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<!DOCTYPE html>
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background:#fff;
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</style>
<title>Libreboot documentation: Unbricking the ThinkPad T60</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>Unbricking the ThinkPad T60</h1>
<aside>This guide will show you how to recover from a bad flash that prevents your ThinkPad T60 from booting.</aside>
</header>
<p>Or go <a href="../index.html">back to main index</a></p>
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#hardware_requirements">Hardware Requirements</a></li>
<li><a href="#software_requirements">Software Requirements</a></li>
<li>
Types of brick:
<ul>
<li><a href="#bucts_brick">Brick type 1: bucts not reset</a></li>
<li><a href="#recovery">Brick type 2: bad rom (or user error), machine won't boot</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="hardware_requirements">Hardware requirements</h1>
<ul>
<li>a 2nd computer (maybe another T60. any computer will do)</li>
<li>external flashrom-compatible programmer (I'm using the "bus pirate")
<li>SOIC-8 IC clip (I'm using the Pomona 5250)</li>
<li>Cable (programmer<>clip) - mine came with the bus pirate.</li>
<li>USB mini a to b cable (for buspirate<>computer connection).</li>
<li>rubbing a***hol (misspelling intentional. halal internet) and thermal compound for changing CPU heatsink (procedure involves removing heatsink)</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="software_requirements">Software requirements</h1>
<ul>
<li>GNU/Linux (on the 2nd computer)</li>
<li>flashrom software (on the 2nd computer): <a href="http://flashrom.org/" target="_blank">http://flashrom.org/</a>
</ul>
<h1 id="bucts_brick">Brick type 1: bucts not reset.</h1>
<p>
You still have Lenovo BIOS, or you had libreboot running and you flashed another ROM; and you had bucts 1 set and
the ROM wasn't dd'd.* or if Lenovo BIOS was present and libreboot wasn't flashed.<br/><br/>
In this case, unbricking is easy: reset BUC.TS to 0 by removing that yellow cmos coin (it's a battery) and putting it back after a minute or two:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0006.JPG" alt="" /><br/><br/>
*Those dd commands should be applied to all newly compiled T60 ROM's (the ROM's in libreboot binary archives already have this applied!):<br/>
dd if=coreboot.rom of=top64k.bin bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x10000] count=64k<br/>
dd if=coreboot.rom bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k | hexdump<br/>
dd if=top64k.bin of=coreboot.rom bs=1 seek=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k conv=notrunc<br/>
(doing this makes the ROM suitable for use when flashing a machine that still has Lenovo BIOS running,
using those instructions: <a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation" target="_blank">http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation</a>.
(it says x60, but instructions for t60 are identical)
</p>
<h1 id="recovery">bad rom (or user error), machine won't boot</h1>
<p>
In this scenario, you compiled a ROM that had an incorrect configuration, or there is an actual bug preventing your machine from
booting. Or, maybe, you set BUC.TS to 0 and shut down after first flash while Lenovo BIOS was running. In any case, your machine is bricked and will not boot at all.
</p>
<p>
"Unbricking" means flashing a known-good (working) ROM. The problem: you can't boot the machine, making this difficult. In this situation, external hardware (see hardware requirements above) is needed which can flash the SPI chip (where libreboot resides).
</p>
<p>
Remove those screws and remove the HDD:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0001.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0002.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Lift off the palm rest:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0003.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Lift up the keyboard, pull it back a bit, flip it over like that and then disconnect it from the board:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0004.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0005.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0006.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Gently wedge both sides loose:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0007.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0008.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove that cable from the position:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0009.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0010.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Now remove that bezel. Remove wifi, nvram battery and speaker connector (also remove 56k modem, on the left of wifi):<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0011.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove those screws:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0012.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect the power jack:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0013.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove nvram battery:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0014.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect cable (for 56k modem) and disconnect the other cable:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0015.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0016.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect speaker cable:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0017.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect the other end of the 56k modem cable:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0018.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Make sure you removed it:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0019.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Unscrew those:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0020.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Make sure you removed those:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0021.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect LCD cable from board:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0022.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove those screws then remove the LCD assembly:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0023.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0024.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0025.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Once again, make sure you removed those:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0026.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove the shielding containing the motherboard, then flip it over. Remove these screws, placing them on a steady
surface in the same layout as they were in before you removed them. Also, you should mark each screw hole after removing the
screw (a permanent marker pen will do), this is so that you have a point of reference when re-assembling the machine:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0027.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0028.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0029.JPG" alt="" />
<img src="t60_dev/0031.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0032.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0033.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
At this point, you should wire up your programmer according to it's documentation. For me, this was (see: "SparkFun cable pin reference"):<br/>
<a href="http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Common_Bus_Pirate_cable_pinouts" target="_blank">http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Common_Bus_Pirate_cable_pinouts</a>.<br/>
Correlating with the following information, I was able to wire up my pirate correctly:<br/>
<a href="http://flashrom.org/Bus_Pirate#Connections" target="_blank">http://flashrom.org/Bus_Pirate#Connections</a><br/>
And by following that advice:<br/>
<a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation#Howto" target="_blank">http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation#Howto</a>.<br/>
(it says X60 but instructions are virtually the same for the T60, with except to physical differences in how to disassemble the machine)<br/>
Note: that last page says to wire up only those 5 pins (see below) like that: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.<br/>
Note: and then, for power it says (on that coreboot.org page) to connect the power jack to the board and connect the
AC adapter (without powering on the board).<br/>
Note: I ignored that advice, and wired up all 8 pins. And it worked.<br/>
Here is the pinout (correlate it with your programmer's documentation):<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0030.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connecting the pomona:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0034.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connect programmer to 2nd computer:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0035.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Programmer has power:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0036.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Now flash the bricked machine using the 2nd computer. in my case I did:<br/>
<b>flashrom -p buspirate_spi:dev=/dev/ttyUSB0 -w bin/t60/libreboot_usqwerty.rom</b><br/>
Note: there are also other ROM images for T60<br/>
Note: this is using buspirate as the programmer, so it is flashing the T60, not the 2nd computer!<br/>
Here's my terminal window on the 2nd computer (also the programmer is active):<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0037.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0038.JPG" alt="" /><br/>
So, you should see the following:<br/>
--
<pre>
flashrom v0.9.5.2-r1517 on Linux 3.2.0-61-generic (i686), built with libpci 3.1.8, GCC 4.6.3, little endian
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
Calibrating delay loop... delay loop is unreliable, trying to continue OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) on buspirate_spi.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... Erase/write done.
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.
</pre>
--<br/>
At the end it says "VERIFIED", which means that the procedure worked. If you see this, it means
that you can put your T60 back together. So let's do that now.
</p>
<p>
Put those screws back:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0047.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Put it back into lower chassis:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0048.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Attach LCD and insert screws (also, attach the lcd cable to the board):<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0049.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Insert those screws:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0050.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
On the CPU (and there is another chip south-east to it, sorry forgot to take pic)
clean off the old thermal paste (rubbing a1ocheal (misspelling intentional. halal internet)) and apply new (Artic Silver 5 is good, others are good too)
you should also clean the heatsink the same way<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0051.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Attach the heatsink and install the screws (also, make sure to install the AC jack as highlighted):<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0052.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Reinstall that upper bezel:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0053.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Do that:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0054.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0055.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-attach modem, wifi, (wwan?), and all necessary cables. Sorry, forgot to take pics. Look at previous removal steps to see where they go back to.
</p>
<p>
Attach keyboard and install nvram battery:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0056.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0057.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Place keyboard and (sorry, forgot to take pics) reinstall the palmrest and insert screws on the underside:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0058.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
It lives!<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0071.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0072.JPG" alt="" /> <img src="t60_dev/0073.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Always stress test ('stress -c 2' and xsensors. below 90C is ok) when replacing cpu paste/heatsink:<br/>
<img src="t60_dev/0074.JPG" alt="" />
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
Copyright © 2014 Francis Rowe, All Rights Reserved.<br/>
See <a href="../license.html">../license.html</a> for license conditions.
</p>
</body>
</html>
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