X201 hangs in BIOS, slow POST

[TPFanatic]

POST takes around 2 minutes to get to Thinkpad screen, then another 2 minutes to start loading an OS at which point the lappy functions completely as normal.

I can get into the BIOS but pressing enter on "Config" results in another long hang followed by no response from the keyboard (onboard or USB) so I can't do anything in there.

I could get into the "Security" settings and can toggle disabling / enabling the Security Chip, if that's contributing to the issue here.

I want to get to disable Intel AMT but that's under "Config".

Already tried reflashing the Lenovo BIOS to no effect.

When I last put this laptop away it was throwing the NVRAM Storage Full errors which no one has a solution for. At least it can boot again, somehow. Any hope of resuscitating this?

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you tried a fresh new HD/SSD?

[TPFanatic]

Yes. With or without a drive the POSTing issues persist. There's actually very little IO plugged in, just the lid, keyboard, CMOS batt, and fan. When I do put in a Windows drive or Ubuntu USB they will eventually boot after 5 minutes of POSTing. I'm unable to modify any settings under "Config" in the BIOS.

Seems there's a common underlying issue in Arrandale Thinkpads.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/forums/v3_ ... 041/page/1

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T ... -p/1760537

It's related to the darn Intel AMT backdoor.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X ... d-p/811249

Disabling Intel AMT in the BIOS wrecks the BIOS.

Since I can boot Windows I'll see what I can do about updating Intel AMT firmware, but if it's already disabled in the BIOS there's probably no saving it....

edit:

This Intel ME 6.2 firmware update refuses to work, says it can't communicate with the ME chip. Figures. In Device Manager the Intel ME Interface has the caution symbol and properties shows "Code 10".

Open source BIOS is probably the only way out of this. I don't have an external flasher or the IT knowledge of how to use one, tho.

[Geartooth]

I had the same Late POSTing with my X200. Unplug the CMOS and wait a while. I waited 20 mins and restarted it. It booted up fine, albeit with BIOS version 1.01. Reflash the BIOS and it should work.

[jaspen-meyer]

I had the same Late POSTing with my X200. Unplug the CMOS and wait a while. I waited 20 mins and restarted it. It booted up fine, albeit with BIOS version 1.01. Reflash the BIOS and it should work.

I was thinking the same thing: remove cmos, hold power button for 10 seconds, restart.

As far as I know opensource bios won't work on that board. You can pick up a broken machine on ebay and use its mb.

[shawross]

The Arandale in the X201 is susceptible to ME problems and maybe this was because it was the first generation with the newer ME.

If I enable mine in the BIOS I get the 4 or 5 beeps which repeats. I seem to get a slight battery drain when my laptop is shutdown and I don't know if this is attributable to the ME.

Although I was able to update the firmware for the recent backdoor exploit and and then I disabled in BIOS and my system boots fine . I ran the Intel Detection software and mine came back as fixed which is good.

For your issue disabling ME just sets it back to default settings and this does nothing other than clear settings.

I would update your ME drivers and see if you can get into the ME software and see what is going on. Maybe you could update your BIOS and I assume you have reset your embedded controller.

Goodluck

[alisan]

I have the same problem on a x200s. The driver fails in Linux to communicate to ME, tried also a windows setup, same thing, driver fails.

I tried to remove the cmos battery, but not for 20 minutes, just for few minutes, same problem. I'll try again to remove the cmos battery for longer time, when I get back home from my long trip.

[dr_st]

This certainly seems like a bug in the ME-BIOS communication on Arrandale machines. Something in the BIOS does not respond properly when ME is disabled.

I recently tried to disable ME on my T410 (through the Ctrl+P menu), and the slow POST (15-20 seconds) + long hang in BIOS config menu (~2 minutes) started happening. Once I re-enabled ME in the Ctrl+P menu, both problems went away.