Some news with 2010 error?

[lukee]

Hi,
I am trying to live with famous 2010 error for about one year now. I am not reading new threads here so often, I want to know if here is something new about solving this 2010 error? Error message itself before boot is not problem for me, but that "BEEP" is very uncomfortable. So I have few questions prepared here:

- is here any more comfortable solution for non-ThinkPad harddisks already?
- has somebody source code of T43/p BIOS (except IBM), so he can eliminate error msg and beep?
- has somebody source code of T43/p BIOS (except IBM), so he can add any HDD model to "supported list"?
- has somebody try to contact IBM to release newer version of BIOS with complete disabling this message and beep in settings?

Why I am asking - T43/p's are almost old models and IBM has zero profit now on them, doesn't matter for them if user will buy another HDD to old ThinkPad than Hitachi or Fujitsu. Also companies are excluding these models quickly and swapping them for a newer models. So why IBM is still so stubborn and doesn't allow 'normal work' for user's of older ThinkPads?

Note: I am owner of Samsung SpinPoint M5 (HM160HC), works perfectly, unload immediate command is also supported.

[Harryc]

Yes Lenovo was contacted, in fact we had a petition sent to them with several hundred signatures on it. The BIOS engineer told us no way. There is still no fix ...

[lukee]

No way due to technical issues, or no way due to marketing matters? Ok let me guess, the second one thing?

[Harryc]

Without the special firmware that is down-loadable from Lenovo for approved hard drives, there is a potential for data loss under certain conditions. So in effect by using an unapproved drive in a T43 without this special firmware the user is risking data loss. I was provided a very detailed explanation for why this is so, and also for why the other items in our list cannot be done. That detail was convincing, and most of it is proprietary, so I cannot discuss it here. One thing I can share is that the firmware itself was provided by the hard drive manufacturers themselves, and not Lenovo. So, Lenovo can't very well provide firmware for newer model drives (or older for that matter) that they don't make firmware for. At the time the T43 was being rolled out and sold en-mass, the hard drive manufacturers were obviously motivated to provide firmware to sell drives, but now that the T43 is out of production ... the rest is simple economics.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 6&start=90

[irus]

You are not authorised to read this forum.

[Harryc]

Ah, I had that thread tucked away in a special place. I'll put it out where you can read it. It will stay locked though. It's a bother to leave out because inevitably I'll still get requests to sign the petition.

[killer]

IMO, Harryc has answered this question in full and there should be no doubt about his reply. I was a petitioner, however, I completely understand the answer supplied. That is the end of it as far as I am concerned.

Harryc spent a lot of time on this so please accept his findings.

[Harryc]

Thanks Killer

[Tasurinchi]

Come on... I know the beep it's annoying, but it's a small price to pay considering you can put much bigger/faster drives in the T43. I have a WD320GB in my T43p and I normally put the speaker to "mute" so the beep won't even bother me when my TP boots.

Another option is to hibernate the notebook instead of shutting down.

My 0.02 cents...

[Nick Y]

wrt the beep, If you look at the Utility Work Area forum, I posted a small piece of code to stop the beep, using autohotkey ( Post subject: Resolving T43 with New HD and Two Beeps). Basically when you shutdown, sleep or hibernate it turns off the sound control; then when you start up again it restores the sound setting. (Actually, from hibernate, to restore the sound setting just move your finger across the touch pad or press any key; the s/w needs to detect any simple action. Also, if you crash and have to do a power button emergency shutdown, then obviously you will get the beeps as the code wont have performed its sound off run. Hopefully, that will be very infrequently.)

I listed the code so that a) anyone can work out what it is doing and b) you can create a standalone app yourself with autohotkey without adding any nasties, which is why I have not posted the standalone app.

Hope this helps, but pm me if you need any assistance.

[lukee]

Thanks guys for replies. I will try 'Nick Y's' solution. It was in my mind, that if here is source code of embedded controler from T4x, might be it's here also of BIOS. My mistake. Thanks.

[BeeJayEmm]

Without the special firmware that is down-loadable from Lenovo for approved hard drives, there is a potential for data loss under certain conditions. So in effect by using an unapproved drive in a T43 without this special firmware the user is risking data loss.

Harry, did your contacts happen to elucidate just exactly what those conditions are and the likelihood of encountering them in real-world use? No one would willingly risk data loss, yet your statement appears to not jibe with the multiple posts I have read here that others use non-approved drives in T43/R52 models without apparent ill effect. I have not yet needed to swap my drive but, if I must and no "approved" drives are available, I would like to make an informed decision, if possible.

[Harryc]

No comment. I was given a reason but was told it is Lenovo Proprietary information.

[irus]

Thanks Harry

[Bruce Guttman]

...
Harry, did your contacts happen to elucidate just exactly what those conditions are and the likelihood of encountering them in real-world use? No one would willingly risk data loss, yet your statement appears to not jibe with the multiple posts I have read here that others use non-approved drives in T43/R52 models without apparent ill effect. I have not yet needed to swap my drive but, if I must and no "approved" drives are available, I would like to make an informed decision, if possible.

I put a 100 Gig [non-approved] drive in my T-43 and except for the 2010 error (hit Esc on boot), it's been working flawlessly.

[Tasurinchi]

The BIOS can be configured in a way that it will continue automatically, no need even to hit "ESC"

[lukee]

Hello, I have chance to buy Seagate ST9120821A. ThinkWiki says, that this drive works out of the box (no 2010 error), but Lenovo's ISO with HD FW upgrade not contains FW for this model. Can somebody from here confirm, that this drive works without problems?

Edit: I read many topics here related with this drive and some users reported, that this HDD still providing 2010 error (oh crap, I already placed a bid in auction) however these topics are almost 5 years old. I am using newest BIOS & EC FW in my 2668-G1U machine so I want to know, if this drive will be OK WITHOUT 2010 error.

Edit 2: Drive has additional green sticker with EAN code and following number:
KH12001024642199541601 (Google is not so strong)
Classic sticker provides following information:
'This drive is manufactured by Seagate for OEM distribution. For product information or technical support, please contact your system OEM.'.

S/N: 5PL2BY5P
Model: ST9120821A
P/N: 9W3884-188
F/W: 3.06
Date: 07124
Site: WU

Is it recognizable if this drive is coming from Lenovo's distribution?


Thanks.

[ajkula66]

Unless it has a FRU number, it was NOT OEM for IBM/Lenovo machines.

[lukee]

Yes, FRU label is missing on the drive. Seems that ISO image with HDD firmwares contains only FWs for 7400 rpms Seagates, has somebody real experience with this type of HDD and T43/p? Thanks.

[lukee]

Just one question: if I will downgrade to BIOS 1.03 (or last one which is not checking HDD FW), what potential problems can I expect?

[ajkula66]

I'd strongly advise AGAINST downgrading the BIOS, since later version had numerous updates regarding fan control and GPU operation.

Having lived for three solid years now with "2010 error" on boot from a non-OEM Seagate drive, I've encountered no issuws whatsoever. Having said that, I'm certain that the warning Harry had been given by IBM has a lot of merit, but I personally don't believe that downgrading the BIOS will resolve any of the potential problems associated with the use of non-approved drives. All it will do is eliminate the warning...

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[lukee]

Well, I successfully extracted BIOS file from 1.29 installation package ($0197000.FL1) and decided to kick-out 2010 error for ever. I am going to apply some known reverse engineering methods and I am also considering buying this book:

http://www.amazon.com/BIOS-Disassembly- ... 1931769605

Do you have some references for this book or somebody from this forum already tried it?


Edit:
-----
I have dumped BIOS file with Phoenix BIOS editor and get many various BIOS modules and also BMP logos used during T43 startup Now is coming hardest part I think - locate whitelist with HDD models & FW versions, it seems I will need approved HDD's DeviceIDs in hexadecimal format or in similar format as is DeviceID in Windows presented.

By the way: I want to point very good web dealing with Lenovo's and IBM's BIOS mods:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/forums ... uests-Only so if I will be unsuccessful, we can perhaps ask them to mod T43 BIOS to skip HDD checking, or add our HDD models to BIOS whitelist if they will be able to find it.

[lukee]

I have promising news! One BIOS modder from MyDigitalLife forum wrote, that he will try to REMOVE whole genuine-HDD check from T43/p BIOS! According to many positive references on him, it seems that he know what he's doing. I've question for local members, if somebody of you have T43/p mobo "close to die" degree of damage, if you can provide this mobo for testing new modified BIOS? Otherwise I will test it on my main machine, if Yen will provide modified BIOS.
Link on discussion with BIOS modder is here:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... post293943

[lukee]

Hello, 2010 error is very close to be hacked! I want to ask ThinkPad forum members here, if they can test following modified BIOS, i.e. on T43/p mobo which has GPU or southbridge solder problems and which are not thinking about reballing that mobo (mobo for testing purposes). Thank you. Link for modified BIOS is here:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... post298287

[Harryc]

I question the "very close" comment, particularly when the person looking into the BIOS mod says something like "I had a look..very difficult. My skills are not sufficient to find something.". Also, we need to be mindful of the fact that this issue effects R52's and X41's as well.

[lukee]

Yes harryc, you are right, but the fact that engineers started to investigate this issue and already found some offset in BIOS which is probably responsible for HDD white-list check is very positive! Also contacts for more skilled people are advantage! I already contacted andyP member as Yen recommends. Let's pray that their effor will bring success.

About X41/R52: if they will mod T43/p BIOS, then mod of these will be easy I think.


EDIT: I informed the engineer that success for us will be also:
- disable BIOS to beep
- decrease delay caused by 2010 error
- delete 2010 error text message

So then the 2010 error will appear but:
- will not beep
- will not show message text
- will appear for a less time
It would be very positive solution for us also, instead of complete 2010 error removal from BIOS. Do you agree?

[Harryc]

Yes, those are some of the solutions I originally proposed to IBM.

[lukee]

I would like to ask members here, who hates error 2010 if they can help me with some investigation. The point of investigation is quiet easy - explore this document which specifies ATA interface:

http://www.t10.org/t13/project/d1410r3a-ATA-ATAPI-6.pdf

and collect all information related with something like 'Vendor specified commands' or 'Reserved resources for vendor commands'. This could help with finding what resources of ATA bus are used for genuine-HDD checking (addresses, registers) in T43/R52/X41 Thinkpads.

[lukee]

Hello, I've made another examination on this issue and I pushed the matter further! As I discussed with some BIOS engineers on social network LinkedIn they informed me, that each drive knows 0xEC ATA command and returns DRIVE_IDENTIFY_DATA to it (exactly bytes 416 - 508 are reserved for vendor's information, I suppose this block is used by IBM/Lenovo for something like 'I'm a genuine IBM option'). I am very convinced that HDD check in T43/X41/R52 series is based on this data, not on white-list in BIOS. I've made investigation with two IBM's genuine HDDs and one HDD which has unsupported firmware. The results of this are surprising and confirms my theory. Both approved HDDs has same strings in DRIVE_IDENTIFY_DATA on mentioned bytes even they are different series (7k100 vs. 5k100). Only difference is with unsupported drive - the Samsung HM160HC. This harddrive returns totally different DRIVE_IDENTIFY_DATA (bytes 416 - 508) string. To make sure, I would be glad if somebody who is using Fujitsu MHV2120AH supported drive without 2010 errror, could send me drive identify report (no problem if it will be also from another supported drive!):

Install smartctl tools: http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartm ... i/Download
After installation, run it, you will get into command line. Use this command to get the report and store it into text file (examples):

For Windows (if C: represents your supported drive):

Code: Select all

smartctl -a -r ioctl,2 C: > C:\report.txt

For Linux (if /dev/sda1 represents your supported drive):

Code: Select all

smartctl -a -r ioctl,2 /dev/sda1 >> /home/your_folder/Desktop/report.txt

I would be very glad for this report! I know that about this error was written enough and also some users are ignoring it, but impossible is nothing and I believe I will kick this error out forever. Let's make Lenovo fed up Thank to all in advance for your reports.

[mpcook]

To make sure, I would be glad if somebody who is using Fujitsu MHV2120AH supported drive without 2010 errror, could send me drive identify report (no problem if it will be also from another supported drive!)

I have one of these drives in one of my T43's and will try and take a look later. Thanks for investigating into this.

Mike