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Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

X230-X280, X390 Series
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hamish
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#271 Post by hamish » Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:51 am

nitrocaster wrote:
hamish wrote:Also, the recording of the talk is now online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzmm87oVQ6c
Why unlisted?
I think that the conference automation does it that way so that a human can verify that the video is all working before making it fully public.

mcdaitus
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#272 Post by mcdaitus » Mon Jan 30, 2017 4:18 pm

Hello everybody i´m new here, i hope you can help me with a trouble, i own a refurbished x230t that works fine, i bought a replacement battery and i have the issue of battery check, i tried to follow the instructions to build the img to flash the EC but something has gone wrong and the process stop, here is an image :

http://es.tinypic.com/r/2yv436t/9

i´m running fw 2.52, could you help me to finish the procedure, or send me the .img file patched?

thank you very much!!!
:D :D :D

hamish
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#273 Post by hamish » Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:54 am

emeraldgirl08 wrote:
hamish wrote: There is indeed - you just need to rename the patches to apply the battery patch and not apply the keyboard patches.
Not too confident about executing this procedure! If anyone could help me I would appreciate it through PM. I rely heavily on my X230 and my battery charge is ~12% TIA.
I have written some more instructions and added some helper scripts to do the patch enabling/disabling.

Have a look at the docs/CONFIG.txt file in the repo and see if that helps you.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#274 Post by hamish » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:12 am

mcdaitus wrote:i tried to follow the instructions to build the img to flash the EC but something has gone wrong and the process stop, here is an image :

http://es.tinypic.com/r/2yv436t/9

i´m running fw 2.52, could you help me to finish the procedure, or send me the .img file patched?

thank you very much!!!
:D :D :D
For a start, the BIOS version 2.52 (GCET92WW) uses a much older EC version (1.10 GCHT21WW) than the repo has patches for - so, you might find that it has issues once you do install it. If you can upgrade to at least BIOS version 2.58 (GCET98WW) then that is the oldest version that is using the same EC version (1.14 GCHT25WW) as these patches.

The actual problem are having with your build appears to be due to you using a different version of "dd" than expected. I can see you are using Ubuntu - what version is it? Also, can you tell me what version of dd you have? ("dd --version" should show that)

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#275 Post by mcdaitus » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:31 am

I´m using ubuntu 14,04, i´ll look for de dd version this evening (i´m not near my computer now), could you tell me which one is the expected version?
I could upgrade to 2,60 or the last versión, wich one is better?
thank you very much!!!

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#276 Post by mcdaitus » Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:31 am

My dd version is: dd(coreutils) 8.13 and the bios has been updated to 2.64 and ECP in 1.14

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#277 Post by mcdaitus » Wed Feb 01, 2017 5:51 pm

finally i could do it instaling another linux ver., thank you very much!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#278 Post by Wolfman_Jack » Sun Feb 19, 2017 12:57 am

I just did this swap on my T430s using the transplant-keyboard-bezel-from-t420s method.

I found that the cable for the touchpad wasn't long enough to reach the connector on the motherboard and also wasn't properly aligned.

I peeled back the black adhesive covering on the underside of the touchpad and found I could get some extra cable length by untaping the two 90-degree folds in the cable and just doing a single, less elegant ~180 degree fold.

I was just wondering if this will reduce the lifetime of the cable or cause me some other problem. Did anyone else encounter this and solve it in a different way?
Last edited by Wolfman_Jack on Sun Feb 19, 2017 12:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#279 Post by dr_st » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:10 am

Generally, it depends on the stress on the cable, which is something you can assess by close inspection. If the stress is not worse than it was, then it's probably fine.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#280 Post by Greddy7 » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:07 pm

Hello,

the thinklight also working with the classic keyboard (FN + Page-UP) ?

greets, Peter

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#281 Post by seasonshu » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:21 pm

Greddy7 wrote:the thinklight also working with the classic keyboard (FN + Page-UP) ?
Yes, it does!

EDIT: I have an X230.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#282 Post by MarzEz » Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:00 pm

hhhd1 wrote:Hi there, i am looking for patches for t530 and t430 for doing the battery check removal only.
I'm just wondering if there's been any follow-up on this.
I've got a T530 that I rely on for Uni work, and a genuine Lenovo extended capacity battery, almost brand new. The ECC fails and while I can use it it won't charge.

The guide seems relatively straightforward but I can't find anything to say it's been tested, and bricking my laptop is a pretty big risk.
Has anyone had success with a T530 yet?

Going on the Git repository ( https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec ) the T530 just says "Should be the same as the W530", and there's no apparent verification of the W530 working.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#283 Post by Tasurinchi » Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:19 am

Did somebody attempt to flash an L530?

If not, will be difficult to get the same BIOS mod for this model?
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#284 Post by hamish » Mon Mar 06, 2017 4:21 am

MarzEz wrote: Has anyone had success with a T530 yet?

Going on the Git repository ( https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec ) the T530 just says "Should be the same as the W530", and there's no apparent verification of the W530 working.
The T530 and the W530 use byte-for-byte the exact same Embedded controller code - which is why they "should be the same". Someone has patched the keyboard on a W530, but not the battery. Based on the double-checks I needed to do to port the battery patch, I have confidence that it will work - but I cannot say it is "tested" until someone has actually proven that :-S

What do you mean "The ECC fails"?

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#285 Post by hamish » Mon Mar 06, 2017 4:23 am

Tasurinchi wrote:Did somebody attempt to flash an L530?

If not, will be difficult to get the same BIOS mod for this model?
I've had a quick look at the BIOS update for the L530, and unfortunately, this laptop doesnt use the same updating methods - so it is not possible to simply port this over to that laptop. I was not able to find the Embedded Controller firmware image in the BIOS update, so I couldnt tell if it even looked possible to patch the firmware the same way.

Sorry :-(

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#286 Post by Tasurinchi » Mon Mar 06, 2017 6:38 am

I thought so, the L-Series is very on the verge of being a non-ThinkPad :twisted:
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#287 Post by MarzEz » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:43 pm

hamish wrote:What do you mean "The ECC fails"?
Fails as in the battery fails the call/response and I get the classic error message about "The battery is the incorrect type and will not charge".

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#288 Post by MarzEz » Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:11 am

I bit the bullet and decided to go for the firmware flash, and I'm glad to say that we have success!
I now have a 93WH dock battery charging happily alongside my 56WH battery.
Feel free to mark the T530 battery patch as working.
And many thanks for the clear, easy-to-follow instructions.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#289 Post by hamish » Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:32 am

MarzEz wrote:Feel free to mark the T530 battery patch as working.
Thanks for the report, I've marked the patch as tested.

Glad you found it all straight forward.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#290 Post by mr.rhtuner » Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:27 pm

harryK wrote:
hamish wrote:To all those who were looking for fixes for the battery validation, I have ported the patches and updated the repository with them. Since I am unable to test any batteries, I have left these patches disabled for now, but all the data is there if anyone wants to test.
I can confirm it working. I tried an X220 29+ battery in my X230. There's no error message at POST and the battery charges fine :-)

Guess this makes getting an X230 motherboard an even more viable option for those wanting to upgrade their X220

Thank you very much hamish

I know this may be an older post...but I can't seem to figure out how to apply the patch?

This is what everybody is applying for the battery hack?

https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkp ... .patch.OFF

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#291 Post by hamish » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:39 pm

mr.rhtuner wrote:
I know this may be an older post...but I can't seem to figure out how to apply the patch?
You should probably start with https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkp ... ter/README
and the additional instructions for enabling just the battery patch are in https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkp ... CONFIG.txt

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#292 Post by mr.rhtuner » Wed Mar 15, 2017 12:55 pm

double post because site issues
Last edited by mr.rhtuner on Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#293 Post by mr.rhtuner » Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:03 pm

hamish wrote:
emeraldgirl08 wrote:
Not too confident about executing this procedure! If anyone could help me I would appreciate it through PM. I rely heavily on my X230 and my battery charge is ~12% TIA.
I have written some more instructions and added some helper scripts to do the patch enabling/disabling.

Have a look at the docs/CONFIG.txt file in the repo and see if that helps you.

Hello Hamish,
Looking at your reply to me earlier, I've been trying to decipher the README and the config.txt documents.

My X230, I am happy with the keyboard so I just want to do the battery validation removal. Using the README Guide:
https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkp ... ter/README

I am able to follow the instructions but I am unsure what I need to modify to run the make patch_disable_battery clean.

Being in the ./Thinkpad-EC folder, I tried to run: make patch_disable_battery clean

Username@x230Thinkpad:~/thinkpad-ec$ make patch_disable_battery clean
for i in *.img.d; do mv $i/006_battery_validate.patch $i/006_battery_validate.patch.OFF; done
mv: cannot stat 't430.G1HT34WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 't430.G1HT35WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 't430s.G7HT39WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 't530.G4HT39WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 'w530.G4HT39WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 'x230.G2HT35WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat 'x230t.GCHT25WW.img.d/006_battery_validate.patch': No such file or directory
Makefile:128: recipe for target 'patch_disable_battery' failed
make: *** [patch_disable_battery] Error 1
Username@x230Thinkpad:~/thinkpad-ec$


Sorry for all this. I'm fairly new to reading stuff on github/lab and trying to figure out how to apply this patch.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#294 Post by mr.rhtuner » Thu Mar 16, 2017 8:10 pm

Small update... a reddit user was able to break this down easy for me to understand. Thankfully he told me to add .OFF to the patches I didn't want and remove the .OFF from the battery validation.

My X230 is now charging a non-Lenovo battery.

Thank you to all those who created this.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#295 Post by hamish » Thu Mar 16, 2017 8:21 pm

mr.rhtuner wrote:Small update... a reddit user was able to break this down easy for me to understand. Thankfully he told me to add .OFF to the patches I didn't want and remove the .OFF from the battery validation.

My X230 is now charging a non-Lenovo battery.

Thank you to all those who created this.
I did actually try to explain it all yesterday - but the website instability appears to have eaten my message. It sounds like the reddit user is going by old details as the "make" commands you were using are simply an automated method of doing what he described (you had inverted the command)

Glad to hear you got it working.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#296 Post by emeraldgirl08 » Sat Mar 18, 2017 6:54 pm

hamish wrote:
I have written some more instructions and added some helper scripts to do the patch enabling/disabling.

Have a look at the docs/CONFIG.txt file in the repo and see if that helps you.
Just wanted to drop by and thank you Hamish! With the help of a Redditor I was able to disable battery validation on my X230. I reinstalled Lenovo Power Manager and can now set charging thresholds once again. :)
Thinkpad T470 | iPhone XR | mATX Comet Lake Desktop | Hackintosh Monterey | Lenovo L24q-30 Monitor

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#297 Post by hamish » Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:14 pm

emeraldgirl08 wrote:
Just wanted to drop by and thank you Hamish! With the help of a Redditor I was able to disable battery validation on my X230. I reinstalled Lenovo Power Manager and can now set charging thresholds once again. :)
Hey, thats great news!

Now that you have done the patching - if you had any thoughts on how the instructions could be improved, let me know.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#298 Post by coqui » Sun May 21, 2017 11:48 am

You can add the T530 to the list of "verified keyboard swap works" machines.

Mechanically, I used a 45N2071 keyboard (slightly modified with a Dremel to fit the original palmrest). I did not insulate keyboard connector pads 27-29: I couldn't figure out how to detach the cable from the board connector without destroying it in the process. It looked like I'd have to remove the long bar with the mute and power switch to be able to guarantee that I could replace the cable.

I made both an iso and an img file (I'm sort of a belt-and-suspenders guy when it comes to messing with the BIOS). The img file booted, but wouldn't run from a USB stick ("The system program file is not correct for this system."), but the CD-ROM's iso booted and ran to completion. I love having NumLk again -- it's been many years since I've been able to use the ALT-nnn DOS characters. That's enough to make up for the loss of backlit keys.

A couple of function keys don't do exactly what the table says they should:

Fn+F6 (Camera/Audio) gives me the message, "This key combination opens the Lenovo Settings program. You do not have the Lenovo Settings program installed on your computer. To launch the program using this key combination, please install the program first." I guess this was a factory cruft installation, and the program vanished with a lot of others when I upgraded to Win10. Does anyone know if "Lenovo Settings" is the name of the program that handles Camera and Audio functions on x220's? Apparently I can download v3.0.x from the Microsoft Store, but so many of Lenovo's utilities are now much too tied to MS to be of real value.

Fn+F8 (Mouse Switch) does nothing as far as I can tell. There is no equivalent on the original T530 keyboard, and both the touchpad and Trackpoint are active all the time with both the old and new keyboards.

Thanks to everyone who worked to make this swap possible. It's great that a "real" keyboard fits the T530, and even greater that all the important keys work.

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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#299 Post by Tasurinchi » Wed May 31, 2017 3:00 pm

Just did another mod, this time to a W530, I can confirm everything works fine.

A small thing though (just being picky :wink: ), after entering the "make list_laptops" command I see a small typo in the results list:
patched.t430.img - for patching Thinkpad T430
patched.t430s.img - for patching Thinkpad T430s
patched.t530.img - for patching Thinkpad T530
patched.t530i.img - for patching Thinkpad T530i
patched.w530.img - for patching Thinkpad W430
patched.x230.img - for patching Thinkpad X230
patched.x230t.img - for patching Thinkpad X230t
Thanks again for all your efforts guys!
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Re: Installing classic keyboard into X230 with EC firmware mod

#300 Post by derball2008 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 3:51 pm

Will I be able to update the BIOS (for security reasons) without losing the patch? More specifically, if the EC firmware version wasn't updated, will it still be updated during the update process of the BIOS/ UEFI?

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