Thinkpads Forum

Need some professional advice before I could flash with Middleton's BIOS

T61 7661-E64
BIOS version 2.12
32 bit T7300 processor
Win 7 Professional 32 bit
3Gb RAM (In the BIOS it says Installed memory 3072MB)

I saw a couple of youtube videos and read on the forum as well and a bit confused about below points, so need your advice please.

1. In one video I saw that since this is 32 bit OS, I don't need to create a bootable CD, instead I could simply run the .exe file. See below between 5:40-5:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_vN0kCqxdw

In another video I see that couple of filenames need to be changed before flashing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLec1Ls-NIQ

2. On the forum I read that I should create a Bootable CD despite having a 32-bit OS.

What process should I follow?
Anything else that I need to be aware of ensure that its done beforehand?

Thank you forum members.

Burning CD is only required while trying to flash bios on 64 bit operating system. As in your case the system is 32 bit, you can easily flash it while in windows.

By far the best solution has always been the self-booting CD (.iso is included in the download).
Make sure you also have a working battery (even a weak one).

huohuo wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 11, 2024 4:47 am

Burning CD is only required while trying to flash bios on 64 bit operating system. As in your case the system is 32 bit, you can easily flash it while in windows.

Thanks huohuo,
Do you mean I can simply click the .exe file and have the update done? If so, would it be file WINUPTP or WinPhlash?

RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 11, 2024 4:49 am

By far the best solution has always been the self-booting CD (.iso is included in the download).
Make sure you also have a working battery (even a weak one).

Thanks RBS, Issue is I dont have an empty CD lying around. However I do have a USB stick, would that work? I can use Rufus but should I format the stick to FAT32 or NTFS prior to Rufus?

Rufus FAT32 should also work, yes.

UPDATE: So the upgrade has been done successfully.

I somehow completely missed the README file.

Ran WINUPTP as Admin and selected the option to upgrade BIOS and about a minute later success. Fortunately no surprises.

Point to note is that I ensured no BIOS option was enabled or disabled that would have potentially stopped the upgrade process and its a fresh Win 7 install.

Thanks again for the inputs and assistance.