Thinkpads Forum

Faced with a dilemma: I can install my 2nd HDD on USB3 for a speed boost, but since it's a mini PCIe expansion card I cannot boot from it. I can also install it on a USB2 port and thus be able to boot OSes from it, but at the cost of speed.
Any thoughts on either getting the USB 3 card to be bootable (or at least chainloadable) or which option you would choose, and why?
I'm kind of wanting the ability to boot things but not sure if I'd get really frustrated by the data / speed bottleneck...

R

You managed to cram in an SSD too, right? Use that for booting.

The HDD needs all the bandwidth it can get.

If you're using linux, you might be able to chain-boot it something...

Well, I like to experiment with OS (Hackingtosh) without having to break an install / swap my primary hard drive (impossible with my SSD setup). That's the main issue...

R

I am not familiar with a way to make miniPCIe/ExpressCard bootable on laptops, unless that functionality is already built-in.

Isn't the point of USB to be plug-n-play and easily detachable? Connect your HD to the USB3 port normally, except when you want to boot from it, and then connect it temporarily to the USB2 port.

Or use a third HD / flash drive for boot testing, permanently connected to the USB2 port.

Or get a laptop that can boot from miniPCIe / onboard USB3 ports.

I am not familiar with a way to make miniPCIe/ExpressCard bootable on laptops, unless that functionality is already built-in.

Two things:
1. The card has its own firmware that provides boot functions.
2. The computer's BIOS should be able to detect this firmware and add it to the boot list --> I haven't looked into my X61's BIOS recently, but I remember something like "PCI option ROM".

Unfortunately, I haven't encountered a PCIe USB 3.0 card with a boot ROM.

If the X220 supports booting from its USB 3.0 ports, then its BIOS may be a good place to start looking for code.

~~

I was lurking in the bios-mods.com forums a while back and there was a story where some guy had a PCI IDE+SATA card with no boot ROM. He found a copy of a boot ROM from another card that used the same IDE+SATA controller chip and somehow grafted it into the motherboard's BIOS.

It was a very ugly hack, and the PCI IDE+SATA card would only boot when all other boot devices were disabled.
A more experienced BIOS modder in that thread was very surprised that it worked at all.

Hm.

Unfortunately I could not find any option ROMs in the X220 BIOS, other than the LAN option ROM, which of course has existed for ages.

I know for example that the AKE BC338 was mentioned as being bootable in various Macbooks, but I could not get it to boot in the X220 or the T60, and in fact saw no record of it ever being bootable in any laptop that was not a Macbook.

I don't know much hardware details about mpci slot, but can share my experience with it.
As you may know I have made a touchpad mod on my x61

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=114633

I had used the mpci to usb 2.0 adapter to connect it. The problem was that every time the machine was booting up or coming back from sleep the touch wasn't working I had to switch the power of usb off/on to make it work. At first I thought the problem is in the touch driver itself, but then I tried connecting it to the external usb port's pins on the board and it worked flawless.

I suspect that the problem could be lack of power in mpci slot once it switches on. This might cause the touch panel to glitch when turned on at first.

dr_st,
If the USB 3.0 ports of the X220 are indeed bootable, then its boot ROM is most likely part of the BIOS, not as an option ROM. People with BIOS hacking skills might be able to extract it, but I doubt this.

If only there was a PCIe USB 3.0 card with a boot ROM, then maybe there's a chance. >_<

I know for example that the AKE BC338 was mentioned as being bootable in various Macbooks, but I could not get it to boot in the X220 or the T60, and in fact saw no record of it ever being bootable in any laptop that was not a Macbook.

There's an option ROM for the JMB36x SATA controller in that card: http://www.win-raid.com/t7f13-AHCI-amp- ... dules.html
The problem is how to insert it.

vavet,

The problem was that every time the machine was booting up or coming back from sleep the touch wasn't working

If there's a WWAN enable setting in the BIOS, try enabling it.

dr_st,

Countless ExpressCards of similar design contain JMicron JMB360 (single lane PCIe, AHCI, single port SATA 3Gb/s). Mactels (all Intel Inside Macintosh products, portable and stationary) are not IBM-compatible, do not run BIOS. Mactel firmware can boot from AHCI. (Likewise, I believe PowerPC Macs can boot standard PCI PATA controllers (colloquially referred to as "PCI IDE" or SFF style).)

A very good story about Mactel booting is found in Sealed Abstract by Drew Crawford : How Not to Install Windows on your Mac’s External Disk.

vavet wrote: I suspect that the problem could be lack of power in mpci slot once it switches on.

Did you tape Pin 20? Otherwise all USB cards in that slot without FRU get switched off like you experienced.

axur-delmeria wrote: If there's a WWAN enable setting in the BIOS, try enabling it.

Yes, it was on.

wileE wrote: Did you tape Pin 20? Otherwise all USB cards in that slot without FRU get switched off like you experienced.

No, actually I didn't. Do you mean that they get switched off when machine goes to sleep? because the USB was working, the problem was only when it was booting up or waking from sleep.

Quick update here: I played around adding the JMB36x Option ROM, but it's too big to take the place of the PXE one.

If anyone happens to be a BIOS mod wizard, it seems like it's technically possible to add an Option ROM to a BIOS Hole and have it be found. MMTool seems to support this, but that obviously doesn't work with Phoenix BIOSes.
These two pages imply that it should be possible, but are quite outdated.

http://micro.ustc.edu.cn/Linux/beowulf/ ... tboot.html
http://rayer.g6.cz/romos/romose.htm

R