Windows 7 32bit
Driver Loading....Done
System BIOS Version -> G1ET42WW
Applying BIOS Version -> G1ET44WW
System EC Version -> G1HT29WW
Applying EC Version -> G1HT29WW
AC adapter/Battery check....OK.
BIOS Flashing....BIOS Flash completed.
Did notice something different about T430 bios update that didn't happen with T410 or older bios updates. If you use the silent update the winuptp spawns a winflash32s.exe. If you use the manual update then winuptp spawns a winflash32.exe. Wondering if the winflash32s.exe has a problem possibly?

T61 BIOS update locks up unit; will not boot

I attempted to download and install (properly, in accordance with instructions) the latest BIOS update. The computer froze during the BIOS update process. It will not boot. This is the 2nd time the identical problem occured. (unit went in for repair in 5/08 the first time) The unit will not boot from the DVD reader. I cannot the repair CD nor can I load a BIOS CD. Suggestions?

Welcome to the forum!
I certainly hope that you have warranty leftover, otherwise you're likely looking at out-of-pocket system board replacement.
Good luck
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

T22 won't power up after bios update

i followed directions to a T, power cord in and battery at 100%.
update seemed to be proceeding properly and after about a minute computer beeped and shut down as i have witnessed during previoud tp bios updates.
now when i depress power button, hd activity light comes on very briefly and that's all i see or hear.
i have disconnected battery and ac adapter for a time and then re-inserted and still nothing.
if anyone knows what went wrong, please let me know, including the odds of this machine being worth fixing.
thanks

Welcome to the forum!
Let's try this: take out your battery, media and hard drives. Unplug the AC.
Press "power" button 10 times in a row, holding it down 10 seconds each time, and 30 seconds the last time.
Plug the AC adapter back in, try to power on and keep your fingers crossed...
Good luck and let us know.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

T60 Bios Update Nightmare

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