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X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD both bootable

X60/X61 and X60t/X61t Series
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wileE
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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Up and running again

#91 Post by wileE » Thu Dec 11, 2014 10:48 am

The link to your pic is not working anymore.

Maybe you can solve your problem with the fingerprint reader like I did.
http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/182151 ... ost1835063 Large pic warning!
Had to make it flatter when I added a third mPCIe slot.

What are you using the USB 3 for?
You do not need it for the HDMI port. I tested the internal USB 2 from the Ricoh chip more extensively - it has the same speed as the external ports. Which is more than enough bandwidth for a HD video.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Up and running again

#92 Post by flyingfishfinger » Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:16 pm

Ah, fixed link permissions.

I'll give your method with the FPR a try, that might solve the problem. I want that WWAN hack too....argh, can't have all the things.

And, I'm using USB3 for a 2nd hard drive :)

R

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Up and running again

#93 Post by flyingfishfinger » Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:19 pm

UPDATE: Installed webcam in place of BT. Works great! Pics to follow. I'm writing this post on the machine :D

Summary of other working mods:
- SXGA+ screen
- HDMI, works ok (low FPS due to CPU)
- USB3 installed, but disconnected (hot palmrest)
- 2nd SATA (USB3) disconnected (hot palmrest)
- Azurewave AW-CE123H BT + AC
- 2.8Ghz CPU

Today was the first time I closed the case and tried fitting everything together because I want to take it home for the holidays.
Issues remaining:
- The screen bezel bulges slightly along the bottom edge because the camera is fat and I removed the sticky strips
- The keyboard bulges a bit from the ribbon cable to the SSD interfering with the track point square case that sticks out of the bottom (screen closes ok, but I get the red knob impression on the screen). I'll fix this later.

Todo:
- Touch screen (stretch goal, expensive)
- Switches for heat control (one for HDMI and one for USB3)
- Reorganize wiring
- Ventilation holes in palm rest and reroute 2nd fan air (Must do research. Any experience here?). The thing gets hotttttt (notably the M500 SSD seems to get warmer than the M4 I had in the last one)

PS: I've exceeded $500 because I broke lots of things in the process of this project. If nothing is broken and you assume the existence of a working X61 or you get one for $50 or less, it's still under $500. I'll upload the budget later.

Happy Holidays, whatever you might celebrate!

R

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Up and running again

#94 Post by FryPpy » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:40 am

flyingfishfinger wrote: - Azurewave AW-CE123H BT + AC
Did it worked well in WLAN miniPCIe slot?
I have tested BCM94352HMB in T601 and it don't wont to work in WLAN slot, while worked well in WWAN slot. See http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=115847 my topic.

PS
I'll give it (BCM94352HMB) try in my X61.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Up and running again

#95 Post by vavet » Wed Dec 17, 2014 8:03 am

flyingfishfinger wrote:UPDATE: Installed webcam in place of BT. Works great! Pics to follow.
Great job, congratulations.
I did the webcam mod as well. The problem with the driver of the BT connection seems to be related to the particular model of the camera that I was using. It works well with other models.
BTW, which camera did you use eventually?
X61 (T9300, 8gb RAM, 120gb SSD, LED SXGA+, integrated webcam, invisible touchpad, modded battery etc.)

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#96 Post by flyingfishfinger » Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:59 pm

vavet wrote:BTW, which camera did you use eventually?
VPCSA. Fits with almost no trimming, I just had to remove the metal lip. The framerate at 1280x1024 is only 7 though, so if you know of one with a higher res / rate that fits, I'd be happy to know!
FryPpy wrote:Did it worked well in WLAN miniPCIe slot?
I've currently got it in the WWAN slot, I had to tape pin 20 for it to work though. Btw, that's an expensive WWAN card you got there, ($150??). I looked at it but immediately rejected it for cost :D Did you find it cheaper anywhere?

R

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#97 Post by FryPpy » Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:13 pm

flyingfishfinger wrote: I've currently got it in the WWAN slot, I had to tape pin 20 for it to work though. Btw, that's an expensive WWAN card you got there, ($150??). I looked at it but immediately rejected it for cost :D Did you find it cheaper anywhere?
Ok.
Yes this WWAN module (MC7304) is very inexpensive thing:( But i have bought it for $129. And these days currency exchange rates was better;) This seller is still present on ebay search for MC7304 and find. I can post a link (in PM?) if you need it.

PS
This movement was done because my local Cellular Operators added LTE bands and WWAN internet become more astonishing. And i've desidet to give it a try. There is not big assortment of internal LTE miniPCIe modules on market so they are expensive ;( this + prev gen. from Sierra (MC7710) + couple modules from Huawey + couple of modules with intel XMM7160 chipset but they are in M.2 formfactor;)

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#98 Post by vavet » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:17 am

flyingfishfinger wrote:VPCSA. Fits with almost no trimming, I just had to remove the metal lip. The framerate at 1280x1024 is only 7 though, so if you know of one with a higher res / rate that fits, I'd be happy to know!
The only fitting camera with high resolution that I know is the T410/T510/W510. But I had issues connecting it to the BT port in past.
I start to suspect that the power consumed by HD camera is too high for that port.
I had installed the same VPCSA but after few days and restarts It started to have problems with drivers (as I have explained in past). I tried wiring it internally to a usb port on MB and it worked fine. But as I wanted to use the BT port, so I swapped it with another VPC camera of the same size but 640x480 and it worked perfect since than.
X61 (T9300, 8gb RAM, 120gb SSD, LED SXGA+, integrated webcam, invisible touchpad, modded battery etc.)

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#99 Post by flyingfishfinger » Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:23 pm

So far it works fine, identifies as a generic USB2 camera.

Here's a screenshot where I've tried to demonstrate all the current hacks in one. There are a few odd things, like the CPU multiplier not reporting equally between different apps, and the CPU not actually getting to 13x (only 12.5) as far as I can tell. Duh, enabled Dual IDA. I've overvolted using 18K 16K resistor, this still isn't quite stable at 3.46Ghz. Interesting things are pointed out with the red arrows. So far so good...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/5yg ... oard01.jpg

Pics of the HW:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/a6s ... 850046.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/vs6 ... 850047.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/b6c ... 850048.JPG


MOD edit: Picture is too big, tags removed. Please pay attention to the Forum's Rules of the Road, Section 5
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14339


Mod- Sorry, will stick to links.

wileE
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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#100 Post by wileE » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:58 pm

If you need more space for the mods, I found a way to get rid of that useless second fan. Without FAN ERROR.

Pic warning! http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/182970 ... lermeldung

Bridges in the circuit to the main fan didnt do it. But removing the components between the socket and chip U26b, and switching the U99 EEPROM with one from a board that did not have the second fan worked.
More space for putting in stuff that actually works.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#101 Post by flyingfishfinger » Tue Feb 03, 2015 3:09 pm

That's useful, if I only had a mobo without the 2nd fan to harvest the chip off of... :(
I do need the space, because I want to enable booting off of either drive and the only way to do that is have a switch for the SATA ports (connect HDD to mobo and SSD to USB3 or HDD to USB3 and SSD to mobo).
To that end, I'm designing a little PCB to accomplish that, and it should sit where the fan currently is.
Teaser (obeyed image rules this time I hope! Under 50KB):
Image

Summary: Still need to add power switches for USB3 (heat problem), CPU pin- and voltmod (to restore stock state if needed) and install the abovementioned SATA switch.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#102 Post by axur-delmeria » Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:29 am

Still need to add power switches for USB3 (heat problem)
I didn't know USB controllers can get hot. :o
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Almost complete

#103 Post by flyingfishfinger » Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:50 am

It might be the USB3 -> SATA adapter, I'd have to check for sure.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Hacked in 2nd HDD, works

#104 Post by flyingfishfinger » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:12 am

Good evening!
Small update. Finally got some time to work on this again, although I stil haven't had time to produce the abovementioned PCB on the mill at work. I decided to just hardwire in the 2nd HDD to see whether it would work and leave it disconnectable for when I do manage to make the board.
The results are quite nice, I can indeed see & access the HDD. Speeds aren't great, but I don't have a 2.5" SSD to test with so I won't report that until I do such a test.
The current setup is that I have a regular HDD in the normal place, but it's wired to a USB3 -> SATA adapter which in turn is wired to the USB3 controller in a mini PCIe slot. This means I can't boot from it just yet, but hopefully I'll take care of that limitation soon too.

Pictures to follow once I pop the keyboard off tomorrow, I'm writing this post on the machine! :banana:

Next step is to add a power switch to the USB 3 card, the palm rest is getting pretty toasty just about now.
Sorry for the delays on this project, startup jobs (real life) can be a little time consuming...

R

PS: Unrelated observation is that the overclock / overvolt makes the machine quite toasty. I need to add a switch to turn off the FSB overclock so I can revert to factory conditions and hopefully cooler temperatures.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Hacked in 2nd HDD, works

#105 Post by E350 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:24 am

flyingfishfinger and others: This is slightly off topic, but I am contemplating doing some soldering on circuits boards. What do you think of this soldering station?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BR ... PDKIKX0DER

Edit: Or this one:

http://www.amazon.com/X-TRONIC-9020-XTS ... op?ie=UTF8

Is there another soldering station which you prefer for the work you are doing on your X61?
Last edited by E350 on Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Hacked in 2nd HDD, works

#106 Post by flyingfishfinger » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:56 am

Weller is a good brand, easy to get different tips. Temperature control is a must, so you're doing well there. I'd say this is a good station, provided you pick up a selection of tips depending on what you want to do. Flux / remover / braid / suction couldn't hurt either.

R

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Hacked in 2nd HDD, works

#107 Post by portsample » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:19 pm

Wow- great thread. I just picked up an X61 for travelling and and will likely invest in 8GB RAM, as well as consider the SXGA+ mod.
Question: Has any one looked into 3d printing a fat X61 screen bezel that might allow X61t screens to be used w/the glass in place?
Best regards.
T61, 14.1", X9000 2.8ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 15.1/Win8
(2) T61, 14.1", T9500 2.6ghz, Intel GM965, 4gb RAM, 250gb SSD, openSuse 15.1/Win8 (spares)

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Hacked in 2nd HDD, works

#108 Post by flyingfishfinger » Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:32 pm

Things (kind of) work!
Here's a pic of the new wiring without switches, which works:
http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view& ... U15Y3psU1k
Here's one of the drives both being visible (booting from regular HDD, the two other drives are partitions on the SSD):
http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view& ... klrdllyOFU
Here's one of the switch board I made. Traces are length matched, but half of it doesn't work. I'm not sure why yet, but any time I plug in the SSD, nothing else works.
http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view& ... m81ZVVNSkU

...hope the links work.
Updates to come as I figure out why it doesn't work, but the project seems like it's getting close to done!

R

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#109 Post by E350 » Sat Mar 28, 2015 8:26 am

Wow! Little shrink tubing. Four little white plugs. What chips are they attached to and what do they do.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#110 Post by x61s-1701 » Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:46 am

Just bought a mini-pci-e card with 2 sata-ports für one of my x61:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/300992178400?_tr ... EBIDX%3AIT
Bios claims, the card is not initialized, demands pressing ESC.
Any idea who to get unattended boot?

(Also wanted to use it in a Motion LE-1700 with lacks sata, got only ZIF-pata with max of 80 mb/s, my ssd offers
much more)

Any helping idea ?

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#111 Post by flyingfishfinger » Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:57 pm

@E350:
No chips, just switching the SATA data lines between the two ports. The SSD seems sensitive to trace length or noise though, it doesn't like the board.

@x61s-1701:
Yes, you need a whitelisted BIOS, look for Middleton's one. You won't be able to boot FROM a HDD connected to that card though.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#112 Post by x61s-1701 » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:54 am

@flyingfishfinger:
Just installed Middleton-BIOS. Booting is not necessary, the X61 should be a server with two added SATA-drives.
I didn´t find any BIOS setting for bypassing ESC-message. Did you?

AND: great work !

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#113 Post by E350 » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:45 pm

Thank you.
Tangent Alert: I am saving up pennies for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181284450351

And I wonder if I can weld inert abs plastics with the hot air tip...

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#114 Post by Qing Dao » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:30 pm

E350 wrote:Thank you.
Tangent Alert: I am saving up pennies for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181284450351

And I wonder if I can weld inert abs plastics with the hot air tip...
Mine is almost like that one, but just digital hot air and soldering without the power supply. This is almost identical to the one I have, just the color scheme is different and mine has the better hot air part with the fan integrated into the handle that the one you want has: http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-TRONIC-4000-S ... 086wt_1119 It has the exact same hot air parts. It can't really weld plastic at all. I haven't tried ABS, but I have tried a couple of other thermoplastics. The surfaces exposed most to the hot air are going to start melting away before the seam between the two pieces melts together. The soldering iron works for that though.

Also after I bought mine, I went searching for reviews about these cheap Chinese soldering stations. People say they seem to break easily. I heard that the temperature probe inside the soldering iron doesn't make good contact. I agree. At full temperature, my soldering iron melted, so I bought two more. The temperature usually seems to read correctly, but sometimes the iron seems too hot or too cold. The unit seems a little on the cheap side on the outside, but still quality. However, if you open it up, things look pretty cheapo. It is mostly a big empty box and what is there doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. People have said that it will work fine but inevitably break some time down the road, requiring repair or replacement. Here in China the entire unit I bought with lots of extras was only $50 shipped, and spare whole soldering irons only about $5, so it isn't a big deal if there are problems. But at those Ebay prices you might want to consider looking for something else and not just a 3-in-1 unit. A lot of people seem to recommend going for separate units for each function that you want. I would do the same if this one breaks and I need to buy new.
Four 15" T61 Frankenpads collecting dust and one X62 that sees no use, but X201 and X230 in service.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#115 Post by E350 » Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:09 pm

Qing Dao: Thank you for your detailed reply. Now that you mention it, I usually avoid all types of "combo" tools. So what you say makes complete sense to me. And thank you for describing your experience welding plastic with the hot air and the soldering tip. I will look for single function units.

(Based on your respective user names, I would suggest that you and RBS get together for a beer someday... For some reason, my tastes have migrated from Foster's Green Can Ale to Heineken recently. Maybe it is Spring/Summer. Guiness, the Real Black Stuff, is more of a desert than a beer for me these days.)

Cheers!

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#116 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Apr 27, 2015 3:13 pm

E350 wrote:Guiness, the Real Black Stuff, is more of a desert than a beer for me these days.)
No wonder you have such problems, real Guinness is spelled with two letters n.
Desert with one letter s is sandy, hot and makes you thirsty. So why not have a Guinness?
Dessert with two letters s usually makes you ask for a second. So why not have another Guinness? :beer:
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD kind of works.

#117 Post by E350 » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:23 pm

RBS, thank you for your corrections. I would toast you but the fridge is bear...

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Re: X61 - Proposed hacks under $500: Dual HDD/SSD both bootable

#118 Post by flyingfishfinger » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:48 pm

Update: I found a way to make both HDDs bootable! Well, at least kind of.
Elmar of PloP Boot Manager has a nice tool called plopkexec (here) which is a kernel that can detect all the different types of hardware and so can see my 2nd HDD, then chainload another Unix kernel. It implements a subset of syslinux features, but can't boot Windows (COM32 and and MEMDISK don't work).
I added it as a Grub entry to my SSD install and can boot another instance of Unix on the other HDD. Very nice!

He says he's going to rewrite his bootloader to support all this OOTB, but that's not supposed to happen for some time so I think this is the best I can do for now. Still, somewhat bootable mPCIe cards are a step in the right direction!

R

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