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T430 BIOS update

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AndyMH
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed May 30, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: Warminster, UK

T430 BIOS update

#1 Post by AndyMH » Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:12 pm

Cruising ebay looking for a cheap T430 to supplement my existing T430 (my daily driver) for use as a test machine and came across this warning on one ad:
Very Important Notice!!

There is a known issue by Lenovo on the internet that by flashing / updating the BIOS using Lenovo's own update software on ANY T430 laptop can cause severe damage to the motherboard (system board). We advise you NOT to update or flash the BIOS as you WILL damage the system board causing the laptop to stop functioning. The outcome will be 5 beeps on start up then a blank screen. There is no way around this issue as of yet apart from replacing the system board itself.

If you decide to carry out this proceedure, we will NOT refund you. You will be doing this at your own risk and we strongly advise you not to do it. It has no impact on the operating of the laptop that you will see any benefits from. You have been warned!
Not that I'm about to update the BIOS on any of the thinkpads I've got. Really??
T430 i7-3632QM Mint 19.0 Cinnamon, T430 Mint 19.0 Cinnamon, T420 Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, T410 dual boot win7/mint 17.3, T60 Mint 19 Mate

RealBlackStuff
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Re: T430 BIOS update

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:59 pm

And if you go into BIOS to switch off the Security chip, the beeping stops.

Please give us the link where you find this saga.
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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AndyMH
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed May 30, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: Warminster, UK

Re: T430 BIOS update

#3 Post by AndyMH » Sun Jul 08, 2018 4:35 pm

Well, I spent at least 30 mins looking thro' the T430 ads on ebay and failed, couldn't find it. There's a lot of them.
T430 i7-3632QM Mint 19.0 Cinnamon, T430 Mint 19.0 Cinnamon, T420 Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, T410 dual boot win7/mint 17.3, T60 Mint 19 Mate

dr_st
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Re: T430 BIOS update

#4 Post by dr_st » Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:52 am

It's a load of bull, end of story.

Any BIOS update has a chance of bricking the laptop if somehow the update locks up / loses power in the middle of the critical flash process. But you really think that there would exist a laptop model out there for which every BIOS update is guaranteed to brick the machine, and no one knows of it except some idiot eBay seller?

Maybe they are trying to sell already bricked laptops and write this horsecrap so that they can later blame the buyer for bricking them? Who knows.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

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