BIOS Upgrade confusion

[srg4096]

Hi

I've just bought a T40 Thinkpad on ebay, which I absolutely adore and running Ubuntu 9.10 I'm using to type this post. I want to buy a Mini-PCI IBM 11B/G wireless card with an Atheros AR5004G chipset (there's no internal wireless currently fitted) from ebay. The seller's listing recommends having an up to date BIOS (which imho is never bad advice).

Currently this machine has:
BIOS: 2.11 (1RET84WW)
Embedded Controller Firmware: 2.04

I've downloaded the latest BIOS and firmware from lenovo's site, but I'm a bit confused. The BIOS readme says it requires firmware version 3.04 and higher. The lastest firmware says it needs BIOS version 3.13, so I'm in a bit of a chicken and egg problem.

I'm sure you guys has lots of experience with these upgrades, what is the best route to take, seems very confusing?

Thanks
srg

[poshgeordie]

Hi Srg and welcome to the forums.

I'm not sure if you need the bios upgrade to fit that card. Someone else will tell you what to do in this situation.

Could you post the FRU of the card you want to buy or the eBay auction? The recommended ones for this model range is under no 14 of the System Service Parts.

Also I have a number of T40 wi fi cards and will check what they are, and if there's a suitable one I'll sell it to for probably less than on eBay.

[srg4096]

Hi Srg and welcome to the forums.

I'm not sure if you need the bios upgrade to fit that card. Someone else will tell you what to do in this situation.

Could you post the FRU of the card you want to buy or the eBay auction? The recommended ones for this model range is under no 14 of the System Service Parts.

Also I have a number of T40 wi fi cards and will check what they are, and if there's a suitable one I'll sell it to for probably less than on eBay.

Thanks!

The FRU of the card I'm looking at is 91P7416 and it does appear on the page you linked to, at least as one that has a newer replacement to it.

I may still update the BIOS/firmware just for fixes etc.

[Harryc]

The answer to your original question is in black and white on the T40 BIOS page - "- If you need to update the Embedded Controller Program as well as the BIOS, update the BIOS first."
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-50273

[srg4096]

The answer to your original question is in black and white on the T40 BIOS page - "- If you need to update the Embedded Controller Program as well as the BIOS, update the BIOS first."
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-50273

The Readme for the BIOS Update does indeed say that, but the readme for the Embedded Controller Program says "If you need to update the BIOS as well as the Embedded Controller Program, update Embedded Controller Program first."

The two contradict each other. ThinkWiki recommends that I do the ECP first, maybe I should just follow that.

[poshgeordie]

re Bios upgrade - HarryC is right- update the bios and then the embedded controller. ignore the confusing message.

Also PM sent - I have a suitable Atheros card for you.

[srg4096]

re Bios upgrade - HarryC is right- update the bios and then the embedded controller. ignore the confusing message.

Also PM sent - I have a suitable Atheros card for you.

On the BIOS/ECP front, success! It's worked, I have the Intel Pentium Inside Logo on the POST splash screen and it's got hibernating working in ubuntu!