Thinkpads Forum

I'm not quite sure what I have, but my best guess is that it is a pre-release or prototype X61t in an X60t case. The machine looks new, and it probably was never supposed to be taken out of the labs. There is no FRU sticker on the motherboard, but I can tell it's not an X60t from some chip placements. The model number sticker looks like a real sticker, but the 4-digit model is 814T. The BIOS screen shows a version 0.04 of a module 4RET. A real X61T has a BIOS 4SET. 4RET is not a production BIOS for anything I can find. Lots of things don't work because of the BIOS version, which seems to have lots of bugs. I was hoping to flash the BIOS, which will correct problems or turn it into a brick, a risk I'm willing to take. My problem is none of the BIOS update processes will update a 4RET BIOS with a 4SET BIOS. I have tried updating from windows and from a CD and I get a similar message saying the process cannot find my BIOS image on the CD or in the directory. I cannot use a floppy, because one of the BIOS problems affects floppy usage. Can anyone tell me how to force an update?

I've owned a X60 tablet from the same batch and you can't force a BIOS update to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Well, If I can get a solution, I'll let you knowe.

Unpack .fl1 file (the actual bios) using phcomp.exe, and flash it directly using WinPhlash.

Though there's also .fl2 file which very probably contains embedded controller and it might be wise to flash that first (no reboot). Not very sure about that.

Any Thinkpad BIOS update should always be applied in the same manner:
FIRST: update the BIOS itself
Second: update the Controller Program
Never the other way around.