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Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

X60/X61 and X60t/X61t Series
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portsample
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Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#1 Post by portsample » Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:04 pm

I am interested in booting my newly acquired X61 tablet from an SD card. I can see the card (I've put a Linux OS on it) when booting from the hard drive, But can't get the BIOS to boot from the card. I have not updated the BIOS: it is 1.20 (7SET34WW), 7/29/2008. Thoughts on this? Would Middleton BIOS allow booting from the SD card? Thanks in advance.
T61, 14.1", X9000 2.8ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 15.1/Win8
(2) T61, 14.1", T9500 2.6ghz, Intel GM965, 4gb RAM, 250gb SSD, openSuse 15.1/Win8 (spares)

axur-delmeria
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Re: Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#2 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:28 pm

No it won't.

The only bootable SD card readers I know are USB-based, making use of the BIOS's USB boot routines
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

TPFanatic
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Re: Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#3 Post by TPFanatic » Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:42 pm

BIOS won't see the SD as a bootable device, and neither will Windows. Linux could probably boot it but it first has to boot from a BIOS-accepted bootable device, HDD or USB.

MisterB
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Re: Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#4 Post by MisterB » Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:40 pm

The X201 Tablet will boot from an SD card. It is the only Thinkpad I know of that will. It sees the SD card in the BIOS as a USB drive. On mine, I have Linux Mint 17.2 on a 64gb SDXC card. I've partitioned it with 32gb as a fat 32 partition and a 24gb system and 8gb swap partition. If the fat 32 partition is done first, Windows will see it as a smaller fat 32 card while Linux can see the whole card. It is a bit faster than a USB 2.0 drive but still not all that fast.

The W700 will boot from a CF card but not the W701. Neither will boot from an SD card.
I've got a T580, 2 W500s, a W520, an X201T, an X220T, an 3 X61Ts, a 15" T60, a 14" T60P, a 15" UXGA T60P, a 15" T42p a W701, and my first Thinkpad, a 770X.

portsample
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Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:38 pm
Location: Alaska (not Anchorage)

Re: Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#5 Post by portsample » Sat Dec 09, 2017 7:31 pm

Perfect. Thanks for the spot on answer and explanations. This is a new machine for me. Still trying to figure it out.
T61, 14.1", X9000 2.8ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 15.1/Win8
(2) T61, 14.1", T9500 2.6ghz, Intel GM965, 4gb RAM, 250gb SSD, openSuse 15.1/Win8 (spares)

flyingfishfinger
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Re: Booting from an SD card on X61 tablet

#6 Post by flyingfishfinger » Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:14 pm

If you're really into hacking, the Plop bootloader can be installed as a PCI option ROM. That should let you load a Linux kernel from wherever, probably including an SD card.

R

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