Thinkpads Forum

With alot of help I had the http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/resources/ modded bios flashed to my x220t, (Thanks RealBlackStuff) I notice some standard things seemed to be default turned off like intels built in virtualization, one thing I noticed in teh advanced menu, but didn't change yet is processor fast strings have been turned off, the only thing I can find on google (couldn't find anything about them here) is that processor fast strings should be enabled, is this true? I heard changing the wrong thing can brick the tablet, is there a list of recommeded settings for this modded bios and what some more obscure settings do?

So noone here has enabled fast strings with this bios mod? Hm.

Try it and find out. Chances are you'll find very litte and unnoticeable performance increase. I find it hard to believe that "changing the wrong setting can brick the tablet". I call BS on that.

Read this: http://www.win-raid.com/t1976f16-ThinkP ... -BIOS.html
The are not talking about the same BIOS, but a very similar one.
I'd say a lot of care is required.

I also have that McDonnell BIOS on my X220, basically for the Whitelist removal.
Made no other changes, and have no intentions either, but it's nice to have such advanced options, to say the least.

I've bricked plenty of machines while playing around with bios.
It's not a myth and it's a terrible feeling when you first realize you've bricked a machine and .

Have since unbricked all of them using 'flashrom' and a raspberry pi model B.

I have the McDonnell BIOS on my x220! Let me boot it up and try 'fast strings: enabled'...

Works fine for me. But, "I'd say a lot of care is required" are words worth considering, as is the question, what will I do if I do brick the machine?

jaspen-meyer wrote:I've bricked plenty of machines while playing around with bios.
It's not a myth and it's a terrible feeling when you first realize you've bricked a machine and .

Have since unbricked all of them using 'flashrom' and a raspberry pi model B.

I have the McDonnell BIOS on my x220! Let me boot it up and try 'fast strings: enabled'...

Works fine for me. But, "I'd say a lot of care is required" are words worth considering, as is the question, what will I do if I do brick the machine?

If you got the tools to resurrect and reflash the bios again, and a spare x220 board you'd be willing to sacrifice in the name of science if one of the advanced settings actually manages to fry a component, it would be great to see what advanced settings do what, for others that don't have the luxury of unbricking a laptop. Or am I mistaken that you can "unbrick" x220 bios? (really tired at the moment) Apparently the guys here with x220s think the bios disabling fast strings by default is "dumb", but what they're talking about is over my head. And even they seem slightly wary about enabling fast strings. https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/2507111/

If you are a bit anxious about it, maybe you should just flash the original Lenovo BIOS 1.43 over it again...
ISO for making Bootable CD: http://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/migr-77151

Nah, I'll keep the mod, I can keep my fingers off the advanced settings I'm just curious as to what they all do, but I'm not gonna experiment, and I like my whitelistings, and I'm sure someone will figure out all the settings out in time.