Page 1 of 1

New T60 T60p BIOS out 79ETC3WW (2.03)

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:49 pm
by DAH
There is a new BIOS out here; http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-63027

Anyone that upgraded their T60 from a T2500 to a T7X00 want to give it a try, and see if it still supports a T7X00 in a machine designed for a T2X00 still?

Thanks
DAH

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:17 pm
by Nebzar
Let's hope 2.03 fixes the blue screens of newer machines...

The question now is: having a nicely working Core Duo with 79ETC1WW, will it be worth to upgrade? I would say it isn't...

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:31 pm
by SSK
"Note that this problem does not occur once the system has been booted with BIOS 79ETC1WW. If you successfully updated with 79ETC1WW, you don't need to update with this 79ETC3WW"

By the way, i will keep my 2.01 Bios after reading this note....

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:53 pm
by DAH
Well I take the above to indicate I'm not the only one wondering if Lenovo will continue to support the T7X00 in a computer design for the T2X00. I sure hope they do.

But I can't help wondering at their decision to pull the 2.01 BIOS, apparently just because people can't follow instructions and remove the password.

Still if this BIOS will protect me from the possibility that I'll blow the BIOS by not removing the password, it seems worthwhile to me.

DAH

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:19 am
by Antioch
SSK wrote:"Note that this problem does not occur once the system has been booted with BIOS 79ETC1WW. If you successfully updated with 79ETC1WW, you don't need to update with this 79ETC3WW"

By the way, i will keep my 2.01 Bios after reading this note....
That just means that you dont *need* to update to 2.03 if you already have 2.01 working fine. This is because 2.03 is the same as 2.01 with the exception that it has a safeguard against the BIOS password problem that was causing people's computers to incorrectly flash.

So by upgrading you gain security against possible future upgrade woes, but by not upgrading you neither gain nor lose anything.

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:47 am
by marlinspike
I wonder why 2.00g (what shipped on my computer) is not listed there. Also, I wish they had a more straight forward BIOS update process (on prior computers all I had to do was make a bootable floppy).

How do I "Remove the Power-on password prior to updating the BIOS in RDM (Remote Deployment Manager) environment or similar environment."

and how do I "Start Windows 2000/XP and logon with administrative privileges on the target computer."
?

Thanks,
Richard

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 3:27 am
by DAH
Well I've done the upgrade, and it seem to take twice as long as it should to me, 2 minutes instead of 1, but I never actually timed it.

Then I decided to re-run Vista's computer performance test, my memory appears to be slightly better it went from 4.8 to 4.9 everything else remained the same.


ThinkPad Configuration reports it as BIOS 2.03 (79ETC3WW) dated 2006-11-10, Embedded controller version 1.07

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:17 am
by Nebzar
DAH wrote:Well I've done the upgrade, and it seem to take twice as long as it should to me, 2 minutes instead of 1, but I never actually timed it.

Then I decided to re-run Vista's computer performance test, my memory appears to be slightly better it went from 4.8 to 4.9 everything else remained the same.


ThinkPad Configuration reports it as BIOS 2.03 (79ETC3WW) dated 2006-11-10, Embedded controller version 1.07
You upgraded from 2.01 (79ETC1WW) on a Core Duo T60, right?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:05 am
by DAH
Yes my T60p has the original processor in it, a Core Duo 32 bit processor running at 2.0 GHz not a Core 2 Duo 64 bit processor.

I've not gone into the BIOS and set a password, if you have I **believe but don't know** that you would go back into the BIOS, and select change password and enter nothing, or disable password if it's an option. I believe the key here is you must be able to boot into the BIOS without pressing or entering anything more than F1. If you get prompted for a password it will fail, I believe.

>>> Note that going from a 1.x BIOS will require that the Embedded controller be updated to version 1.07, this IS a TWO Step process. When I did this using the 2.01 BIOS it appeared to be finished before it was! Read the screen instructions, do NOT remove the CD or reboot before instructed to do so. The last two steps are to remove the CD and to press enter, your T60 will reboot by itself. And you will be prompted when to remove the CD and press Enter. When I stated above that I believe this update took two minutes that was just for the BIOS update from 2.01 to 2.03, the embedded controller was NOT updated, updating it will take longer, my guess is at least 6 minutes total for the BIOS and embedded controller.

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:29 am
by Nebzar
Thanks DAH :)

I should be in good shape for upgrading to 2.03:

- I don't have any password set in Bios;
- I already have 2.01 (79ETC1WW) up and running, and thus embedded controller program is the same as in 2.03.


Regards
Neb

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:38 pm
by marlinspike
Is anybody else noticing (especially those that came from bios 2.00g) that their computer is using less energy (about 0.5 watt) than it was before when on battery under the same conditions now?

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:40 pm
by catdog
All is well with new Bios 2.03
I have recently upgraded my 2.00Ghz T60p to the Merom 2.33Ghz T7600 and everything is working fine...