X220/X230 to flash or not to flash coreboot after FHD mod

[carcuevas]

Hi,

So after installing the FHD mod from Nitrocaster (but without the sense wire) , I am thinking in flashing coreboot into my X230 so I can install not whitelisted pci.. The problem here is since I don't have sense wire I had to force to use the displayPort fron the docking station as default screen, is there anyway you can set up that using coreboot or I will need to better remove the whitelist from my Lenovo bios and then reflash it back.?

Anybody with some ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance

[nitrocaster]

You can use external monitor so that it would be the only display in your system. Just make sure you disconnect both cables from the adapter board before powering up.

[carcuevas]

You can use external monitor so that it would be the only display in your system. Just make sure you disconnect both cables from the adapter board before powering up.

Well sorry but actually I think that maybe I wasn't clear in my post... What I wanted to say is that in order to use your mod as default screen (exactly what I want ) and not having problems whenever I'm on battery only, I need to setup in the bios as default screen (currently in the Lenovo bios for making your card work I need to setup as docking station external monitor as default screen and it works without any troubles).. So since I want to get rid of the Lenovo whitelist in bios, I have two options :

1- Mod my Lenovo bios and remove the whitelist and reflash it again
2- Use coreboot

I would go to the option 2, but not sure if I can would be able to use your mod wirh it since I'm not sure, I would be able to setup your mod as default screen (remember that I cannot use the sense wire).... So the question is, if somebody who has coreboot in his / her Lenovo can boot directly in other external monitor as default?

[patapovich]

I was thinking about installing coreboot too.

My FHD install is still in progress, i'm waiting for LCD-panel to arrive.
Not sure, but I suspect that only thing you need to change in coreboot is value of https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... ree.cb#L10
to 3. [1]


[1] https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... chip.h#L33

edit.

And in your case to remove https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... tree.cb#L7

[carcuevas]

I was thinking about installing coreboot too.

My FHD install is still in progress, i'm waiting for LCD-panel to arrive.
Not sure, but I suspect that only thing you need to change in coreboot is value of https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... ree.cb#L10
to 3. [1]


[1] https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... chip.h#L33

edit.

And in your case to remove https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... tree.cb#L7

Well that look impressive, actually I thought that there was needed to change some value in some config not the code itself, but it looks ay least quite congruent, I ordered some small wires for the clip so whenever I would receive it Ibwoyld give a try to this ans let's see... Thanks very much for your advice

[carcuevas]

I was thinking about installing coreboot too.


And in your case to remove https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... tree.cb#L7

I was having a look to this last line about removing the HotPlug for the DisplayPort, but what would happen if I want to add an external monitor let's say to the Mini DisplayPort output fom the side of the laptop?

Thanks

[patapovich]

I was thinking about installing coreboot too.


And in your case to remove https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/bl ... tree.cb#L7

I was having a look to this last line about removing the HotPlug for the DisplayPort, but what would happen if I want to add an external monitor let's say to the Mini DisplayPort output fom the side of the laptop?

Thanks

This should only have affect on dp_d e.g. the display port D which is the one you have the panel attached to.
I'm not sure if this is necessary or not.

You can always try

[carcuevas]

I was having a look to this last line about removing the HotPlug for the DisplayPort, but what would happen if I want to add an external monitor let's say to the Mini DisplayPort output fom the side of the laptop?

Thanks

This should only have affect on dp_d e.g. the display port D which is the one you have the panel attached to.
I'm not sure if this is necessary or not.

You can always try

Well definitely I will have to try out, I hope at least that one of the screen will work though after the first flash, to don't need to do all the time with the ponoma thing Well now I will need just to wait to my shorter cables to be able to read the chip and once I have done correctly the backup of the bios I will try that...

[patapovich]

This should only have affect on dp_d e.g. the display port D which is the one you have the panel attached to.
I'm not sure if this is necessary or not.

You can always try

Well definitely I will have to try out, I hope at least that one of the screen will work though after the first flash, to don't need to do all the time with the ponoma thing Well now I will need just to wait to my shorter cables to be able to read the chip and once I have done correctly the backup of the bios I will try that...

Actually I think the line is wrong in the first place.
It should be gpu_dp_b_hotplug, which is left side mini display port.

[carcuevas]

Well definitely I will have to try out, I hope at least that one of the screen will work though after the first flash, to don't need to do all the time with the ponoma thing Well now I will need just to wait to my shorter cables to be able to read the chip and once I have done correctly the backup of the bios I will try that...

Actually I think the line is wrong in the first place.
It should be gpu_dp_b_hotplug, which is left side mini display port.

Well I am asking in the mailist from coreboot, and they mentioned that indeed this options are changing the sequence for switching on the power and backlight to the screens'; but still I have two problems to solve:

1- The ponoma clip + RPi are not able to read my bios, I think I had just a problem with the module spidev, but even if I repair i still not working...
2- Still don't know if the screen will work with coreboot...

[Quantumcross]

I just flashed to coreboot... But I don't have a FHD mod kit yet. I hope it doesn't give me any problems!

[carcuevas]

I just flashed to coreboot... But I don't have a FHD mod kit yet. I hope it doesn't give me any problems!

Nice!! What method did you use for the flashing? the clip + Raspberry PI, or something else?

[Quantumcross]

Clip and raspberry pi. I didn't have much trouble with it.

I used the AC + wake on lan method of powering the EEPROM, I didn't power it with the raspberry pi 3.3v.

[carcuevas]

Clip and raspberry pi. I didn't have much trouble with it.

I used the AC + wake on lan method of powering the EEPROM, I didn't power it with the raspberry pi 3.3v.

The one I tried, for many times and no luck, don't know if the problem is with the clip itself, the Rpi(type B), I have some problems with the kernel modules, I installed the last two Debian releases availables, and the module spi-bcm2708 is not present, just the spi-bcm2835, and when I "modprobed" it and the spidev, it's creating the devices /dev/spidev0.* but the flashrom application is not working somehow... I already don't know what to do...

In the other hand, I asked in the coreboot mail list what about to power external screen, and I got the following response:

https://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/core ... 82956.html

So basically they told me not too have much hopes of making it work with coreboot, unless doing some reverse engineering or some ADA programming ...

[Quantumcross]

I read through the thread and It sounds like to me that there might not be a problem if you use the original extracted VGA BIOS. I wish I could be a guinea pig here, I will be ordering an FHD kit with the next batch.

[RealBlackStuff]

Some more coreboot instructions: http://karlcordes.com/coreboot-x220/
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... ter_intel/

[Quantumcross]

Reading what the one guy said in the mailing list: "I guess, the easiest option for your setup is to let SeaBIOS run the original Video BIOS with a modified VBT"

I looked into it a little bit and found that you can dump the VBT with the coreboot tool "intelvbttool"

There is one line that interests me...

Code: Select all

boot_display: { 0, 0 }

Still waiting for the mods to come back in stock..!

Code: Select all

sudo ./intelvbttool

signature: <$VBT SNB/IVB-MOBILE >
version: 1.00
VBT size: 0x116b
VBT checksum: 0x8b
BDB version: 1.68
section type 254, size 0xea
	type: 0
	relstage: 64
	chipset: 1
	LVDS
	No TV
	rsvd3[0]: 0x14
	rsvd3[1]: 0xd
	rsvd3[2]: 0x32
	rsvd3[3]: 0x31
	Signon: 61Intel(R) Sandybridge/Ivybridge PCI Accelerated SVGA BIOS
Build Number: 2161_RYan PC 14.34  12/07/2012  08:18:31
DECOMPILATION OR DISASSEMBLY PROHIBITED
	Copyright: 
Copyright (C) 2000-2011 Intel Corp. All Rights Reserved.


	Code segment: a
	DOS Boot mode: 0
	Bandwidth percent: c0
	rsvd4: 0x3
	Bandwidth percent: 8
	rsvd5: 0x4
section type 1, size 0x5
General features:
	panel_fitting = 0x3
	flexaim = 0x1
	download_ext_vbt = 0x1
	*enable_ssc = 0x1
	*ssc_freq = 0x0
	*display_clock_mode = 0x0
	disable_smooth_vision = 0x0
	*fdi_rx_polarity_inverted = 0x0
	rsvd10 = 0x4
	legacy_monitor_detect = 0x1
	*int_crt_support = 0x1
	*int_tv_support = 0x0
	dp_ssc_enb = 0x1
section type 253, size 0x32
section type 2, size 0x10d
	*CRT DDC GMBUS pin: 2
	DPMS ACPI: 0
	Skip boot CRT detect: 0
	DPMS aim: 1
	boot_display: { 0, 0 }
	8 devices
	*device type: 1022 (flat panel)
	 *dvo_port: 4
	 *i2c_pin: 0
	 *slave_addr: 0
	 *ddc_pin: 3
	 *dvo_wiring: 0
	 edid_ptr: 0
	*device type: 60d6 (Unknown)
	 *dvo_port: 7
	 *i2c_pin: 0
	 *slave_addr: 0
	 *ddc_pin: 5
	 *dvo_wiring: 1
	 edid_ptr: 0
	*device type: 60d6 (Unknown)
	 *dvo_port: 8
	 *i2c_pin: 0
	 *slave_addr: 0
	 *ddc_pin: 4
	 *dvo_wiring: 2
	 edid_ptr: 0
	*device type: 60d6 (Unknown)
	 *dvo_port: 9
	 *i2c_pin: 0
	 *slave_addr: 0
	 *ddc_pin: 6
	 *dvo_wiring: 3
	 edid_ptr: 0
	*device type: 0 (Empty)
	*device type: 0 (Empty)
	*device type: 0 (Empty)
	*device type: 0 (Empty)
section type 3, size 0x1
section type 4, size 0x1c
section type 252, size 0xc2
section type 6, size 0x75
section type 7, size 0x7
section type 8, size 0x3d
section type 9, size 0x60
section type 10, size 0xcb
section type 11, size 0xc7
section type 12, size 0x13
	*LVDS config: 1
	*Dual frequency: 1
section type 13, size 0x3
section type 14, size 0x9
section type 15, size 0x8b
section type 16, size 0x84
section type 17, size 0x8
section type 18, size 0xc
section type 19, size 0x20
section type 20, size 0x9e
section type 22, size 0x4b
	*Panel type: 3
section type 23, size 0x48
section type 24, size 0x28
section type 25, size 0x28
section type 26, size 0x2
section type 27, size 0xcc
section type 28, size 0x36
section type 29, size 0x34
section type 30, size 0x11
section type 40, size 0x18
section type 41, size 0x94
section type 42, size 0x4f0
section type 43, size 0x71
section type 44, size 0x15
section type 46, size 0xb0

[nrg-fv]

Hello everyone, my first post on this forum
Few days ago I've received my x230, this is the first thinkpad laptop I own and so far i like it very much. I would like to do the FHD mod on it and I would also like to install coreboot or later maybe even Heads if it's not much more complex than creating a coreboot rom. So far I've managed to successfully read both flash chips using raspberry pi and a soic clip. I've extracted required blobs, compiled all necessary cross compilers and created my first coreboot rom. I'll try to flash coreboot this weekend, hopefully this will work.

With regards to using coreboot and future FHD mod what I understand, after reading this forum, is that if I will have the mod installed correctly with the sense cable it should work the same way as with the original UEFI firmware, the only problem I can have is if the sense wire is missing like in carcuevas case and than firmware needs to be forced to choose the correct video output device?
My second question is about linux kernel patch linked by nitrocaster, https://gist.github.com/nitrocaster/2bb ... d162a48c73 has any of you who use linux and have the FHD mod done it, does it really disable LVDS?

[harryK]

My second question is about linux kernel patch linked by nitrocaster, https://gist.github.com/nitrocaster/2bb ... d162a48c73 has any of you who use linux and have the FHD mod done it, does it really disable LVDS?

Yes, it does. I came up with that patch, thanks to the help of the i915 devs, and have been using it for over two years. The patch completely disables LVDS and has the driver detect DP-D as an eDP port. That way you have brightness control and no screen duplication. Ah, the joys of free software.

Two things you have to keep in mind if you use it.

1. If you suspend or hibernate the laptop with the lid open it will immediately come up. This is annoying, but is easily fixed by disabling the lid as a wake up source. You have to do the following at every boot (put it in a startup script or something)

Code: Select all

echo LID > /proc/acpi/wakeup

To wake up the laptop you will have to press the AC button or fn key.

2. the screen will stay blank when docked to an Ultrabase 3. Mini dock works fine, ultrabase kills the screen. Never investigated why, as I am happy with my mini dock.

[nrg-fv]

Thank you for your reply harryK, it's good to hear that the patch is working as advertised and thank you also for helpful tips which I'm sure will find handy once I'll do the mod From your post I figure you use your laptop only when attached to a docking station that's why you don't need LVDS but I guess you haven't done FHD mod, have you?

BTW. Yesterday I've flashed coreboot into the 4MB chip and unlocked the 8MB using external flasher. All worked Than I flashed 8MB chip using internal flashing option from within the system with the rest of coreboot firmware which included neutered ME. All works fine so far, the only thing I had to do is to blacklist mei_me module as it wasn't happy that ME is missing I still have some problems with some drivers and ACPI as errors are showing in dmesg but I guess this is not the correct topic to discuss this.

[harryK]

Thank you for your reply harryK, it's good to hear that the patch is working as advertised and thank you also for helpful tips which I'm sure will find handy once I'll do the mod From your post I figure you use your laptop only when attached to a docking station that's why you don't need LVDS but I guess you haven't done FHD mod, have you?

I have the mod. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I use my laptop normally, and it works perfectly (video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4qizhnbui0). LVDS has to be disabled so that the operating system doesn't detect two screens (non-existent LVDS and DP-3/eDP). Windows, for instance, detects two screens and people have to configure them in mirroring mode if they want brightness control. Also, with two outputs powered the GPU consumes more energy.

The only problem is with Ultrabase 3: with this mod the internal screen doesn't come up when docked. However everything works with the mini-dock.

Good luck with your mod

[nrg-fv]

Thank you, luck will definitely be needed I've seen your video and correct me if I'm wrong but I'm guessing form a very fast boot time you also do have coreboot on your machine? As I've seen a splash screen with Lenovo I'm assuming coreboot was compiled with embedded vga bios or maybe you have a whole kernel as a payload? Was there anything you had to change within coreboot config because of FHD mod?

[jaspen-meyer]

So the question is, if somebody who has coreboot in his / her Lenovo can boot directly in other external monitor as default?

I have a T400 which does not have a display, it uses ONLY an external monitor.
The boot process does NOT display. During startup, the first output to the screen is a few lines of scrolling text just before the login screen.

it's creating the devices /dev/spidev0.* but the flashrom application is not working somehow... I already don't know what to do...

Option 1: Check your wiring is correct.
Option 2: Try disconnecting the 3.3v and Ground from the raspberry pi, and connect the ac adapter to power the eeprom.
Option 3: reduce electrical interference between the board and the external wires connecting the Pi to the chip.

It sounds like Raspberrian, the operating system, is set up correctly.