Adding internal USB sockets into an X250/260?

[JimNix]

I'm thinking of picking up an X250 or 260 but wondering if it's possible to add an internal usb socket inside the laptop. I've searched around online and seen mention that a Mini PCI-E to USB adaptor like this or this might do the job if I replace the WWAN or M.2 SSD with one. The only concern I have is that it might have issues with the BIOS whitelist might stop it from working.

Has anyone tried this before or have any other ideas how to get it to work?

[w0qj]

Wow, adding an internal USB port into X250/X260?
If successful, you'll probably be amongst the first ones to do this!

1. A fellow ThinkPadder (probably not from this forum) shared in great detail how he had successfully added an internal USB port into his X220.
But by doing this mod, it meant that his X220 would no longer have bluetooth capability.
http://ryanrudolfoba.com/blog/2018-12-0 ... nkpad-x220

2. Other external websites which may or may not be useful to you:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Ta ... d-p/683825
www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/7kdq ... _the_t450s

***Should you succeed in your endeavour, please feel free to share with us on this Forum. Good luck!

[madicetea]

I'm thinking of picking up an X250 or 260 but wondering if it's possible to add an internal usb socket inside the laptop. I've searched around online and seen mention that a Mini PCI-E to USB adaptor like this or this might do the job if I replace the WWAN or M.2 SSD with one. The only concern I have is that it might have issues with the BIOS whitelist might stop it from working.

Has anyone tried this before or have any other ideas how to get it to work?

At least for X250, the BIOS whitelist was removed after a certain BIOS version and before that version, there were custom BIOS that could be loaded on as well.

I tried a different mod (and succeeded) to put not only a 1TB SSD card in the WWAN slot, but another 1TB SSD card in the CardReader space using the adapter meant for a small cache SSD.

I suppose I would target that space (volumetric availability-wise) for your mod. Good luck!

[JimNix]

Tried it today on my X250 using a NGFF B key to Mini PCI-E adapter attached to one of the Mini PCI-E to USB adaptors. Sadly I get an Error 2010 on boot which is a BIOS error with the BIOS detecting it as a faulty mSATA drive. Updated to the latest BIOS and still get the same error.

Tried the Mini PCI-E card in a Gigabyte laptop though that doesn't detect the card at all. Not sure if the card is faulty or if they don't work on laptops (though that'd be weird). Ordered another card to see if i can exclude a faulty card as an issue.

[madicetea]

Tried it today on my X250 using a NGFF B key to Mini PCI-E adapter attached to one of the Mini PCI-E to USB adaptors. Sadly I get an Error 2010 on boot which is a BIOS error with the BIOS detecting it as a faulty mSATA drive. Updated to the latest BIOS and still get the same error.

Tried the Mini PCI-E card in a Gigabyte laptop though that doesn't detect the card at all. Not sure if the card is faulty or if they don't work on laptops (though that'd be weird). Ordered another card to see if i can exclude a faulty card as an issue.

Good luck and keep us updated.

[xytech]

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... 0_m2_slot/

I did this a couple of years ago. There was a modder who designed an M.2 2242 to USB 4 port hub. The M.2 uses the USB lanes from the WWAN port but apparently it's either blocked by BIOS or something is there that prevents booting.

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