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Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
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micrex22
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Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#1 Post by micrex22 » Sat May 19, 2018 10:03 am

I have a T41 that I just upgraded with 2 GB of RAM, and now I want to put a different wifi card in it. Of course the whitelisted wifi module thing has to be dealt with.

The TTAV BIOS for the T42 and below only comes in diskette. Should I just use a USB diskette drive them to flash the BIOS? The other alternative would be to hack the TTAV T43 .ISO and inject it with the older BIOS, but I don't know if that'll pan out okay--I don't want to brick the BIOS.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#2 Post by ajkula66 » Sat May 19, 2018 11:58 am

OK colour me confused...

AFAIK TTAV BIOS (es) are for T43 only

Secondly, T41 and T42 share the same BIOS...

No-1802 hack works wonders on pre-T43 ThinkPads IME...
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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#3 Post by micrex22 » Mon May 21, 2018 11:22 am

ajkula66 wrote:
Sat May 19, 2018 11:58 am
OK colour me confused...

AFAIK TTAV BIOS (es) are for T43 only

Secondly, T41 and T42 share the same BIOS...

No-1802 hack works wonders on pre-T43 ThinkPads IME...
Correct, the T41/2 share the same BIOS along with other models, TTAV mentions that in that forum post here: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread- ... 4#pid28984

He did make a T40/41/42 BIOS mod (called T42-SLIC2.1_7U_no_1802) and the file reads as follows:
MOD BIOS 1RETDRWW (3.23) with SLIC 2.1 (LENOVOTP-7U) including also NO-1802 mod.

This release supports the following systems:
- ThinkPad R50, R50p
- ThinkPad R51 (M/T 1829, 1830, 1831 and 1836)(*1)
- ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p, T42, T42p

Note: (*1) Machine Type 2883, 2887, 2888, 2889, 2894 and 2895 of ThinkPad R51 family are not supported.
However, the .ROM is naked and does not have a bootable feature, which is why I'd either need to use IBM's diskette flasher utility or create a custom .ISO using the T43 BIOS flasher that does everything all-in-one from the bootable CD image. I'm just kind of lazy and timid, so just wanted to know how others deployed TTAV's T42 .ROM.

EDIT: I noticed TTAV's original post mentions "ThinkPad T41_T42_R50_R51_SLIC_No_whitelist.iso", so there -might- have been a fully formed .ISO at some point, but I definitely cannot find it and it probably has fallen off the internet.

EDIT #2: the advantage with this new BIOS is that you get SLIC and permanent no 1802

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#4 Post by micrex22 » Mon May 21, 2018 9:56 pm

So I just went ahead and created an IBM flashing diskette The problem is... IBM does not use a .ROM to store the BIOS, at least for this flashing option, it instead stores the BIOS in a .FL1 file along with a bush of other additional .SHAs, presumably to check the file???

Therefore I'm not entirely sure where to take this. IBM also released a utility to flash the BIOS in Windows XPloder edition, but I have a feeling it'll also use .FL1.

TTAV has this tip but I'm a little confused by it:
Tip: It doesn’t matter if you have download and install Windows 7 RTM retail version ISO or Windows 7 RTM OEM version ISO. Just use the following commands to convert to OEM version:

copy IBM-LENOVO.XRM-MS to C:

and in a dos box execute this 2 commands:

slmgr.vbs -ilc c:\IBM-LENOVO.XRM-MS

slmgr.vbs -ipk [redacted--some sort of product key]
That's just regarding windows activation and nothing to do with flashing a BIOS.

EDIT: I just extracted the installer and it instead uses 1RUJ37US.IMG, so *presumably* I could replace that with T42-SLIC2.1_7U_no_1802.ROM? But then I'd have to install XP and there's still a possibility the .IMG isn't fully compatible with the .ROM causing a corruption.

*sigh*

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#5 Post by micrex22 » Mon May 21, 2018 10:51 pm

So I got curious and decided to compare TTAV's T42-SLIC2.1_7U_no_1802.ROM and IBM's 1RUJ37US.IMG. I did find some similarities but there were a lot of dissimilarities. I also discovered some hilarious things about the IBM flashing utility #1 that it runs on IBM DOS 5.0, #2 it is illegally using a manufacturer's evaluation of Phlash16 that's not supposed to be distributed to customers. LOL! And #3 there's a lot of redundant repeated code, very messily made. This explains a lot of things though, especially why a lot of this mimics that of the PS/2-era utilities, because IBM is still using their same old DOS 5.0 code, and now Lenovo is too! Sheesh. While I had a good laugh though, I don't think the .ROM is compatible enough to just be slipped in underneath, so I will (later) need to investigate the TTAV T43 .ISO. But that has a few challenges I will outline, later.

==T42-SLIC2.1_7U_no_1802.ROM snippet==
TCPABBLK1RDRa06/18/07IBMSECUR
0000006/18/07EZ IBMTPBBV
TCPABIOS1RDRa06/18/07IBMSECUR
TCPACPUH1RDRa06/18/07IBMSECUR
SLICv LENOVOTP-7U LTP RSA1
LENOVOTP-7U WINDOWS
TCPAf ÃWAKE EVENT
ThinkPad 40p T40 T40p T41 T41p R50 R50p T42 T42p R51
IBM 123456789(X.XXx) XX/XX/XXXX
IBM ThinkPad T40p SERIAL#
IBM Not Available PLR-SERIAL#
IBM Not Available Not Available Not Available
IBM Not Available Not Available Not Available
IBM Not Available Not Available Not Available
None 000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000 Available
DIMM Slot 1
DIMM Slot 2
Internal L1 Cache
Internal L2 Cache
Not Available Serial
Not Available Infrared
Not Available Parallel
Not Available External Monitor
Not Available PS/2 Mouse
Not Available PS/2 Keyboard
Not Available External Diskette Drive
Not Available Line-In Jack
Not Available Line-Out Jack
Not Available Microphone Jack
Not Available Headphone Jack
Not Available S-Video-Out
Not Available Digital Video
Not Available Modem
Not Available Ethernet
Not Available USB 1
Not Available USB 2
Not Available USB 3
Not Available USB 4
Not Available USB 5
Not Available USB 6
Not Available IEEE1394
CardBus Slot 1
CardBus Slot 2
CardBus Slot 3
CardBus Slot 4
Mini-PCI Slot 1
PCI Slot 1
IBM Embedded Security hardware
IBM ThinkPad Embedded Controller
DIMM 1 Bank 0/1
DIMM 2 Bank 2/3
IBMCFGDATA
BOOTINF 20h BOOTDEV 21h KEYPTRS 23h KHOIHGIUCCHHII
PKLITE Copr. 1990-92 PKWARE Inc. All Rights Reserved
Not enough memory
Phoenix PowerManagement,Copyright 1985-1998,Phoenix Technologies Ltd.All rights reserved.
Docking station is removed or its ID is different, press F3 to power off system and restore correct docking station, press F4 to normal boot
S2D File/Partition was removed after power on. S2D is not possible and current session will be lost. Phoenix NoteBIOS v4.0 Save To Disk Manager Copyright (c) 1997 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Save To Disk in progress ... Please Wait Resume from Disk in progress ... Please Wait Status Progress Conventional Memory Extended Memory System Information Save to disk in progress. Please wait... Resume from disk in progress. Please wait... Please turn off your computer.
Do you want abort resume from hibernation? (Y/N) System memory removed, press F3 to power off system and restore memory chip, press F4 to normal boot
TCPABBLK1RDRa06/18/07IBMSECUR
=============================================

==1RUJ37US.IMG==
IBM 5 3y
NO NAME FAT12
Non-System disk or disk error
Replace and press any key when ready
IBMBIO COMIBMDOS COM
IBMBIO COM IBMDOS COM GUJ03US ONFIG SYS OMMAND COM SERINT EXE TILINFOEXE PDTFLSHEXE PDTROM EXE ROD DAT 0033000FL1 0033000FL2 LASH2 EXE 1RUJ37US 018F000FL1 PROD DAT PROD DA2 README TXT CHKBMP EXE UTILINFOEXE UPDTMN EXE LCREFLSHBAT UPDTFLSHEXE USERINT EXE FLASH2 EXE TPCHKS EXE QKFLASH EXE PHLASH16EXE
Non-System disk or disk error
Replace and press any key when ready
NO NAME FAT12 NO NAME FAT12 NO NAME FAT12 NO NAME FAT12 FAT12 FAT16 NO NAME NO NAME NO NAME NO NAME FAT12
(with loads more of NO NAME FAT12s repeated)
Internal stack overflow
System halted
HMA not available : Loading DOS low
Fatal Error:Cannot allocate Memory for DOS
VDISK V3.3 VDISK3.3
HIGH LOW UMB NOUMB PROTMAN
IBM DOS Version 5.00 (C)Copyright 1981-1992 IBM Corp Licensed Material - Property of IBM All rights reserved NUL CON AUX PRN \CONFIG.SYS A:\COUNTRY.SYS COUNTRY \COMMAND.COM BUFFERSBBREAKCDEVICED
DEVICEHIGHUFILESF FCBSX LASTDRIVEL
MULTITRACKM DRIVPARMPSTACKSK COUNTRYQSHELLS INSTALLI COMMENTY REM0 SWITCHES1 DOSH
FHSTDICN
Unrecognized command in CONFIG.SYS
$
Bad command or parameters - $
Sector size too large in file $
Bad or missing $Command Interpreter
Invalid country code or code page
$
Error in COUNTRY command
$
Insufficient memory for COUNTRY.SYS file
$
Configuration too large for memory
$
Too many block devices
$
Invalid STACK parameters
$
Incorrect order in CONFIG.SYS line $Error in CONFIG.SYS line $WARNING! Logical drives past Z: exist and will be ignored
$
IBM DOS Version 5.00 (C)Copyright 1981-1992 IBM Corp Licensed Material - Property of IBM All rights reserved
Divide overflow
You must have the file WINA20.386 in the root of your boot drive to run Windows in Enhanced Mode
A20 Hardware Error
ThinkPad T40p
IBM 12ÿ3456789(ÿX.XXx) XÛX/&bXXd
SERIAL Not Available
DIMM Sõl`1
Internalÿ L1 Cach
Serial
In¿frared
MonitkorE
S/2 KeybWoar
Diskett¿e DrivD
Lineÿ-In Jack
Micr§ophph
3.23$018F000.FL1
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program: ... <program name unknown> GetLastActivePopup GetActiveWindow MessageBoxA user32.dll 1#QNAN 1#INF 1#IND 1#SNAN

Phoenix Phlash16 Utility Version 1.4. Build 61 À ¼ýCopyright (c) Phoenix Technologies Ltd., 2002 À øýTHIS VERSION OF PHLASH16 IS FOR EVALUATION ONLY. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE TO CUSTOMERS À 2 ýFOR MANUFACTURING-USE ONLY. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE TO CUSTOMERS
=============================================

You'll notice both the .ROM and .IMG mirror the "Not available" (insert device here). However, IBM's puts a bunch of garbage in between the text. That's basically the only similarity I could find. LOL @ the IBM DOS 5.0 being repeated so many times.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#6 Post by micrex22 » Mon May 21, 2018 11:46 pm

Okay... so I compared both of TTAV's ROMs, and verified the T43 and T40/41/42 ROMs are very much identical.
Therefore I took the T43 .ISO and edited it with the T42 .ISO, the F.bat needed some changes (this is the part that I'm not 100% certain on but I don't think it's super necessary?)

I went ahead and burned my custom .ISO, after running (which it did almost complete--or maybe it did complete?) I got this thrown in my face with the system making the phoenix warning beep which is exactly what I was worried about:
Phoenix Phlash16 Error
Undefined error number -28640
RESTART SYSTEM WITH CRISIS DISKETTE
I just powered off the T41, powered it back on and it 'seems' to be working? The IBM BIOS states that the 1RETDRWW 3.23 BIOS is now present, I don't get a wifi whitelist issue and whatnot. OS/2 launches just fine.

Is the system still running bits of the old BIOS? Or... what? I'm glad that the mobo is still working because I would have been so heart broken, but I also don't want the system to just unceremoniously die now.

EDIT: if this is too over everyone's heads, perhaps I should see about sending TTAV a message directly and get the proper ISO? The older modded T4x BIOS (pre-T43) should have been kept preserved, anyways! I don't know how it was missed by everyone's radar. At any rate I think the T41 is still fine despite the failure of the BIOS flash. I'm surprised it's still running, but I guess if enough of a BIOS flashes through, it'll still operate? Hmm.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#7 Post by RealBlackStuff » Tue May 22, 2018 6:32 am

You can also check the (T42) BIOS with SLIC Toolkit if it now has Slic2.1.
I never had a T40/1/2, only T43, otherwise I'm sure I would have had something usable here.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#8 Post by micrex22 » Tue May 22, 2018 10:35 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 6:32 am
You can also check the (T42) BIOS with SLIC Toolkit if it now has Slic2.1.
I never had a T40/1/2, only T43, otherwise I'm sure I would have had something usable here.
Well I'm going to try and get the actual image. If that fails I mean... my modded one (despite failing) does seem to work... despite horribly complaining near the end of a CRISIS.
Once I get all of this rounded up it'll be uploaded to my website. I just get sick in my stomach when important software goes missing.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#9 Post by micrex22 » Wed May 23, 2018 5:59 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 6:32 am
You can also check the (T42) BIOS with SLIC Toolkit if it now has Slic2.1.
I never had a T40/1/2, only T43, otherwise I'm sure I would have had something usable here.
Hey Dom (& George)!!! GUESS WHAT! I just re-read the ending bits of that forum in greater detail, and look what it says:
cyberpark: "It has stopped flashing at last. so I have to shutdown power and being preparing phoneix recovery disk. but when the laptop is turn on, it turn on correctly without problem and accept other wifi card."
TTAV134: "The flashing error message is useless, forget it."
So... it appears the flash failure is an expected behaviour when flashing the T40, T41 and T42 with this custom ROM, but it will end up flashing perfectly fine in the end--since I had the same end result as cyberpark (although I never bothered with the phoenix recovery diskette).

Therefore it looks like my rebuilt .ISO is in fact a success. I'll be publishing it later, I might even create a thread with all of these resources on T4x so it's all in one place and people know what to do. Granted I guess nobody cares much for a T42 and lower when there's the T43, but sometimes you might be gifted a free T41 ;)

I'm sort of wondering at this point how many people used this BIOS since everyone who has used it would have encountered this (and it would be quite the shock). I suppose so few downloaded it and burned it on that... it's sort of remained an enigma. I'm guessing the majority used the 'soft' fix for the whitelist problem? Of course you don't get SLIC but whatever.

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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#10 Post by ajkula66 » Wed May 23, 2018 8:28 pm

I've learned a *lot* in this thread, thank you micrex22... :thumbs-UP:

Not to mention the fact that there's actually a T42 on its way to me as I'm writing this...time to tinker with it seems to be coming soon.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

micrex22
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Re: Options for TTAV BIOS on T41?

#11 Post by micrex22 » Sun May 27, 2018 10:36 pm

ajkula66 wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 8:28 pm
I've learned a *lot* in this thread, thank you micrex22... :thumbs-UP:

Not to mention the fact that there's actually a T42 on its way to me as I'm writing this...time to tinker with it seems to be coming soon.
Well I've learned a lot from yourself and RBS over the years myself. I wouldn't have done some of my crazy ThinkPad mods otherwise!

I've uploaded the T40/41/42 BIOS, and the download URL can be found here: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=126293

UNfortunately the rest of the TTAV BIOSes seem to be lost just as the T40/41/42 gets recreated, lol.

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