I've flashed my T23 BIOS to the latest 1.20 (1AET64WW) version. It supports the latest WAKEonLAN function updates......

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-39366

Most interesting! Why would IBM release a new BIOS version more than two years after the previous one?

I thought they discontinued this batch for long time ago and would be the last one ever seen by my T23 two years ago. Anyway, they produce a new BIOS version.......

Strange

I did this BIOS and embedded controller update on my T23 (2647-4MU /win XP sp2) and it seems to have fried my battery. Before updating the bios and according to the battery Maximiser software. My battery had about 130 cycles and would run for about two hours.

I updated from an older version (1.12) and followed all the instructions but now my battery runs for about 5 mins and the system shuts down with no warning. The battery status led flashes constantly and neither windows power management or Battery Maximiser pick up the battery except for the AC or battery power indicator No percentage or battery info .

anyone on the board have any suggestions or experienced this before?

sorry, double post

Michael_S, I had a similar problem with a T21 that I used to own, when I updated the BIOS to the latest version. It was solved by going back to an older version. So, you should try flashing your T23's BIOS with version 1.18.

Wow, that was fast!

I'll give it a shot.

Thanks

I just wanted to add that I updated my BIOS on my T22 this past weekend to vers 1.12 and when I rebooted into Windows my battery power icon was flashing yellow constantly and my Battery Maximizer icon showed low battery. I took the system down, took out my battery for 2 minutes, cleaned off the terminal pins and re-installed the battery. Booted the computer and the battery icon was green with no flashing and my battery maximiser showed 100% charge. Did you try taking out and re-installing the battery first. It can't be a co-incidence that this happens after a BIOS update. good luck

Has anyone else tried this new BIOS version?
I am a bit fanatical when it comes to having the latest and greatest BIOS/Firmware versions, but I'm just not sure how the "WakeOnLAN function" will benefit me, not to mention the battery issue that Michael_S had...

Running on it with absolutely no problems.
I had to downgrade the BIOS for certain testing two days ago, then re-upgraded. No problems at all. Not that I use the Wake-on-LAN, but having a little bit of comfort knowing if something happens, at least I won't start by upgrading the BIOS/EC firmware.

My battery status were the same before and after the upgrades. Showing 38 charge cycles on a battery made in late 2005 (yeah, I am lucky). There's also no decrease on battery performance at my end.

HTH, regards.

What practical use is WakeOnLAN?

For a home user? None, I think.

For a business user? Say you leave your laptop plugged in to company's intranet before leaving for the day, as per the company's IT personnel's request, because IT decided to upgrade a certain thing or rollout a company software or a patch. A "magic packet" is sent and the ThinkPad wakes up, the admin does his/her job, and puts the machine back to sleep.

Sorry to hear that you fried your battery Michael_S. It works fine with me......perhaps, could that be a coincidence hardware fault during the BIOS update?

I've noticed this before so it's not a coincidence. I'm guessing it's because there is a large drain on the battery during a BIOS flash. I had the same thing happen when flashing a T20 which drained the battery from green to a flashing yellow, luckily just after the BIOS flash when the screen was reset to full brightness. A good battery will sail through this process without problems but beware of flashing the BIOS with an old battery. Heed the warning about having a fully charged battery plus A/C on.
Cheers

I've been running 1.2 without any problems.

Tried the BIOS downgrade to 1.18. the software wouldn't execute Gave me a low battery warning. I 'll try cleaning the contacts later. and start shopping for a battery as well.

What exactly is a flash?

In this context it means to re-program the laptop's non-volatile memory (aka, firmware), specifically the BIOS and/or the Embedded Controller.

"Flash" also refers to the type of memory technology that stores this kind of program or data. Although I'm not sure if the T23 uses flash memory or EEPROM (Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read-Only Memory), which is an earlier incarnation of flash.

Is there any way to flash the BIOS without windows?

Yes, I believe that's the easier method. You create a bootable floppy disk and run the update program from there. I've only done it a couple of times but they went without any problems. Except for a loud beep when it was done .

edit: Ah, I see.. the Diskette version is buried in the page that was referenced. Here it is:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-39362

I ended up just cabextract'ing the floppy image from the .exe file (thanks ThinkWiki!). Created a ISO image, booted, ran the update, and DONE! Took all of about 5 minutes (INCLUDING the time to burn the CD).

EDIT: BTW, it turns out this update resolved an annoying boot error I was getting. Never effected functionality, and it always flashed too fast for me to read, but now it is no longer there on boot.

Rather than start a new thread I thought I might as well tag onto this one. I've been running my T23 for about 5 years (bought second-hand) on a measly 256K RAM. Finally bit the bullet and shelled out for new RAM and now have 1MB installed with consequent speed upgrade.

However, since the installation I've been getting a too brief to read BSOD, followed by the black screen with choices. Selecting "Start Windows normally" has always worked so far. But obviously I'm concerned that one day it won't!

Old BIOS seemed a likely reason - it's not something I've ever dealt with before - and when I checked it appears that it hasn't actually been updated since first installation! In Registry Editor it shows up as:

Having looked at: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... .html#info there seem to have been quite a few (!) versions since. I also get the impression I'll have to update the Embedded Controller Program: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-40022

One point to mention is that the original OS was wiped by the vendor and replaced with a genuine copy of XP Pro. It's fully updated to SP3 and passes the WGA tests, but of course this means that the ThinkPad button doesn't work - would that make any difference regarding updating BIOS?

Any help, advice, warnings etc gratefully received!

I probably have had close to 60 T23 machines , every one of which has been updated to BIOS 1.20 and ECP 1.06a.
Never a single problem with any of them due to either update.
Make sure to do the BIOS first. I always used floppies to do these updates.
The functionality of the ThinkPad button is partly depending on there being a recovery partition on the hard disk.
If missing, this button is more or less obsolete.
Also, there's no reason to have that hidden partition: it contains an ancient version of Windows, without any of the Service Packs or updates, and most drivers are out of date. Obsolete/useless in other words.

Go to Start/Control Panel/System/Advanced tab/Startup and Recovery "settings".
UNtick "Automatically restart" there.
It will stop at a BSOD so you can read the message.

Given that data, I'd verify that the 'new' memory is actually functioning correctly. Download a copy of memtest86+ and boot the system with this diagnostic and let it run for at least three complete passes.

ref: http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

P.S. Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Vitesse, in addition to RBS's advice on disabling the auto restart, the link below is for a website that helps explain the BSOD error messages.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Thanks for the advice so far. The BSOD messages seem totally random and as far as I can tell I never get the same one twice! There did seem to be a problem with my scanner driver, but disabling that hasn't cured it, so I'm just plodding on and will update the BIOS this weekend. Another suspect was Windows Security Essentials, which twice reset itself back to a date in February and lost all its updates. I've now uninstalled that.

One more question: should this be done in Windows Safe Mode or in normal mode? In the past I've found it easier to do some Windows updates which refused to install by downloading them manually in Firefox and then installing them in Safe Mode.

You might also want to check the Windows Event Logs to see if they might give an indication of an on-going problem.



If you are referring to RBS's suggestion of the BIOS update, I would recommend the floppy version as well. The floppy version will update the BIOS in a pure DOS environment so there is no worry about a Windows problem corrupting the BIOS due to a failed install.

Floppy version isn't an option as I don't have a floppy drive So, any opinions on Safe Mode? Better, worse, no diff?

I also think I may have solved the BSOD problem after removing MSE. Rather than going back to AVG, which I always used but dropped when it got too bloated (still only had 256K RAM then!) I decided to try Comodo. Initial scan identified an "unknown malware" infection missed by both MSE and SuperAntiSpyware and also sandboxed a freeware desktop wallpaper switcher I've been using as suspicious. I've uninstalled the switcher using Revo and quarantined the infection. I got fed up waiting for the scan to finish once it hit three and a half hours and went to bed, leaving it running. This morning, after the quarantine and removal, on two restarts - no BSOD! However, I'll wait and see if it will start from cold tomorrow as I do a weekly disk and registry clean and defrag on Saturday nights ...

Well you could try Safe Mode with Command Prompt and see what happens. Otherwise try creating a DOS boot CD with the BIOS update and run the update from the command prompt.