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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<style type="text/css">
@import url('../css/main.css');
</style>
<title>ThinkPad R400: flashing tutorial (BeagleBone Black)</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="pagetop">Flashing the R400 with a BeagleBone Black</h1>
<p>Initial flashing instructions for R400.</p>
<p>
This guide is for those who want libreboot on their ThinkPad R400
while they still have the original Lenovo BIOS present. This guide
can also be followed (adapted) if you brick your R400, to know how
to recover.
</p>
<p>
Before following this section, please make sure to setup your libreboot ROM properly first.
Although ROM images are provided pre-built in libreboot, there are some modifications that
you need to make to the one you chose before flashing. (instructions referenced later in
this guide)
</p>
<p><a href="index.html">Back to main index</a></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="cpu_compatibility">
<h1>A note about CPUs</h1>
<p>
<a href="http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:R400">ThinkWiki</a> has a list of CPUs
for this system. The Core 2 Duo P8400 and P8600 are believed to work in libreboot.
<b>The Core 2 Duo P9400/P9600/T5870/5670 and Celeron M 575/585 are untested!</b>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="switchable_graphics">
<h1>A note about GPUs</h1>
<p>
This guide currently assumes that you have an Intel GPU (non-switchable).
Some T400 have switchable graphics (ATI), which means that you can choose between ATI or Intel
in the <i>BIOS setup</i>. When switching to Intel, is lenovobios not enabling ATI
(where ATI is disabled by default and the system uses the Intel chip), or are they
disabling it (where the system uses the ATI chip by default)?
</p>
<p>
Basically, switchable graphics is untested, but it should be easy to get it working
(if it doesn't already work).
</p>
<h1>CPU paste required</h1>
<p>
See <a href="#paste">#paste</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="flashchips">Flash chips</h1>
<p>
There are two possible flash chip sizes for the R400: 4MiB
(32Mbit) or 8MiB (64Mbit). This can be identified by the type
of flash chip present: 4MiB is SOIC-8 (8 pins), 8MiB
is SOIC-16 (16 pins).
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page.</a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1>Initial BBB setup</h1>
<p>
Refer to <a href="bbb_setup.html">bbb_setup.html</a> for how to
setup the BBB for flashing.
</p>
<p>
The following shows how to connect clip to the BBB (on the P9 header), for SOIC-16 (clip: Pomona 5252):
</p>
<pre>
POMONA 5252 (correlate with the BBB guide)
=== ethernet jack and VGA port ====
NC - - 21
1 - - 17
NC - - NC
NC - - NC
NC - - NC
NC - - NC
18 - - 3.3V PSU RED
22 - - NC - this is pin 1 on the flash chip
=== SATA port ===
<i>This is how you will connect. Numbers refer to pin numbers on the BBB, on the plugs near the DC jack.</i>
</pre>
<p>
The following shows how to connect clip to the BBB (on the P9 header), for SOIC-8 (clip: Pomona 5250):
</p>
<pre>
POMONA 5250 (correlate with the BBB guide)
=== RAM slots ====
18 - - 1
22 - - NC
NC - - 21
3.3V PSU RED - - 17 - this is pin 1 on the flash chip
=== slot where the AC jack is connected ===
</pre>
<h2>
Connect Pomona 5252/5250 to the R400 flash chip, and dump/flash
</h2>
<p>
The following photo shows an R400 flashed using the BBB:<br/>
<img src="images/r400/r400_pomona.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
No disassembly instructions yet, unfortunately. Check videos online or
look at the Hardware Maintenance Manual from Lenovo for this machine.
You will need to completely disassemble the machine, removing the motherboard
from its metal shell.
Connect your 5252/5250 (make sure to get it the right way round).
Then connect the 3.3v PSU wire (red one) and make sure that everything else is connected.
</p>
<p>
Flashrom binaries for ARM (tested on a BBB) are distributed in libreboot_util. Alternatively,
libreboot also distributes flashrom source code which can be built.
</p>
<p>
I did (SSH'd into the BBB):<br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512</b><br/>
In my case, the output was:
</p>
<pre>
flashrom v0.9.7-r1854 on Linux 3.8.13-bone47 (armv7l)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L6405(D)" (8192 kB, SPI) on linux_spi.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L6406E/MX25L6436E" (8192 kB, SPI) on linux_spi.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L6445E/MX25L6473E" (8192 kB, SPI) on linux_spi.
Multiple flash chip definitions match the detected chip(s): "MX25L6405(D)", "MX25L6406E/MX25L6436E", "MX25L6445E/MX25L6473E"
Please specify which chip definition to use with the -c <chipname> option.
</pre>
<p>
This is just to test that it's working. In my case, I had to define which chip to use, like so (in your case
it may be different, depending on what flash chip you have):<br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512 -c "MX25L6405(D)"</b>
</p>
<p>
At this point, you need to create a copy of the original lenovo firmware that is currently flashed.
This is so that you can extract the gbe (gigabit ethernet) and flash descriptor regions for use in libreboot. <b>These
are not blobs, they only contain non-functional data (configuration details, fully readable) which is fully documented in public datasheets.</b>
The descriptor will need to be modified
to disable the ME (also disable AMT) so that you can flash a ROM that excludes it.
</p>
<p>
How to backup factory.rom (change the -c option as neeed, for your flash chip):<br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512 -c "MX25L6405(D)" -r factory.rom</b><br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512 -c "MX25L6405(D)" -r factory1.rom</b><br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512 -c "MX25L6405(D)" -r factory2.rom</b><br/>
Now compare the 3 images:<br/>
# <b>sha512sum factory*.rom</b><br/>
If the hashes match, then just copy one of them (the factory.rom) to a safe place (on a drive connected to another machine, not
the BBB). You will need it later for part of the deblobbing.
</p>
<p>
Information about the descriptor, gbe regions and how the ME was removed can be found in the notes linked at
<a href="../hcl/gm45_remove_me.html">../hcl/gm45_remove_me.html</a>. Libreboot ROM images now include
the 12KiB descriptor+gbe by default, generated using ich9gen;
<b>however, do note that the MAC address in the Gbe region is generic. Follow the instructions at
<a href="../hcl/gm45_remove_me.html#ich9gen">../hcl/gm45_remove_me.html#ich9gen</a> and do what it says to change the MAC address
inside your R400 ROM image, before flashing it.</b>
</p>
<p>
Assuming that your libreboot ROM image is properly setup (modified descriptor plus gbe region included in the ROM),
then you can flash (assuming that the filename is <b>libreboot.rom</b>) for example I had to do:<br/>
# <b>./flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev1.0,spispeed=512 -c "MX25L6405(D)" -w libreboot.rom</b>
</p>
<p>
You might see errors, but if it says <b>Verifying flash... VERIFIED</b> at the end, then it's flashed and should boot.
Test it! (boot your R400)
</p>
<p>
My output when running the command above:
</p>
<pre>
flashrom v0.9.7-r1854 on Linux 3.8.13-bone47 (armv7l)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L6405(D)" (8192 kB, SPI) on linux_spi.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... FAILED at 0x00001000! Expected=0xff, Found=0x00, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x0000ffff: 0xd716
ERASE FAILED!
Reading current flash chip contents... done. Looking for another erase function.
Erase/write done.
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.
</pre>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page.</a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section photos" id="paste">
<h1>Thermal paste (IMPORTANT)</h1>
<p>
Because part of this procedure involved removing the heatsink, you will need to apply new paste.
Arctic Silver 5 is ok. You will also need isopropyl alcohol and an anti-static cloth to clean with.
</p>
<p>
When re-installing the heatsink, you must first clean off all old paste with the alcohol/cloth.
Then apply new paste. AS5 is also much better than the default paste used on these machines.
</p>
<p>
<img src="images/t400/paste.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="wifi">Wifi</h1>
<p>
The T400 typically comes with an Intel wifi chipset, which does not
work without proprietary software. For a list of wifi chipsets that
work without proprietary software, see
<a href="../hcl/index.html#recommended_wifi">../hcl/index.html#recommended_wifi</a>.
</p>
<p>
Some T400 laptops might come with an Atheros chipset, but this is 802.11g only.
</p>
<p>
It is recommended that you install a new wifi chipset. This can only
be done after installing libreboot, because the original firmware has
a whitelist of approved chips, and it will refuse to boot if you
use an 'unauthorized' wifi card.
</p>
<p>
The following photos show an Atheros AR5B95 being installed, to
replace the Intel chip that this T400 came with:<br/>
<img src="images/t400/0012.jpg" alt="" />
<img src="images/t400/ar5b95.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
</div>
<div class="section photos">
<h1 id="memory">Memory</h1>
<p>
You need DDR3 SODIMM PC3-8500 RAM installed, in matching pairs
(speed/size). Non-matching pairs won't work. You can also install a
single module (meaning, one of the slots will be empty) in slot 0.
</p>
<p>
The following photo shows 8GiB (2x4GiB) of RAM installed:<br/>
<img src="images/t400/memory.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<p>
Copyright © 2014, 2015 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk><br/>
This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions.
A copy of the license can be found at <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a>.
</p>
<p>
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a> for more information.
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
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