Difference between revisions of "BIOS Upgrade"
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{{WARN|By following any of the instructions here you are accepting the '''very real risk''' of turning your ThinkPad into a big expensive paper weight, as a firmware update gone wrong can create unfix-able problems. '''Proceed at your own risk!'''}} | {{WARN|By following any of the instructions here you are accepting the '''very real risk''' of turning your ThinkPad into a big expensive paper weight, as a firmware update gone wrong can create unfix-able problems. '''Proceed at your own risk!'''}} | ||
| − | Boot from the CD to update your firmware. Remember to have [[BIOS_Upgrade#Two_Firmwares:_BIOS_and_ECP|both BIOS and ECP firmware boot-CDs]] ready, as needed. | + | Boot from the CD to update your firmware. Remember to have [[BIOS_Upgrade#Two_Firmwares:_BIOS_and_ECP|both BIOS and ECP firmware boot-CDs]] ready, as needed, and use them in the [[#Proper_Order|proper order]]. |
=== Boot using GRUB === | === Boot using GRUB === | ||
Revision as of 06:00, 15 December 2009
This page is meant to describe ways to update the BIOS on a ThinkPad that only runs Linux for users that don't have ready access to Windows. If you have Windows on your ThinkPad you can just boot into it and follow instructions on the IBM website.
Updating the BIOS in Linux (with few exceptions) is not officially supported by IBM/Lenovo. However there are work arounds.
Downloading New Firmware
A list of links to firmware downloads can be found at BIOS Upgrade Downloads for most Thinkpad models. You can also check the Lenovo Support website's driver matrix.
Lenovo provides firmware upgrades in a variety of packages:
- Diskette
- Non-diskette
- Linux diskette
- BIOS Utility
- Bootable CD
Not every type of package is available for every model.
The BIOS Utility and Bootable CD packages combine the BIOS and ECP firmwares. For the other packages, there is one for each firmware.
Help needed
Can an image be extracted from a "Linux diskette" .exe file?
|
The Linux diskette is just the Diskette package that runs on Linux instead of Windows/DOS. It's unknown if a boot image can be extracted from it.
You may need to try different packages to find the one from which you can extract a boot image.
Two Firmwares: BIOS and ECP
It is important to understand that Thinkpads from IBM have two separate firmwares: the BIOS, and the Embedded Controller Program (ECP).
A given BIOS version will require a certain version of the ECP. You must read the Lenovo website and/or .txt files to confirm which BIOS is compatible with which ECP, and the order in which to update them.
Update Order
The IBM documentation is sometimes unclear about the order in which these two firmwares should be updated. When in doubt, update the ECP first, and then the BIOS. Also, make sure to do the two updates immediately one after the other.
(Updaters for newer models do both the ECP and the BIOS at the same time, so you don't have to worry about it.)
Installed Firmware
You can check the current BIOS and ECP versions on your ThinkPad by using dmidecode. For example:
# dmidecode -s bios-version
1RETDRWW (3.23 )
# dmidecode -t 11
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.33 present.
Handle 0x0029, DMI type 11, 5 bytes
OEM Strings
String 1: IBM ThinkPad Embedded Controller -[1RHT71WW-3.04 ]-
Showing BIOS version 3.23 (1RETDRWW) and ECP version 3.04 (1RHT71WW).
DMI IDs
Please consider updating the List of DMI IDs before (and after) updating your BIOS.
Updating Firmware
There are two basic steps to updating the firmware (either the BIOS or the ECP) on a ThinkPad not running Windows:
- Extract a bootable update image
- Boot from that image
Extracting an update image
The various .exe installers from Lenovo all appear to be just a wrapper license program around Windows .cab files (see BIOS-Bootsplash). If you install the Linux program cabextract you can expand these .cab files directly. For example, if you downloaded 1iuj13us.exe from Lenovo:
$ cabextract 1iuj13us.exe
Extracting cabinet: 1iuj13us.exe extracting 1IUJ13US.IMG extracting BIOSUPTP.EXE extracting DOBOOT.EXE extracting DOSBOOT.COM extracting DOSBOOT.SYS extracting DOSBOOT.VXD extracting DOSBOOT2.COM extracting ECTLUPTP.EXE extracting EFLASHAS.SYS extracting HDFWUPTP.EXE extracting IBMTPI.XML All done, no errors.
The file we want is FILENAME.IMG, with "FILENAME" being the .exe. you downloaded. E.g., 1IUJ13US.IMG.
(If this does not work for the Non-diskette .exe, try it on the Diskette .exe. It's reported, for example, that the Non-diskette .exe for BIOS version 3.23 for the T41p was not extractable, but the Diskette .exe worked perfectly, with $ cabextract delivering a .IMG file.)
Testing the Image
You can test that FILENAME.IMG is really a floppy image by running:
# mkdir mntfloppy
# mount -o loop FILENAME.IMG mntfloppy
If a ls command on the image returns what looks like a DOS floppy, and no read errors were displayed, you have a pretty good chance that the image is usable. For example:
# ls mntfloppy
$0186000.fl1 0f24.hsh 0f29.pat ibmdos.com readme.txt utilinfo.exe 0f21.hsh 0f24.pat command.com lcreflsh.bat tpchks.exe 0f21.pat 0f27.hsh config.sys phlash16.exe updtflsh.exe 0f23.hsh 0f27.pat flash2.exe prod.dat updtmn.exe 0f23.pat 0f29.hsh ibmbio.com qkflash.exe userint.exe
Unmount the image after you are done testing:
# umount mntfloppy
Booting from update image
Now that you have a bootable image for the correct update for you hardware, you need to do is boot from that image to install the update.
There are different ways to do that:
- Boot from a CD
- Boot from the image, using grub and memdisk
- Boot from a floppy
Booting from a CD
Hint:
If there is a Bootable CD image available, e.g., FILENAME.iso, just download that, instead of mucking around with image files.
|
If you are going to update the firmware by booting from a CD, you need to turn FILENAME.IMG that you extracted above into an .iso file.
The Torito Bootable CD Specification is a wonderful thing. Thanks to it, a bootable CD can be made with a bootable floppy image in such as way that the CD believes that it is a 2.88 MB floppy drive. This allows you to replace a boot floppy by a boot CD in nearly all situations.
It is very easy to create such a bootable CD ISO image in Linux using the mkisofs tool1. Run a command as follows:
# mkisofs -b bootfloppy.img -o bootcd.iso FILENAME.IMG
Where FILENAME.IMG is the name of the image file extracted above, for example 1IUJ13US.IMG. This creates a CD with one file on it and marks that file as the boot image.
You can now burn the bootcd.iso to a CD in your favorite CD-burning program.
Boot from the CD to update your firmware. Remember to have both BIOS and ECP firmware boot-CDs ready, as needed, and use them in the proper order.
Boot using GRUB
ATTENTION!
Many have warned not to use the SYSLINUX image-loader memdisk to boot firmware update images.
|
Help needed
Who are these "many"? Link to a discussion?
|
Once the bootable image, FILENAME.IMG, is extracted from the .exe, it can be booted directly through GRUB without the need of burning a CD, using the SYSLINUX image-loader memdisk.
Locate the memdisk file from the syslinux package. You can search for it with find:
# find /usr -name memdisk
If /usr/.../memdisk is not present, syslinux is not installed. You will need to install it to boot a .IMG from GRUB.
Copy both the FILENAME.IMG and memdisk files into /boot directory. For example:
# cp ./FILENAME.IMG /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk /boot/
Open /boot/grub/menu.lst in your favourite editor. Copy the active section into a new section, and edit the new section:
| Parameter | Instructions | Example |
|---|---|---|
| title | Pick a name for the new section. This will show up in the GRUB boot menu. | title IBM ECP Update |
| root | Do not change. This is the partition containing the /boot directory | root (hd0,0) |
| kernel | /boot/memdisk will allow you to boot an image file. | kernel /boot/memdisk |
| initrd | This is the name of the firmware-updater image file, e.g., 1IUJ13US.IMG | initrd /boot/1IUJ13US.IMG |
Do not modify the original section in /boot/grub/menu.lst, or you might not be able to boot back to the operating system.
If you have two firmware updates to do, you will need a section for each firmware's FILENAME.IMG in /boot/grub/menu.lst.
Reboot your computer, entering the GRUB menu and selecting IBM BIOS Update, or whatever you named the new section in /boot/grub/menu.lst.
Successful tests
| Model | BIOS | ECP | Tested by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R30 2656-64G | v.1.40 | Yuri Spirin | ||
| R40 2723 | 1OHJ11WW.IMG | 1PUJ25US.IMG | Qunying | memdisk from syslinux 3.70 (slackware 12.1) |
| R51 2888 | ||||
| T40 2373 | 1RUJ37US.IMG | 1RHJ10U2.IMG | Euphoria | memdisk from syslinux 1:3.31-4 (Debian package version) |
| T40 2373 | 1RHJ10U2.IMG (3.04, 2004-11-15) |
1RUJ37US.IMG (3.23, 2007-07-03) |
Morphics | cabextract and memdisk from syslinux 3:1.36-4ubuntu5 |
| T41p 2373 | 1RUJ37US.IMG (3.23, 2007-07-03) |
Deggel | cabextract and memdisk from syslinux 3.71 on gentoo | |
| T41p 2373 | James Lee | |||
| X31 2673-CBU | Jan Topinski | |||
| X31 2672-CXU | TheAnarcat | |||
| X31 2673-58G | FaUl | |||
| X31 2672-PG9 | Starox | a big moment between starting update and the updating window | ||
| X40 2371 | 2.07 1uuj21us.exe | 1.62 1uhj10us.exe | Jakob Truelsen | Worked on two X40-2371 |
| X40 2386 | 2.08 1uuj22us.exe | 1.62 1uhj10us.exe | Galen Seitz | memdisk from syslinux 3.61 |
Unsuccessful tests
| Model | BIOS | ECP | Tested by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T43 2668-F7G | 1.29 1YUJ18US.IMG | Maus3273 | I got into the bios program, but the machine never restarts after initiating the upgrade. | |
| X41 2525-FAG | 2.09 74UJ15US | Uwe Kleine-König | booted fine (Debian syslinux 2:3.71+dfsg-5), but didn't succeed to write, just hang at "Don't restart or remove diskette etc. pp" (not bricked). Worked fine via CD method. | |
| X41 2525-F8G | 2.06 74UJ12US.IMG 2.07 74UJ13US.IMG 2.09 74UJ15US.IMG |
Lauri Koponen | hangs while initializing the actual BIOS flashing process ECP: 1.02 74HJ03US.IMG works |
BIOS Upgrade Paths
For every firmware (either BIOS or Embedded Controller program) update on the IBM web site there used to be two different firmware update programs provided. The Diskette Updater and the Non Diskette Updater. For newer Lenovo Models the Diskette Updater is replaced with a bootable CD-Image and the Non Diskette Updater is renamed BIOS Update Utility, both of which update the BIOS and the Embedded Controller program at the same time. A list of links to firmware downloads can be found at BIOS Upgrade Downloads for nearly all Thinkpad Models.
The Diskette Updater
The Diskette updater appears to be a 16 bit DOS program which asks you to accept a license agreement. It will run in Windows, DOS, OS/2, or Dosemu perfectly, but requires a real floppy disk attached via a real floppy controller. A USB Floppy Drive typically will not work.
Tips:
- Use a clean (in the physical sense) floppy and floppy drive
- Test floppies for errors before starting update process
- Have multiple copies of the update disks ready--if one should fail, replace it with a copy
- Should DOS complain of a read error, only respond wth "Retry".
The Bootable CD Image
Newer models from Lenovo can be updated using the Bootable CD Image. This should be the easiest way for non-Windows users and also maybe a more secure way for Windows users, as well. As the image is provided as a plain ISO-file without any Windows enclosure, you can simply burn it to a CD-R/RW with any modern operating system, as long as you have a CD/DVD-RW Drive and are then able to boot from it.
Extracting a Bootable CD-ROM Image from the Non Diskette Updater
This installer appears to be a 32bit windows .exe which is designed for updating the BIOS directly from a running Windows OS. It turns out that this .exe is really a wrapper license program around Windows .cab files (see BIOS-Bootsplash). If you install the Linux program cabextract you can expand these .cab files directly. Run the following:
$ cabextract FILENAME.exe
This will extract 8 files in the current directory. One of them will be FILENAME.img. In this discussion, "FILENAME" represents the name of the Non Diskette file that you downloaded, such as "1NHJ04US".
The non Diskette download was not extractable for at least the version 3.23 (T41p), but the diskette version worked perfectly - cabextract delivered a .img file to continue here...
You can test that this is really a floppy image by running:
# mkdir mntfloppy# mount -o loop FILENAME.img mntfloppy# ls -la mntfloppy
If the results of # ls -la mntfloppy look like a dos floppy, and no read errors were displayed, you have a pretty good chance that the floppy image is usable.
Unmount the image after you are done:
# umount mntfloppy
Now, you can proceed to Creating a Bootable CD from a Floppy Image, below.
Booting the image with syslinux
Once the image is extracted from the Non Diskette Updater, it can be booted directly through GRUB without the need of burning a CD. This method has been tested on T42 with a broken DVD-ROM, but it should be applicable to any ThinkPad.
1. Download the Non Diskette Updater.
2. Extract the images using cabextract (see previous sections for details). Let's say that the image file is called 1RUJ37US.IMG (replace with the actual filename).
3. Make sure that syslinux package is installed in your system. Locate the memdisk file from the syslinux package. In case of openSUSE 11.1, it is placed in /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk. On Ubuntu 9.04, it can be found at /usr/lib/syslinux/memdisk.
4. Copy both the image and memdisk files into /boot directory. You must be root to do this.
# cp ./1RUJ37US.IMG /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk /boot/
5. Open /boot/grub/menu.lst in your favourite editor.
6. Copy the active section and edit title, kernel, initrd according to this example:
title IBM BIOS update
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memdisk
initrd /boot/1RUJ37US.IMG
Updating via CD/DVD Drive
The whole thing gets more complicated if you neither have Windows nor a floppy drive installed. This is what this page is intended to describe.
Creating a Floppy Image
If you have created a boot floppy on another machine, you need to create an image file of that floppy. This can be easily done in linux by running a command line:
# dd bs=2x80x18b if=/dev/fd0 of=/tmp/floppy.img
You can also create a floppy image by using Ken Kato's VMware's back. It is a free Windoze tool that creates a virtual floppy drive and allows you to produce an image file ready to be ISO'ed. Note: you might have to 'manually' (through application's interface) assign the virtual drive a volume letter in order to be seen by IBM's application (as, by default, it seems not to do it).
You should verify this floppy.img as explained above.
Creating a Bootable CD from a Floppy Image
Once you have your floppy image, either from imaging a real floppy, or from extracting them via the cabextract method above, you need to make a boot CD out of it.
The eltorito bootable CD standard is a wonderful thing. What this means is that a bootable CD can be made with a bootable floppy in such as way that the CD believes that it is a 2.88 MB floppy drive. This allows you to replace a boot floppy by a boot CD in nearly all situations.
It is very easy to create such a bootable CD ISO image in Linux using the mkisofs tool. To do this run a command as follows:
# mkisofs -b bootfloppy.img -o bootcd.iso bootfloppy.img
where bootfloppy.img is the name of the .img floppy image file, for example 1NUJ10US.IMG.
Note: This creates a CD with one file on it and marks that file as the boot image. For more info on this read $ man mkisofs.
You can now burn the bootcd.iso in your favorite CD burning program.
To get an overview which models have been tested with this version, here is a list:
Does work:
| Model | Tested by |
| 600E (2645-4AU) |
|
| 600E (2645-5bU) |
|
| 600X (2645) |
|
| 600X (2645) |
|
| A20p (2629-6VU) |
|
| A21e (2628-JXU) |
|
| A31p (2653) |
|
| A31 (2652) |
|
| R30 |
|
| R31 |
|
| R40 |
|
| R50 (1836-3SU) |
|
| R50e (1834-PTG) |
|
| R51 (1829) |
|
| R51 (1830-RM7) |
|
| R51 (2887) |
|
| R52 (1858) |
|
| T20 |
|
| T22 |
|
| T23 |
|
| T30 |
|
| T40 |
|
| T40p |
|
| T41 |
|
| T41p |
|
| T42 |
|
| T42p |
|
| T43 |
|
| T60 |
|
| T61 |
|
| X20 |
|
| X21 |
|
| X22 |
|
| X23 |
|
| X30 |
|
| X31 |
|
| X40 |
|
| Z60m |
|
Does not work:
| Model | Tested by |
Updating via Grub and a Floppy Image
Floppy images may be booted from Grub via a utility called MEMDISK, which may be compiled from the SYSLINUX source. Copy the compiled memdisk image and the floppy image to your boot directory and configure grub as follows:
title Bios Flash kernel /boot/memdisk initrd /boot/FILENAME.img
Again, proceed at your own risk.
MEMDISK worked
| Model | BIOS | ECP | Tested by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R30 2656-64G | v.1.40 | Yuri Spirin | ||
| R40 2723 | 1OHJ11WW.IMG | 1PUJ25US.IMG | Qunying | memdisk from syslinux 3.70 (slackware 12.1) |
| R51 2888 | ||||
| T40 2373 | 1RUJ37US.IMG | 1RHJ10U2.IMG | Euphoria | memdisk from syslinux 1:3.31-4 (Debian package version) |
| T40 2373 | 1RHJ10U2.IMG (3.04, 2004-11-15) |
1RUJ37US.IMG (3.23, 2007-07-03) |
Morphics | cabextract and memdisk from syslinux 3:1.36-4ubuntu5 |
| T41p 2373 | 1RUJ37US.IMG (3.23, 2007-07-03) |
Deggel | cabextract and memdisk from syslinux 3.71 on gentoo | |
| T41p 2373 | James Lee | |||
| X31 2673-CBU | Jan Topinski | |||
| X31 2672-CXU | TheAnarcat | |||
| X31 2673-58G | FaUl | |||
| X31 2672-PG9 | Starox | a big moment between starting update and the updating window | ||
| X40 2371 | 2.07 1uuj21us.exe | 1.62 1uhj10us.exe | Jakob Truelsen | Worked on two X40-2371 |
| X40 2386 | 2.08 1uuj22us.exe | 1.62 1uhj10us.exe | Galen Seitz | memdisk from syslinux 3.61 |
MEMDISK did not work
| Model | BIOS | ECP | Tested by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T43 2668-F7G | 1.29 1YUJ18US.IMG | Maus3273 | I got into the bios program, but the machine never restarts after initiating the upgrade. | |
| X41 2525-FAG | 2.09 74UJ15US | Uwe Kleine-König | booted fine (Debian syslinux 2:3.71+dfsg-5), but didn't succeed to write, just hang at "Don't restart or remove diskette etc. pp" (not bricked). Worked fine via CD method. | |
| X41 2525-F8G | 2.06 74UJ12US.IMG 2.07 74UJ13US.IMG 2.09 74UJ15US.IMG |
Lauri Koponen | hangs while initializing the actual BIOS flashing process ECP: 1.02 74HJ03US.IMG works |
Updating with Network Boot Image
BIOS, Embedded Controller (EC), CD/DVD and Harddisk firmware disks can be booted over the network with PXELINUX as part of the SYSLINUX package.
This requires that you have a DHCP and tftp server configured and setup properly on your network, and is probably not for the faint of heart.
Make sure the firmware bootdisk is in linux 'dd' format, as the self-extracting .exe disks from the IBM website cannot be booted directly as such.
This worked on the R31, X22, T21, T30 and T41p with various firmware updates.
On X22, works with EC 1.30 but NOT with BIOS 1.32
After updating
DMI IDs
Please consider updating the List of DMI IDs after (and before) updating your BIOS.
Special Cases
- In one case, see (APM setup on a type 2379 ThinkPad T40), it was not possible to upgrade the BIOS from Windows XP; a downgrade to Windows 98 was required to successfully run the BIOS upgrade app. The symptoms in this case were that, once the files had been extracted to the hard disk, and the machine was to reboot into the upgrade app, it would beep and hang just before reboot, requiring a power cycle. Once the power was cycled, it would simply reboot back into XP without performing any BIOS upgrade actions. So even if you have Windows, you may still need to use the info on this page.
Updating Thinkpad X Series
The special update instructions for X1, X1 Carbon, X1 Carbon G2, X1 Carbon G3, X1 Carbon G4, X1 Carbon G5, X1 Carbon G6, X1 Carbon G7, X1 Carbon G8, X1 Extreme, X1 Extreme G2, X1 Hybrid, X13, X20, X21, X22, X23, X24, X30, X31, X32, X40, X41, X41 Tablet, X60, X60s, X60 Tablet, X61, X61s, X61Ls, X61 Tablet, X100e, X120e, X121e, X130e, X131e, X140e, X200, X200s, X200 Tablet, X201, X201i, X201s, X201si, X201 Tablet, X201i Tablet, X220, X220i, X220 Tablet, X220i Tablet, X230, X230i, X230s, X230 Tablet, X230i Tablet, X240, X240s, X250, X260, X270, X280, X300, X301, X390, X395 Thinkpads are quite long. You can find them at the page BIOS_Upgrade/X_Series.
| FOOTNOTES [Δ] |
- For lots of detail on making and burning .iso files, see The Linux Documentation Project (tldp.org): 3.1 Writing CD-ROMs (pure data).
- R30
- R40
- R51
- T40
- T41p
- X31
- X40
- T43
- X41
- 600E
- 600X
- A20p
- A21e
- A31p
- A31
- R31
- R50
- R50e
- R52
- T20
- T22
- T23
- T30
- T40p
- T41
- T42
- T42p
- T60
- T61
- X20
- X21
- X22
- X23
- X30
- Z60m
- T21
- X1
- X1 Carbon
- X1 Carbon G2
- X1 Carbon G3
- X1 Carbon G4
- X1 Carbon G5
- X1 Carbon G6
- X1 Carbon G7
- X1 Carbon G8
- X1 Extreme
- X1 Extreme G2
- X1 Hybrid
- X13
- X24
- X32
- X41 Tablet
- X60
- X60s
- X60 Tablet
- X61
- X61s
- X61Ls
- X61 Tablet
- X100e
- X120e
- X121e
- X130e
- X131e
- X140e
- X200
- X200s
- X200 Tablet
- X201
- X201i
- X201s
- X201si
- X201 Tablet
- X201i Tablet
- X220
- X220i
- X220 Tablet
- X220i Tablet
- X230
- X230i
- X230s
- X230 Tablet
- X230i Tablet
- X240
- X240s
- X250
- X260
- X270
- X280
- X300
- X301
- X390
- X395
