T30 Error 0189 Invalid RFID & UUID = ffffff... Part_1

[wapy]

Hi, I'm an old German, living in Paraguay with a T30 2366 2GHz, 1GB, 1400x1050
display, 60GB HDD (hitachi) 7200RPM..., WinXPprof SP3,

I'm new here and have since 3 days many trouble with the the above errors.
Also I found, that the UUID is set to all ffff...
It just happened in the morning at the first boot without havving any
trouble before and without any tinkering with HW nor SW the days before

I don't know, what's with these error, IBM only tells, to change the Motherboard

It didn't boot and hangs with the above error message 0189 Invalid RFID...

I couldn't find any good explanation for that failure und searched a lot
of places.

I don't know, what's with these error, IBM only tells, to change the Motherboard
I found a way, just to go ahead from an other place:

change BIOS boot mode to Diagnostic:
--Startup
---Boot Mode [Diagnostic]

and boot again, wait for the error 0189... and hit <ESC>

So with the memory test it runs quite a while, but then it boots normal
to the WinXP.

While boring with the long RAM test, especially with my 1GB, I managed to
hit the <SPACE> Bar. BINGO the RAM test is terminated immediately and the boot
goes on and shows the 0189 error, than <ESC> ist much faster, however I'm
not extremly lucky with that.



End of Part 1

[andyP]

welcome to the forum,

If you look in the Hardware Maintainance Manual for the T30 you will see that the error code 0189 means that your Mainboard needs replacing.
Sorry, for the bad news

[wapy]

Hardware Maintainance Manual for the T30 you will see that the error code 0189 means that your Mainboard needs replacing.
Sorry, for the bad news

THX, I have these manuals. but I didn't understand why the complete motherboard has to be replaced if there is any inconsistency in an EEPROM... Normally some update routines should work.
My investigations gave me some more background, I'll write that in ...part 2

Saludos Wolfgang

[wapy]

Further investigation results:

a lot of TP use the ATMEL AT24RF08C (or other of these family).

The AT24RF08C (Asset Identification EEPROM) is a dual ported 24C08 serial
EEPROM with an additional RFID interface beside the normal I²C bus.
This special type needs no power while accessed with RFID technics.
They only need an antenna-loop on pin 1 & 2.

For some of these TP series there is such a loop integrated, but there
is no hint, that the T30 has this antenna nor can I see without
dismanteling my T30, if there is one.

The RFID interface can be used at production and also later may control
and report a TP carried through a RFID field. Without control
by me, I don't wanna be tracked. But it's after Orwell's 1984

My feeling is, that the have only prepared the RFID interface and
did not disable this section in the BIOS, just for ignorance and/or
sucking the T30 users


In several service books, notes, reports I learned that:

1. ThinkCentre A50/S50 have problems with duplicate UUID,
....there exists SW/switch for correcting that with reflashing BIOS:
....SHELL=FLASH2.EXE /D in CONFIG.SYS
....I found no SW for other models.

2. For some big IBM servers they use TP's as console
2.1. T20 has an BIOS entry for disabling RFID
2.2. T22 also RFID disable and has the UUID=ffff... problem
2.3. T23 has the UUID=ffff... problem 26x7CFG diskette (BIOS flash?)
......should help.
2.4. T30 no special hints for RFID and UUID problems
2.5. T40 has the UUID=ffff... problem, run 2373CFG diskette.
.......When 18x error is displayed hit <ESC>

So it looks like, that IBM know this problem very well but doesn't do
anything usefull against this. No swapping a MOBO is no usefull option!

So for the next future I have to live with the BIOS Diagnostic,
<SPACE> to abort memory test and 0189 error <ESC>-ing it

But I will investigate more.

Saludos Wolfgang

[SMA]

Since you have a way of making the T30 boot, then it should be possible to do a bios update.
Do you have the latest bios? If not, then it might be worth trying.

[wapy]

Since you have a way of making the T30 boot, then it should be possible to do a bios update.
Do you have the latest bios? If not, then it might be worth trying.

THX, I have also the last (and some older) BIOS & ECP update for the T30.
But they don't fix the RFID/UUID problem.
I didn't try the ....SHELL=FLASH2.EXE /D in CONFIG.SYS ... trick for the A50/S50,
because I'm afraid of killing my T30 BIOS and then I'm fully lost.
BTW how is the very 1st time the BIOS initialized during production?
Did IBM solder preflashed BIOS & ECP EEPROM's or ist there a (known)
backdoor through a working ECP to recover the BIOS EEPROM?

[cbraswel]

This worked for me on a R40 with the 0189 issue.

When the message pops up, hit escape to continue.

1. Download the IBM Hardware Maintenance Disk and create a floppy. The filename for version 1.75 is i7tm23us.exe. I found it at ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... tm23us.exe

2. If you do not have a floppy drive on your laptop, then use nero to create a bootable CD from the files and boot sector of the floppy disk.

3. Boot your laptop from the CD, then choose the Assign UUID option.

This should do the trick for you.

[diademed]

I have this problem with my X30.

I tried to use the utility and it's 'Assign UUID', but it resulted in an error of "Invalid Configuration Area".

Unless I did something wrong, this fix isn't 100%.

[BradF]

If you discover a solution, please tell me. I have disassembled my 600E, scrubbed it down, reassembled it, erased and readded the part numbers to the EEPROM using a maintenance diskette, regenerated UUID's yet still have the same problem (which on the 600 is bypassed by pressing ESC, waiting for the reboot and hang, then F1). Mine is RFID capable but the option was never installed. The tech.pdf to the particular Atmel EEPROM involved is a revealing read but I'm not sure I want to unsolder the chip yet. There have been too many times when Big Blue said something had to be repaired when there existed a simple, elegant, and free solution. For some, manually changing the 5th and 6th bits at line 20 in the Base 128 CMOS allowed them to boot past the error. This has not been the case for me. Otherwise, the computer works fine.

I haven't been able to find an answer to this one (that's called a challenge for you, TP gurus).

b