Thinkpads Forum

I am trying to access the BIOS for an X220 Tablet so that I can enable booting from a USB, as the current OS installed on it is broken. Unfortunately, the screen of the actual laptop is broken, and if I understand correctly, by default, the BIOS only outputs to its primary monitor (the laptop screen). I have an external monitor that I can use by connecting via a VGA cable. I have read somewhere that manually removing the screen module from some laptops will force it to output its BIOS to an externally connected monitor. However, I have also heard that this method does not work for some laptops. Would this method work for the X220 Tablet? Or are there alternative methods I can try to get it to output the BIOS to an external monitor. If it is at all relevant, the external monitor is coincidentally a ThinkVision monitor.

Adding some additional context after some testing: I've experimented with trying to convince the laptop the lid is closed to see if that makes it output externally. When I boot it up normally (lid open when pressing the power button, the external monitor is black until it displays the Lakka linux splashscreen (which is broken, so it freezes). When I keep the lid as close to closed as possible and jam my hand in there just enough to press the power button, I actually get the "ThinkPad" startup screen to output to the external monitor (and I notice that the backlight on the broken laptop screen doesn't turn on). However, even when I spam-press F1 as I turn it on this way, I still can't manage to get into the BIOS. The computer just boots normally after the ThinkPad startup screen and takes me to the Lakka splashscreen again. Any advice at this stage would be appreciated!

Close the lid and plug in an external keyboard?

I've tried closing the lid and plugging in an external keyboard, and that brings me to the situation in my second post where I get that ThinkPad startup screen on the external monitor but can't interrupt it with F1 to get into the BIOS. Clearly it makes some kind of a difference however since leaving the lid open doesn't give me a startup screen on the external monitor at all. I've ruled out the F1 key being busted on the external keyboard since even using the laptop keyboard itself (while jamming my hand in between the lid and the keyboard so that it still believes it is shut) doesn't seem to help. I also tried using a fridge magnet to trick the sensor near the camera that the lid was closed, but that didn't work at all and the laptop screen backlight still turned on.

knataz wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 15, 2024 2:40 pm

The computer just boots normally after the ThinkPad startup screen and takes me to the Lakka splashscreen again. Any advice at this stage would be appreciated!

Take the hard drive out. Without a bootable drive, the Thinkpad cannot boot past the BIOS. Hopefully it will allow you to enter the BIOS.