Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Has anybody tried the hack of the boot.bin in win2k, as mentioned in: http://martigny.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/th ... /0137.html and also in: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... 26hs%3DlTt .
I have tried, and the results are:
- No hack: BIOS recognises 262144KB of memory installed, but when starting win2k normally, the computer freezes in the first screen. Starting Safeboot, stops and freezes at loading drivers. In both cases a reboot is required.

- With the hack: normal or Safe boot, the computer stops after the screen of win2k loading....and a blue screen is shown with the message, something like: " STOP: 0x000000A5(0x00000002,0x81875008,0x81850B88,0x00000002).
The ACIP in this system is not fully compliant with ACIP specs.....
You can contact your system's supplier for an updated BIOS..........(I have the latest version 1.03.23 installed).....
If you are unable to obtain an updated BIOS, you cna turn off ACPI mode during text mode setup. To do this simply press the F7 key when you are prompted to install storage drivers.....................................it will silently disable ACPI and allow you to continue your installation."

Before reinstalling win2k with the F7 thingy, I wiil appreciate any comments or experiences.

By the way, a nice picture of the infamous 192MB mem chip is in: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... F%26sa%3DG.

Many thanks

Cheers

HI,

THE HACK WORKS!!!!!! No need to cut the soldered memory anymore.
On top of the changes to the boot.bin, I disabled the ACPI following: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q237556/ and the 240x booted Ok and is working like a charm!!!!!

All the hardware is detected after rebooting with no problems.

Only snagging things are related to power management like: you have to turn off manually after shutting down windows, and in the power saving options the the monitor is turned off but yet did not managed to get the HDD turned off. But I think this are minor problems.

Will some of the more qualified members of this forum with 240x's test my findings to be sure they are OK???

Many thanks


Cheers

Hello oski,

I've got a TP 240X here and had a 256Mb memory module (16-chip version from Dimmax) lying around. Installed it and the BIOS reported 256Mb.
Added the /maxmem=256 entry to c:\boot.ini. (I have Win2000 Pro installed).
Re-booted and, hey got the same blue screen as you with the same error code.
So far so good.

Continued to the KB article from Microsoft.
Now I need to know exactly what you did as the article gives different solutions.
Did you do a complete re-install of Win2000?
Or did you manage to disable ACPI in another way?

Hello "oski",

IT WORKS!!! 256Mb in my Thinkpad 240X without cutting/soldering or whatever!
Briljant! Thanks a lot for figuring this out.

If anyone is interested in a detailed instruction, I can post it here.

Hi emeu1,

Glad you tested and liked the hack!!!!

By the way also works with my Pclinuxos, using GRUB, with just mem=256 added. No need to disable ACPI in this case.

Cheers!!

emeu1:

I'm interested in seeing your instructions for the 240X running W2K! Would you mind posting them?

I'm going to try this on mine w/ XP Pro SP3 installed, 1.) first w/ a 192MB module I bought here in the US, and 2.)with a 256MB module also from the US.

Too bad the Japanese site doesn't say which Windows OS he used to get it working on after he changed the boot.ini file!

Hi emoticonartist,

1. If your 192MB stick is low density, you do not need any hack. If is not, it will not work. Compare with the picture as mentioned before.

2. I think it will work with both win2k or winxp, as they are somehow from the same NT origin.

3. I tried with win2k, and linux as mentioned before.

Cheers!!

oski

Hello emoticonartist,

here are the detailed instructions:

Before changing anything, start your 240X as usually (boot Win200).
Copy c:\boot.ini to c:\boot_cpy.ini (keep a copy, just in case something goes wrong).
Remark: if you don't see boot.ini, enable viewing hidden files in Windows Explorer by:
Tools=>Folder options...
Click the "View" tab
Click "Show hidden files and folders"
Remove "v" before "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"
Click "Yes" (to accept the warning).
Click OK

Right click (after making a copy) on boot.ini and choose "Open"
You will see something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

add the text:

/maxmem=256

after /fastdetect (enter a space inbetween)

Copy the Windows 2000 installation CD to your hard drive (for instance under C:\W2KCD).
As the TP240X has no CD-ROM drive, I copied the CD on another computer to my USB stick
and then from the USB stick to C:\W2KCD on the 240X. For the rest of the document, I
assume the Windows 2000 installation CD was copied under C:\W2KCD. If you choose another
folder, replace C:\W2KCD for the folder you choose.

Choose Start=>Run, enter
CMD
and press the Enter key.
At the DOS prompt type:
c:
cd \w2kcd\i386
winnt32

Choose to upgrade Windows 2000 Professional. Seems silly, I know, but according to
Microsoft KB article 237556 it is the recommended way to change the hardware abstraction
layer (HAL).
Windows will ask for the product key, have it ready.
As soon as the informational message:

Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.

is shown, press F5. From the list of displayed HAL's, choose:

Standard PC

Continue and for the rest follow the instructions to complete the update proces.
Reboot if Windows requests you to do so.

After the upgrade has finished, shutdown the computer.
Install the 256Mb memory module.
Start the 240X, enter the BIOS.
The BIOS should indicate 262144 Kb
If the BIOS does not show 262144 Kb, then you have a wrong type 256Mb memory module.
Normally you need a 16-chip one (8 chips per side).

Exit BIOS and boot Windows.
Log in (if necessary).
Windows 2000 now needs, due to the change of the HAL, several updates.
Therefor, start Microsoft update and get all updates. Some updates need a reboot so
you will need to start Microsoft update again after a reboot until Microsoft update
indicates that there are no more updates for your computer.

The last thing you need to do is to re-install the audio driver (see the Lenovo
website for details and the driver itself). All other drivers and applications are
preserved during the Windows 2000 update. Why the audio driver needs re-installing?
I don't know but it is a small task.

That's all! Check My Computer, properties and/or start Task Manager and you will
see that Windows see's and uses 256Mb.
The only difference is that some power management functions fail and if you shut
down Windows 2000, it won't turn of your 240X but will display a message:

It is safe to turn of your computer now.

I can live with that for a 33% increase of internal memory!

Hi,

Did not reinstall w2k.
I have a copy of the i386 filder in c:/.
Wtih the 128MB stick still in I did the boot.ini editing and from Device Manager>240x>PC>ACPI>Properties>update driver>let me select...>show all drivers>StandardPC> install.
All hardware will be detected, and after a couple of reboots, changed to the 256MB stick and "That's All Folks".

Cheers!!!

Hello oski,

that's a shorter way to the same result.
I opted for the "optimum method" (as Microsoft calls it in their KB article) for changing the HAL.
Good to know it also works the way you did.

Today my "non sticking out" USB 2.0 PCMCIA card arrived.
I just installed it in my 240X. Together with the 256Mb memory, a 120Gb HD and integrated 54Mb/s WLAN it's now complete (from a hardware point of view).

Hi emeu1,

1. Which brand/model is your PCMCIA Card?
2. I am using INTEL 2915abg miniPCI wireless, and yours is?
3. Any ideas for an alternative to WZC, as available in winxp?

Cheers!!

Hello Oski,

1. I assume you mean the USB 2.0 PCMCIA card? I've bought this one:
http://cgi.ebay.de/USB-2-0-Laptop-2-Por ... dZViewItem

2. I've installed a miniPCI Askey AR5BMB5 54Mb/s (802.1b/g) WLAN card. This card has an Atheros chipset (took me a while to figure that out). The Atheros driver and utility set (version 5.0.0.107) works fine with this card. I routed both antennes into the LCD screen. Reception is perfect.

3. What do you mean with "WZC"?

Hi,

- WZC: windows Zro Configuration as available in winxp but not in w2k.

- Very brave of you in routing both antennas under the LCD. I decided not to run the risk of damaging my screen an put them under the keyboard, not ideal but works.

Cheers

Hello Oski,

Aha, now I understand. No, I don't have an alternative for WZC.
However, I really don't need one. The Atheros utility allows me to store about 20 wireless LAN connections with their individual settings. So, once set, I simply select the correct profile and the connection is made.

chanced upon this great website having decided to pull out my old 240x to use while traveling through some risky parts of China...

decided i couldn't stand running XP with only 128MB of ram, so i got to reading about cutting off the extreme right chip and rolled the dice by taking a trip to the nearby used computer parts store IMMEDIATELY after reading about it, yesterday afternoon (China time).

the helpful shopkeeper provided me with a bare box cutter blade and a screw driver and i got down to removing the keyboard, taking out the installed piece of ram, and began furiously sawing away at all its "feet" (the shopkeeper didn't want any thing to do with me upon hearing about my impending task).

once they were all cut, the chip was easily lifted on one side and bent around until it came free from the circuit board.

by this time, a small appreciative crowd of chinese computer afficionados had gathered to marvel at the crazy guy hacking at his exposed thinkpad, some mumbling that i was crazy to be doing this (i wasn't gentle with my cutting because i had been going crazy at how slow the computer was the whole time i've had it) - most of them felt the installed 64MB and the new 256MB (low density kingston) ram would work just fine together.

it didn't matter that just a moment before sawing commenced, i had shown many of them that windows refused to boot up - as documented by many on the forum.

thankfully someone in the midst reminded me i should ensure the cut legs are not touching, and the same gentleman bravely came forward, took up the blade, and scraped inbetween all the "left over" contact points (feet) - i had almost wanted to stick the kingston ram in, close it up and start 'er up!

i did just that after my new assistant completed his scraping task, and the crowd held its breath...

everything worked fine. the crowd clapped, and started to talk about the new "laptop surgeon" that's in town...

it's not as difficult as it seems, even for a non-techie like me! but you can bet i was nervous during the whole process...

won't be doin the 5400/7200RPM HDD upgrade, won't do the internal miniPCI wifi card upgrade either, as both would suck more juice and create more heat (happy to use an external belkin USB wifi stick).

however, i might try to find a non-protruding USB 2.0 CardBus product when i next travel through Hong Kong.

train ticket to/fro computer parts mall: US$1
256MB RAM: US$10
having your only laptop run much faster while stuck in a foreign country: priceless!

Almost a year to the day that Oski posted his OS tweaks for use of 256MB in a 240X, I tried a variation of the advice and now have a happy 240X with memory at capacity running xubuntu.

Maybe a typo, but I was taking a break from the start of cutting the onboard memory out when I looked up the Linux boot options to add to grub2. The option that allowed the machine to boot was "mem=256M". The "M" is a mandatory part indicating megabyte units.

Anyway, it works great--no cutting, no dremel, no risk. I added it to the grub2 defaults so that I don't have to manually add it for the next kernel upgrade.

Just wanted to say thanks for the tip, and I'm sure the /maxmem option would also work for XP... I just wish more people had spread this around over the last year--I'm sure a lot of TP motherboard memory was cut with good intentions and some risk, but it's just not necessary for a working boot.

Hi,

Thanks for updating this issue.

I am using the mem=256M with Puppy and PCLinux.

Glad you found it usefull.

Cheers!