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TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

X60/X61 and X60t/X61t Series
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my03
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Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#1 Post by my03 » Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:40 pm

Hi,

I recently did the lcd panel mod on my TP X61 which gave it "new life" so to speak (a few years back, i also swapped in a T7500 mainboard in place of the 1.6 Ghz version that it used to have, added 8GB of ram to it + 256GB SSD. It actually works quite nicely with W10x64.

But i noticed that the BT will no longer work at all and so i wonder if anyone else here does run W10 (or 7) on their X61 and have a working bluetooth? Did you have to do something special?

I run the Middleton bios on mine as i wanted to swap the LCD + the wifi card (i use the Intel 7260 AC card now) and so i placed this card in the wifi-slot. But what options do i have to get a working bluetooth going? is there any replacement for the BT tucked away under the screen that will provide W10 support? Or can i replace the wifi-card for one of those wifi+BT combo cards somehow?

I would preferably not like to use any external BT dongles.
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

RealBlackStuff
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Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:15 am

You should remove the X61 BT module from inside the lid.
That AC-7260 card has BT included.
In some (not all) Thinkpads you need to tape over pin 51 to get BT going.
See also viewtopic.php?t=124104
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

my03
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Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#3 Post by my03 » Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:10 pm

Hi RealblackStuff,

Ah, i did not think about that. Thx.

I tried this just now (put a small piece of tape on pin 51) but it did not change anything unfortunately. While googling this issue, i found (here on this forum actually) some posts saying that the wifi-slot did not have any USB lanes (which is what BT uses in these combo-cards). I was absolutely not aware of that.

So i'm now back at square one again (with the factory BT module in the screen that will not work on W10) :(
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

my03
Sophomore Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#4 Post by my03 » Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:30 pm

Hi,

A pleasant update. Somehow i managed to sideload a driver (i believe from the X/T3nn series of laptops + the power manager for Vista and lo and behold, i can now turn on the BT radio, the icon lights up and all is fine. Except all is not (yet) fine... Trying to pair my Microsoft bluetooth mouse seem to be impossible. In the "Add a device" (for mouse) it just scans, but finds nothing (mouse is in discovery mode naturally).

I wonder if this would be some issue with the Broadcom (factory) BT board or something else??
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

my03
Sophomore Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#5 Post by my03 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:13 am

So it seams that the Lenovo (Broadcom) BT module only supports BT2.0 EDR where this mouse in question requires BT4.0 and that is the problem. Fortunately, this module can be upgraded with FRU 60Y3305 (from the T/W530 series) and it does have 4.0 support so i ordered one of those instead

(should work according to various posts. We'll see :) )
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

my03
Sophomore Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#6 Post by my03 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:56 pm

Can't let go of the idea of making the 7260 intel wifi card work (potentially).

Would anyone know if cutting pin-51 on this wifi card would actually enable BT on the X61? (or am i just destroying a wifi-card)
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

Sweater Fish Deluxe
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Posts: 100
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:22 pm
Location: Ukiah, California

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#7 Post by Sweater Fish Deluxe » Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:48 pm

No, your previous post is correct that the mPCIe slot used for wifi on the X61 does not carry the USB 2.0 connection that the bluetooth part of the card uses.

If your X61 board has the second mPCIe slot directly to the right of first one, then that should have the USB lanes. Some boards don't have a connector soldered on there, though. I actually can't remember if this second slot has both PCIe lanes and USB or if it's USB only (it was USB-only on the X60, but I'm not sure about the X61). Either way, it should work for bluetooth.

my03
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Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#8 Post by my03 » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:13 am

Hey thanks Sweather Fish deluxe,

i suspected that it would not be as straight-forward :)

Btw, i tried to connect an msata ssd to that second slot, but the machine only emitted a series of beeps, so i gave up on that idea. I'm quite happy with "just" having the 7260AC wifi card in the leftmost slot and the mpcie/usb (w. 240GB Samsung "Fit" usb) on the righthand slot (booting OSX Yosemite from that one. Not the fastest of course, but quite acceptible as it is still USB 2.0 speeds).

Image

As for Bluetooth, i finally recieved the bcm20702a0 module and just installed it (downloaded drivers from the Yoga 3 pro here: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downlo ... 3-pro-1370) and it immediately found my MS mouse which i'm happy with.
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

iamdmc
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Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:37 pm
Location: Downtown Toronto, Canada

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#9 Post by iamdmc » Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:36 am

my03 wrote:
Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:13 am
Hey thanks Sweather Fish deluxe,

i suspected that it would not be as straight-forward :)

Btw, i tried to connect an msata ssd to that second slot, but the machine only emitted a series of beeps, so i gave up on that idea. I'm quite happy with "just" having the 7260AC wifi card in the leftmost slot and the mpcie/usb (w. 240GB Samsung "Fit" usb) on the righthand slot (booting OSX Yosemite from that one. Not the fastest of course, but quite acceptible as it is still USB 2.0 speeds).

Image

As for Bluetooth, i finally recieved the bcm20702a0 module and just installed it (downloaded drivers from the Yoga 3 pro here: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downlo ... 3-pro-1370) and it immediately found my MS mouse which i'm happy with.
the X61 did not support mSATA so that explains no boot
ThinkPad P14sgen2 (2021)
i7-1185G7 | 32+8GB RAM | 1TB Samsung 980 Pro (PCIe 3.0 speed) | UHD upgrade | Glass Touchpad | Intel AX210

The X61 is dead... long live the X61

Past IBM ThinkPads: T480s, T450s, X250, X230, X220, X300, T410, X61s, T60p, T41, X31, T23, A21m

my03
Sophomore Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:06 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#10 Post by my03 » Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:47 pm

iamdmc wrote:
Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:36 am

the X61 did not support mSATA so that explains no boot
I guess it does :) No matter how amazing this machine is, i guess it has a limit to "how" amazing it can be :)
W530 3940xm/32gb/520/240/240gb ssd, FHD
T410 w. I7-640m, 8GB, 240+128gb ssd hd, 1440x900
X61 w. T7500, 8GB, 240gb ssd, 1400x1050
760E
380ed
365xd
360cs
701cs
T21
T590 (work machine)

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
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Posts: 23809
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#11 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:11 am

In both the WWAN and WLAN slots, USB- = pin 36, USB+ = pin 38.
WWAN-pins are connected to USB, WLAN-pins are not connected to anything.
If you are handy you may try and "inter-connect" those 2 pins between the slots.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

axur-delmeria
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Location: Metro Manila, Philippines

Re: TP X61 Bluetooth module (Win10)

#12 Post by axur-delmeria » Wed Nov 03, 2021 6:30 am

my03 wrote:
Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:47 pm
I guess it does :) No matter how amazing this machine is, i guess it has a limit to "how" amazing it can be :)
Well, the X61 was released in 2007, two years before the mSATA specification was released in 2009. Thinkpads that support mSATA came out in 2011.
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:

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