Thinkpads Forum

So recently I bought this laptop on eBay for around 212 bucks. It's the one with the 1400x1050 screen resolution. It has libreboot installed but I want to change it because libreboot just doesn't work for me. I'm guessing I have to change the motherboard in order to get rid of it which gives me a great opportunity to upgrade the thinkpad.

The specs I have are as follow:
Intel core duo (Yonah) L2400 LV 1.66 GHz (2mb cache)
2GB Ram
256GB SSD (Crucial MX100)
Atheros AR9285 Internal Wireless Card

I was wondering how far can I upgrade this thinkpad? Can I have better hardware in this machine? Any advice.

Do you have a copy of the original BIOS? You can flash it back.

If you prefer upgrading the motherboard though, then one from an X61 Tablet is the best option-- it's physically and electrically compatible.

axur-delmeria wrote:Do you have a copy of the original BIOS? You can flash it back.

If you prefer upgrading the motherboard though, then one from an X61 Tablet is the best option-- it's physically and electrically compatible.

Unfortunately no. It came pre installed when I bought it. I didn't know an x61 tablet mobi is comparable with an x60. I might have to check that out.

To find the old BIOS, click on the Drivers link at the top of this page, scroll down to X60-Tablet and in there to BIOS.

That's a great screen on the X60T. It doesn't suffer from the bubbling issue of a X61T.

X61T are nearly as cheap as a X60T. Get a X61T, the complete screen assembly from a X60T will fit into a X61T body (MB, chasis and all). It's an easy simple swap. I've done this for 4 different X60T screen with X61T body machines. I take the reminding parts and do the reverse swap and sell it for cheap on Kijjiji/Craiglist (full disclosure to the buyer). All in all each X60T-X61T machine costs me about $100 Cdn.

Why bother with this conversion? X60T screens don't suffer from bubbling issues. X61T machines can be flashed with Middleton's BIOS for SATA II speed, whitelist removal, SLIC 2.1, etc. X61T will take 8GB RAM max whereas a X60T is limited to 3 GB max. X61T have faster, cooler CPU.

In addition, I've upgraded to an Intel 6200 wifi card and a 500 GB SSD.

Unfortunately, as with almost all the tablet series, the CPU is soldered on the MB and therefore can't be replace.

^
OP is thinking of a motherboard replacement/upgrade, not the screen. His X60T had Libreboot pre-flashed, but he wants the original BIOS back. Unfortunately, a backup of the original BIOS was not included, and there's this warning on the Coreboot page for the X60:

Warning: It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to create a backup of the vendor BIOS firmware; each vendor BIOS image has a unique, unrecoverable ID. Do not use another laptop's vendor BIOS image.

Because of this he's considering upgrading the board instead.

The X61 Tablet can be had with a 1.4, 1.6, or 1.8GHz low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor soldered to the system board. Get the fastest one (1.8GHz L7700) whenever possible.

axur-delmeria wrote:^
OP is thinking of a motherboard replacement/upgrade, not the screen. His X60T had Libreboot pre-flashed, but he wants the original BIOS back. Unfortunately, a backup of the original BIOS was not included, and there's this warning on the Coreboot page for the X60:

You need to re-read what I wrote. That's precisely what I've said. It's much easier to simply replace the body of a X60T than the MB. Once you replace the original MB, who cares what BIOS is on the X60T. If it's that important download and flash the latest BIOS from the Drivers link on the top of this page.

Sorry 'bout that. This is what I get for posting just before going to sleep.

You're right. It's easier to find and purchase a complete X61T (or one with a broken screen), then transplant the screen from his X60T, rather than a bare motherboard.

I think I'll stick with replacing the motherboard because I am not going to spend another 150-200 bucks on another thinkpad. I think getting another motherboard and some Ram would be the better investment right now for me but that's a really good idea nonetheless and I might have to try that out once I start buying more thinkpads.

Edit: Also what ram would you guys recommend? I'm looking to get 8gb of ram on this thing too.

I have another question too. So let's say that thanks to libreboot I'm stuck at the boot screen and I can't get to my operating system. If I replace the motherboard, will everything be back to normal??

So let's say that thanks to libreboot I'm stuck at the boot screen and I can't get to my operating system. If I replace the motherboard, will everything be back to normal??

What operating system are you using?
When machine starts is there just text, or is there also a picture? I ask because there are two versions of Libreboot, text mode and vga mode. Text mode has known issues, and workarounds (use kernel parameters: vga=normal fb=false), when booting to Debian.