Thinkpads Forum

I had the system board in my T60 replaced, and the tech neglected to program the new board with my model number and serial (which means I cant use the software update programs, among other things). I have the boot disc creator for the 1.74 hardware maintenance disc, and I know the procedure for reflashing the serial and model number, but unfortunately, I dont have a floppy drive. The one flash drive I have was unable to boot when formatted as a floppy (the laptop just doesn't like the drive, the formatting was correct), and I have tried burning CDs, but neither of these work. Does anyone have any suggestions, or am I going to have to buy an external floppy reader?

For those who find this thread when searching for a solution to this problem, there is another thread on the forums with a link to the 1.74 boot disc creator, with instructions for use. This thread is dealing with alternatives to floppy disc usage.

So, I bought a floppy disc drive, and successfully booted into the 1.74 hardware maintenance environment. I was able to set a UUID for the board, but all attempts to set a new serial and model number were all unsuccessful. It did not report the EEPROM was locked while I was making these attempts (it did report this on one of my first attempts, and I figured out the correct time to hit escape to remove the eeprom protection). Is there a newer version of the hardware maintenance disc, or am I just really unlucky. For the record, it doesnt report that there is currently anything loaded in the eeprom as a serial or model number.

All fixed. The first floppy I wrote must have had some errors in the serial writing program. The program loaded, and I could choose the options, but it never displayed any information, and it never wrote the information. Anyways, I wrote a new floppy, tried again, and it worked! I cant say thanks for replying to this thread, but the information in other threads on this forum has been invaluable.

I think the only reason no one replied was because the material is completely over most everyones heads, but thats ok.

According to the T60 HMM, you need HMD version 1.73 or later. Read the instructions on page 60 of the T60 HMM.

jjesusfreak01 wrote:I think the only reason no one replied was because the material is completely over most everyones heads, but thats ok.

Possibly. Or maybe the fear of giving the wrong advice and then you reporting a bricked machine . As I have not yet attempted this operation, I could not offer anything extra that you had already covered. CDROMs can't be used (AFAIK) because they are not writable (I believe the program checks for this).