X220 BIOS 1.42

[Puppy]

Lenovo has released new BIOS version 1.42 http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product ... s/DS018807

It contains importat fix for security issue:

[Important] Security fix addresses LEN-2015-002 SMM "Incursion" Attack and some security fixes.
(Note) If the UEFI BIOS has been updated to version 1.42 or higher, it is no longer able to roll back to the version before 1.42 for security improvement.

Have anyone tried that ? Thanks.

[janew1]

I've had no problems with it. Too bad, though, that it re-creates the hardware whitelist.

I'm watching bios-mods.com, where there are a few requests pending, but so far nobody's taken it on.

[Puppy]

Updated, no issues yet.

[no_man]

Updated. Smooth ride no bumps!

[ronnel7]

Anyone know if 1.42 BIOS version has the RAM speed limits (1333 mhz)? BIOS versions < 1.28 allow for RAM speeds up to 1866 MHz. I updated mine and sadly cannot roll back.

[jabavox]

Yes,bios 1.42 is really suck ever, more over it's lock for rollback to any previous version.

[gtxaspec]

I upgraded my X220 to 1.42 initially, and then rolled back to 1.40 modified from http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ and I was able to flash the modded bios and use my 1866 ram crucial ram and access the "Advanced" menu as well.

I have not experienced any "lock out", although I have not tried to use a different WiFi card.

Does anyone else have any other success stories downgrading?

[charlie408]

I upgraded my X220 to 1.42 initially, and then rolled back to 1.40 modified from http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ and I was able to flash the modded bios and use my 1866 ram crucial ram and access the "Advanced" menu as well.

I have not experienced any "lock out", although I have not tried to use a different WiFi card.

Does anyone else have any other success stories downgrading?

Can you elaborate more in details how you are able to downgrade? What steps, or methods that you did? Thanks!

[jabavox]

I upgraded my X220 to 1.42 initially, and then rolled back to 1.40 modified from http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ and I was able to flash the modded bios and use my 1866 ram crucial ram and access the "Advanced" menu as well.

I have not experienced any "lock out", although I have not tried to use a different WiFi card.

Does anyone else have any other success stories downgrading?

Please clarify your steps

[gtxaspec]

download

Code: Select all

http://www.mediafire.com/download/7fne9hb2e3i9sjm/Lenovo+ThinkPad+x220_1.40-%288DET70WW%29-8duj26us_NWL_ADV_AES_PM_Speedo.rar

Extract, inside of modified folder, within Windows, run "FLASH.BAT"

Reboot, check BIOS version. Very simple. Did this on multiple X220 units after 1.42 update.

[jabavox]

download

Code: Select all

http://www.mediafire.com/download/7fne9hb2e3i9sjm/Lenovo+ThinkPad+x220_1.40-%288DET70WW%29-8duj26us_NWL_ADV_AES_PM_Speedo.rar

Extract, inside of modified folder, within Windows, run "FLASH.BAT"

Reboot, check BIOS version. Very simple. Did this on multiple X220 units after 1.42 update.

Ohh my, really just like that?

[gtxaspec]

Heres the latest modified v1.42 X220 bios with the following features:

- Whitelist removal
- Unblocked AES-NI
- Unblocked advanced menu
- Unlocked memory speed
- Unblocked AES MSR 0xE2
- New vbios Intel 2119
- 16Gb 1866 + eGPU solved

First flash the original v1.42 bios (8duj27us), reboot and run flash.bat as an administrator.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/42xbf ... d+Bios.zip

Please thank http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com for the BIOS update news, and the amazing experts of https://www.bios-mods.com! Without them NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE. The guys there have amazing talent! Confirmed working! Running 1.42 modded with 1866 crucial ram just fine! Don't have other wifi card to test, but everything else works so far. Please share your success stories.

[charlie408]

Heres the latest modified v1.42 X220 bios with the following features:

- Whitelist removal
- Unblocked AES-NI
- Unblocked advanced menu
- Unlocked memory speed
- Unblocked AES MSR 0xE2
- New vbios Intel 2119
- 16Gb 1866 + eGPU solved

First flash the original v1.42 bios (8duj27us), reboot and run flash.bat as an administrator.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/42xbf ... d+Bios.zip

Please thank http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com for the BIOS update news, and the amazing experts of https://www.bios-mods.com! Without them NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE. The guys there have amazing talent! Confirmed working! Running 1.42 modded with 1866 crucial ram just fine! Don't have other wifi card to test, but everything else works so far. Please share your success stories.

Thanks for your help. Confirmed working for me as well!!

[janew1]

Very nice! Thanks so much! (I don't have a different wireless card to try out -- everything else is exactly as promised.)

[jabavox]

Heres the latest modified v1.42 X220 bios with the following features:

- Whitelist removal
- Unblocked AES-NI
- Unblocked advanced menu
- Unlocked memory speed
- Unblocked AES MSR 0xE2
- New vbios Intel 2119
- 16Gb 1866 + eGPU solved

First flash the original v1.42 bios (8duj27us), reboot and run flash.bat as an administrator.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/42xbf ... d+Bios.zip

Please thank http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com for the BIOS update news, and the amazing experts of https://www.bios-mods.com! Without them NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE. The guys there have amazing talent! Confirmed working! Running 1.42 modded with 1866 crucial ram just fine! Don't have other wifi card to test, but everything else works so far. Please share your success stories.

Mod 1.42 works perfect(never try rollback from 1.42 to 1.40 by 1.40 mod, still curiously... )

[apojoga]

Please thank http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com for the BIOS update news, and the amazing experts of https://www.bios-mods.com! Without them NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE. The guys there have amazing talent! Confirmed working! Running 1.42 modded with 1866 crucial ram just fine! Don't have other wifi card to test, but everything else works so far. Please share your success stories.

There are significant differences in the mod which seems to come from Oleh, and the mod posted on x220.macdonnelltech.

Which one should we use?

[johnmcdonnell]

There are significant differences in the mod which seems to come from Oleh, and the mod posted on x220.mcdonnelltech.com.

Which one should we use?

The modified 1.42 BIOS on my site (x220.mcdonnelltech.com) is the same one credited to Oleh and posted on the bios-mods.com site. (I acknowledge the source in the Notes and Suggestions section at the end of the guide)

I actually just updated it today to the version posted by user ValdikSS in the bios-mods.com thread here that fixes an issue with the security chip.

[apojoga]

The modified 1.42 BIOS on my site (x220.mcdonnelltech.com) is the same one credited to Oleh and posted on the bios-mods.com site. (I acknowledge the source in the Notes and Suggestions section at the end of the guide)

I actually just updated it today to the version posted by user ValdikSS in the bios-mods.com thread here that fixes an issue with the security chip.

I see, thank you for the explanation.

Out of curiosity, can I ask what the files prefixed with ._ are for? Also, I noticed there are some binary differences in FvRecovery.fd?

[johnmcdonnell]

I see, thank you for the explanation.

Out of curiosity, can I ask what the files prefixed with ._ are for? Also, I noticed there are some binary differences in FvRecovery.fd?

My understanding is that the ._ files are there because the original archive was created in OS X. They store file information that is used by native Apple HFS+ or Unix/UFS volumes. They're hidden by default in Windows and they don't really serve any useful function. These were all part of the original archive from bios-mods.com, but I have now removed them from the archive on x220.mcdonnelltech.com since they're extraneous.

The only file I made any changes to was the Readme since some users were confused by the original version. Every other file should be identical to the version posted by ValdikSS on bios-mods.com here.

Edit: I looked again at FvRecovery.fd and saw the differences you mentioned. There must have been a copy error when I repacked it. I just re-uploaded everything and fixed the links so everything should be correct now. Thanks for the heads up.

[heilong]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Greetings!

I was using the original 1.42 BIOS, just updated to this modified version, didn't change any of the BIOS settings yet.
One thing I noticed (albeit not immediately) that suddenly I can't use Fn-F4 or Start > Sleep (Windows 7 x64), that's quite unexpected. I guess one of the hundred Advanced menu settings enables/disables sleep, hopefully anybody can tell me which? Otherwise I'll have to experiment with everything that mentions ACPI, power management or processor states.

Also I'm curious, there's really a lot of Advanced settings, most of them quite obscure and definitely make sense only to a select few. So I was wondering out of so many settings, what did you actually change and why?

My X220 has an i7-2640m processor. I've installed 16 Gb (2x8 Gb) Corsair 1600 MHz (9-9-9 timings) right when I bought the laptop in 2012.
I did a few quick tests using SiSoftware Sandra Lite before and after updating the bios from 1.42 original to 1.42 modded.
Memory bus speed went up from 1333 (2x667) to 1600 (2x800) MHz (+20%).
Benchmarks:
Aggregate memory performance (raw speed) went up from 16.8 to 20.0 GB/s (+19%).
Memory latency went down from 29.8 ns to 24.0 ns (-19%).
Quite a significant improvement in this area, now I'm not sure if I'll ever notice if in real world usage, but can't hurt for sure!

Now this got me thinking, would it be worth upgrading memory to same amount of 1866 MHz memory? For $95.75 I can get Corsair 16 Gb (2x8 Gb) 1866 MHz (10-10-10 timings) on Amazon. It's supposed to be another +16% to memory bandwidth, with just a slight improvement in latency. I already have an SSD, which is very worthwhile upgrade. But $96 for slightly faster memory? Somehow I doubt this would be justified. Am I wrong?
There's is also slightly more expensive 2133 MHz memory (e.g. Kingston HyperX Impact 2133 MHz 11-12-13 timings), of course it would run at 1866 MHz, but latency would be slightly better. Anybody had experience with this?

[dr_st]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Greetings!

Welcome to the forums.

Now this got me thinking, would it be worth upgrading memory to same amount of 1866 MHz memory?

No.

But $96 for slightly faster memory? Somehow I doubt this would be justified. Am I wrong?

Even if it was $10 it wouldn't be justified. Memory speed upgrades is one of the most useless ones, that's almost never felt outside of benchmarks.

[heilong]

Thanks.

But $96 for slightly faster memory? Somehow I doubt this would be justified. Am I wrong?

Even if it was $10 it wouldn't be justified. Memory speed upgrades is one of the most useless ones, that's almost never felt outside of benchmarks.

I was suspecting as such. Thanks (especially from my wife) for saving me around a hundred bucks

Any experience with which BIOS settings might have disabled the "Sleep" feature?

[apojoga]

@heilong

I ran the Memory Bandwidth "Multi-Threaded (MT)" test from SiSoftware (is this the correct test?) on my X220 i7-2640M with 1.42 modified BIOS and 16GB running at 1866 MHz, on the Balanced Power Plan.
Keep in mind, though, that my memory seems to have 11-11-11 timings? (Whatever that means.)

[heilong]

Yeah, that's the first test I ran. Basically raw speed (sequential access) of the RAM. My result is 20.0 GB/s, yours is just slightly better. How about memory latency test? It's related to both frequency and timings, and basically tells you how fast is random access of the RAM.

Here's an awesome post that explains very well about timings: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... 20/d0mcui5

Btw, what's your 2 Tb HDD and how happy are you with it (how long did you have it)?

[apojoga]

Thanks, I'll read up on timings.

Which one is the latency test? The SiSoft interface is too sprawling and confusing.

This is my drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822178627

Zero problems so far. I get anywhere between 50-100 MB/s read on *unfragmented* files, but abandon all hope if the files are fragmented (I believe this can happen if you enable diskio.sparse_files in uTorrent, for example) -- it can drop to < 10 MB/s.

Had it for about 9 months now.

[heilong]

Agree on SiSoft interface! It's `Memory Controller > Cache & Memory Latency`.

Thanks for the HDD link. I'm considering getting a new Samsung 850 series mSATA SSD + a big HDD like yours. I was sure to disable sparse files in uTorrent when I was tweaking it's options the other day.

For some reason, after a couple of reboots (I was checking which settings are available in the BIOS Advanced menu, to look them up later - didn't change a thing) the Sleep function is working now. Weird. Quick search engine lookup of "Sleep is greyed out" pointed out to video (display adapter) driver problems, mine are fine though...

[apojoga]

Here is the latency. I'm not very happy with it It's probably due to the 11-11-11 timings my RAM sticks have?

http://i.imgur.com/14vsZJA.png

MOD warning: your picture is WAY too big, tags removed. Read the Forum Rules, especially Section 5.

[heilong]

Yes, due to the timings. I wouldn't worry too much about it! Same as I will not worry about my RAM working at 1600 rather than 1866 MHz. Deal?

[apojoga]

Deal.

I noticed your profile says you are from Russia. Would you be able to recommend a shop that ships overseas? I need an X220 keyboard with Cyrillic layout, shipped to Romania. If you happen to know a reliable place, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

[heilong]

Deal.

I noticed your profile says you are from Russia. Would you be able to recommend a shop that ships overseas? I need an X220 keyboard with Cyrillic layout, shipped to Romania. If you happen to know a reliable place, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

I'll reply by PM to avoid flooding here.