Thinkpads Forum

So, I have an X61 ThinkPad. It was running fine with a good Middleton BIOS flash, but then I thought to myself, "Hmm, it takes forever to get from the BIOS splash screen to the actual Windows loading screen, maybe it flashed incorrectly."

Thus, I installed Win7 x86 on a spare HDD, loaded up the Middleton BIOS, attempted to run the flash, and then bam: it stops with a critical error (Driver not available), crashes, and beeps multiple times with a black screen.

And then it attempted to reboot. Emphasis on attempt.

Power and Battery indicators light up and the fan spins up, but there's no sign of the BIOS screen.
I've already checked the internal display- it's completely off, no voltage going to either the LCD or the backlight.
If you remove the RAM, it gives the familiar 1-3-3-1 beep. Doesn't do that if you insert any of the RAM sticks into right-side slot.
SSD confirmed to work, got into my files pretty easily from a SATA->USB adapter. Charger known to work (Lenovo authentic) and the charging LED lights.
I have yet to try the VGA out, but even so, I'm pretty sure that it's the BIOS that got corrupted, since the display has been happily working with no signs of failing at all.
Already tried the Wincrisis method with 5 USBs. No dice. Tried a different drive too, and still nothing.

Right now, it's sitting in a closet drawer with no battery or CMOS. Any solutions?

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

There is a crisis recovery procedure which works on many Thinkpads, and I think it includes X61. I have never tried it myself, but it's been documented to work, at least in some cases.

More details here:
viewtopic.php?t=107098
and here:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread- ... -IMPORTANT

dr_st wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:18 am

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

There is a crisis recovery procedure which works on many Thinkpads, and I think it includes X61. I have never tried it myself, but it's been documented to work, at least in some cases.

More details here:
viewtopic.php?t=107098
and here:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread- ... -IMPORTANT

I’ve already tried this with several USB devices… although they have all been USB 3.0. Do you think that I have to get a USB 2.0 drive to get this to work?

A few of my older Thinkpads will not boot from a USB 3.0 drive. Boots fine from a USB 2.0 drive. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of 32 GB USB 2.0 drives for this purpose for $5 each. Don't know how hard it is to find USB 2.0 drives these days.

Cigarguy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:47 pm

A few of my older Thinkpads will not boot from a USB 3.0 drive. Boots fine from a USB 2.0 drive. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of 32 GB USB 2.0 drives for this purpose for $5 each. Don't know how hard it is to find USB 2.0 drives these days.

I bought a cheapo microSD to USB 2.0 drive, and it shows up in Windows as a "Mass storage device"... and yet it doesn't work.

Maybe the computer needs to be running a OS for plug-n-play to work.

Get or find a cheap USB 2.0 drive, flash Middleton's BIOS onto it using Rufus or something similiar to that and it will work. No converter or USB 3.0. Better yet just burn the ISO image onto a CD and flash from CD. That's the tried, true and tested method. A road that has been traveled successfully by many.

It's not that difficult, just need to be methodical.

Cigarguy wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:25 pm

Get or find a cheap USB 2.0 drive, flash Middleton's BIOS onto it using Rufus or something similiar to that and it will work. No converter or USB 3.0. Better yet just burn the ISO image onto a CD and flash from CD. That's the tried, true and tested method. A road that has been traveled successfully by many.

It's not that difficult, just need to be methodical.

I tried using Rufus to flash the x64 iso onto a USB... no dice. I have also acquired a USB 2.0 drive too.

Here's the issue though. The machine does not boot into any OS. Just lights up the LEDs, then just has a black screen with the battery and power indicator green and on.

UPDATE:

Things I have tried:
All USB 3.0 devices
A USB 2.0 microSD adapter
A USB 2.0 Flash Drive

All with wincrisis, all with alternate key combos. I suppose at this point I should just buy a CH314A flasher.

Naw.

Burn Middleton's BIOS to CD.
Flash from CD.

If that doesn't work then you might have bricked the machine. There's a reason why things are suggested to be done a certain way.

Would flashing from a CD restore a bricked machine? Cause that's the issue at hand here- it's not that I can't flash the machine, it's that I did a bad flash and can't restore the machine to any workingBIOS state.

Here's another option: https://www.tukh.com/2021/04/21/thinkpa ... ting-bios/
(X61s and X61 use the same BIOS)

GrumpyGryphonGal wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 15, 2022 12:14 am

Would flashing from a CD restore a bricked machine?

No. Neither from (Free)DOS.

Did you try all different USB ports with Wincrisis? Maybe it needs to be a specific one?

Also given that this is how it all started:

GrumpyGryphonGal wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:22 am

it takes forever to get from the BIOS splash screen to the actual Windows loading screen"

Check that one of the USB ports isn't defective and shorting to the chassis.

dr_st wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:58 am

Did you try all different USB ports with Wincrisis? Maybe it needs to be a specific one?

Also given that this is how it all started:

GrumpyGryphonGal wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:22 am

it takes forever to get from the BIOS splash screen to the actual Windows loading screen"

Check that one of the USB ports isn't defective and shorting to the chassis.

Tried every single port, and even with the motherboard out of the chassis. Still no luck.