Thinkpads Forum

This is a peculiar one and I haven't yet found any on-point info. I just installed a vanilla copy of Vista Business x32 on my new T61p last night and this morning. The latest is I've been trying to flash the Middleton BIOS from an update CD but it quits with an error 99 which indicates Bitlocker is enabled. There's lots of guidance about how to disable after it is installed but I haven't found any indication anywhere that bitlocker is installed or enabled on this machine. Consequently, there's no apparent way to disable it. Anyone hear of this problem before?

I think I'm going to try to actually install it then disable it and see what happens. However, I'm curious if anyone has encountered this situation before.

yips ... this ISSUE .... is documented somewhere in MyDigital life forum ( where middleton still exists - i think)...
as forum rules here dont premit him for any more posts ...

ie in short = XP = dont have windows 'encrypt' feature , thus middlebios or windows feature , one or the other
.... and I am not sure of this other side issue - AFTER BIOS update with middle version that HD = will not read if there is IBM"S hardware encrypt present .....

So there are some trade offs!...Sorry

Cheers

How about flashing the BIOS with no HDD installed?

ajkula66 wrote:How about flashing the BIOS with no HDD installed?

I did that but no joy. From that, I concluded that it was something in the existing BIOS preventing. Then, I went into the existing BIOS, disabled the security chip and then flashed it. That seemed to work. At least, I got a completion message and rebooted it into Vista. Now I just have to figure out how to determine if it was successful. I saw a post somewhere around here on that but I'll have to find it again. Next, I'll reenable the security chip and see what happens.

DaElderGeek wrote:I did that but no joy. From that, I concluded that it was something in the existing BIOS preventing. Then, I went into the existing BIOS, disabled the security chip and then flashed it. That seemed to work. At least, I got a completion message and rebooted it into Vista. Now I just have to figure out how to determine if it was successful. I saw a post somewhere around here on that but I'll have to find it again. Next, I'll reenable the security chip and see what happens.

From the updates I've done the security chip must be disabled first, then a cold start-up before the doing the install of the Middleton BIOS - once the ThinkPad's rebooted I'll go back into the BIOS, apply the set-up defaults, reboot, back into the BIOS, re-enable the security chip and then make sure all of the other relevant settings within the BIOS are good to go...but that's just because I'm paranoid.

ScottyBoy wrote:. . . .
From the updates I've done the security chip must be disabled first, then a cold start-up before the doing the install of the Middleton BIOS - once the ThinkPad's rebooted I'll go back into the BIOS, apply the set-up defaults, reboot, back into the BIOS, re-enable the security chip and then make sure all of the other relevant settings within the BIOS are good to go...but that's just because I'm paranoid.

I wasn't quite that thorough but it apparently worked. I followed a suggestion somewhere else to check to see if the SLIC* had been changed from 2.0 to 2.1 and it had. The next big test will be when my T9300 shows up.

I very nearly avoided a disaster. While it was flashing, there was no indicator that anything was happening. Nothing was flashoing, rotating, spinning or anything. I was thinking that it was hung and wouldn't work and almost did a Ctl+Alt+Del but "Done" flashed on the screen mere milliseconds before my fingers hit the keyboard. Catastrophy averted through blind luck.

*Whatever that means??

DaElderGeek wrote:I wasn't quite that thorough but it apparently worked. I followed a suggestion somewhere else to check to see if the SLIC* had been changed from 2.0 to 2.1 and it had. The next big test will be when my T9300 shows up.

I very nearly avoided a disaster. While it was flashing, there was no indicator that anything was happening. Nothing was flashoing, rotating, spinning or anything. I was thinking that it was hung and wouldn't work and almost did a Ctl+Alt+Del but "Done" flashed on the screen mere milliseconds before my fingers hit the keyboard. Catastrophy averted through blind luck.

It's funny you mentioned the T9300, as everybody else I know is using the same CPU on they're various T61/R61/R61i ThinkPads after installing the Middleton BIOS!

Yeah the patching can be a gotcha if you don't leave it be - one of mates trashed his motherboard (X61, T8100) via bad DVD media (I normally use a USB Flash Memory Stick) and had to fork out an arm & a leg to get a replacement planar to get him back up and running.

ScottyBoy wrote:

DaElderGeek wrote:I wasn't quite that thorough but it apparently worked. I followed a suggestion somewhere else to check to see if the SLIC* had been changed from 2.0 to 2.1 and it had. The next big test will be when my T9300 shows up.

I very nearly avoided a disaster. While it was flashing, there was no indicator that anything was happening. Nothing was flashoing, rotating, spinning or anything. I was thinking that it was hung and wouldn't work and almost did a Ctl+Alt+Del but "Done" flashed on the screen mere milliseconds before my fingers hit the keyboard. Catastrophy averted through blind luck.

It's funny you mentioned the T9300, as everybody else I know is using the same CPU on they're various T61/R61/R61i ThinkPads after installing the Middleton BIOS!

Not strange, its value for money ratio is best among Penryns. I have one in my frankenpad as well

thorcik wrote:
It's funny you mentioned the T9300, as everybody else I know is using the same CPU on they're various T61/R61/R61i ThinkPads after installing the Middleton BIOS!

Not strange, its value for money ratio is best among Penryns. I have one in my frankenpad as well

I came to the exact same conclusion after poking around the forums. Whatever bump in performance I might get from a T9500, X7900, or whatever, couldn't possibly justify the price premium. I got one for $60USD and I'm really happy with my choice.