Disabling batery validation on a new x230 without battery

[umbe1987]

Dear all,

I recently purchased a x230 for 100 bucks. I am still waiting to receive it, but it will come without the battery.
As I wish not to spend more money on the battery than the laptop itself, I was thinking about using a third party battery.
I am pretty confident I can follow along the instructions provided at https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec on how to flash the BIOS and disabling the battery check.
However, I am a bit scared when it says:

The firmware flash process generally requires you to have a charged battery plugged in to the laptop before it will complete.

On the following line it also reads:

It may be possible to bypass the requirement for a charged battery if you unplug the battery completely.

So my question simply is: has anyone attempted to do this WITHOUT having any battery plugged into the laptop at all?
Or will it be enough to just plug a charged third party battery in during this process?
I guess the latter should not work as the system would expect the battery to be genuine before the flash to work properly, but I might be wrong.
Thanks for any feedback!

[Cigarguy]

I've upgraded many BIOS with a 3rd party battery.

There's a reason why most laptops check that a battery is installed before allowing you to flash the BIOS. Wait for the laptop to arrive, then play with it.

[umbe1987]

I've upgraded many BIOS with a 3rd party battery.

There's a reason why most laptops check that a battery is installed before allowing you to flash the BIOS. Wait for the laptop to arrive, then play with it.

Thanks for the feedback, this is encouraging!
Does that mean I should have a 3rd party battery plugged in the laptop during flashing?
Bear in my mind that the laptop comes with no battery, so I need to buy one.
My question was if it would be better not to have a battery plugged in at all during the last flashing phase, or better to have a battery plugged in even if it is a 3rd party one.
From what you say, it seems I should have the battery plugged in, is that correct?
Again, thanks for sharing your experience!

[Cigarguy]

Yes you need a battery. Most laptops require you to have a good battery installed in order to flash the BIOS.

Also, why flash the BIOS? If it is not broken don't fix it until it breaks.

[umbe1987]

Yes you need a battery. Most laptops require you to have a good battery installed in order to flash the BIOS.

Also, why flash the BIOS? If it is not broken don't fix it until it breaks.

Sorry, it's probably a misunderstanding or the lack of a proper tech language...
I thought that in order to use a 3rd party battery with a x230 one has to delete the battery validation checking before, otherwise it won't work (or at least won't charge?).
Probably, I meant "lack of proper tech language" in that I don't have to flash the BIOS but the "Embedded Controller" (EC) to do that, is that correct?
Basically following the instructions given at https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec

I hope I explained myself clearly this time

[RealBlackStuff]

3rd party batteries will work fine, but they will not charge until you remove that EC-check.
You can use most other Lenovo batteries from that era with an extension cord: viewtopic.php?p=680106#p680106

[umbe1987]

3rd party batteries will work fine, but they will not charge until you remove that EC-check.
You can use most other Lenovo batteries from that era with an extension cord: viewtopic.php?p=680106#p680106

Thanks for your answer!
This brings me to my original question: will I be able to remove the EC-check using a 3rd party battery or not plugging any battery at all in the laptop (as mine will come without battery)?
Sorry to keep asking, but I feel like I still miss the answer I am looking for so far (probably it's just me and my english comprehension (I am Italian)...).

[RealBlackStuff]

You can try without, or with any external if without does not work.

[umbe1987]

You can try without, or with any external if without does not work.

Thanks, I will post my result as I will have both the laptop and battery in my hands!

[umbe1987]

Just to let you know that I just received and tried the battery (which is this one: https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B07MTY ... UTF8&psc=1).
The battery is correctly recognized and apparently in good condition (I know I would need to see if this is true within some time, but still the output of the linux command "inxi-Bxxx" is promising, as it gives me a 82% condition, and Charging when AC adapter is plugged in).
So, no need for the EC flash (unfortunately for me, I was waiting to do it ).
And yes, I use Linux (mint on this machine), but I don't think this makes a difference as the check is done in the BIOS I guess.
Only thing I've noticed, is that the battery misses one of the two side-clips which is supposed to go in the lock-spot of the laptop case (to clairify, I just need to open only one of the two switches to unplug the battery from the laptop). Still I consider myself lucky.

[dr_st]

Just to let you know that I just received and tried the battery (which is this one: https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B07MTY ... UTF8&psc=1).
The battery is correctly recognized and apparently in good condition (I know I would need to see if this is true within some time, but still the output of the linux command "inxi-Bxxx" is promising, as it gives me a 82% condition, and Charging when AC adapter is plugged in).

Thanks for letting us know. This confirms what I had been suspecting - that in recent years third party battery manufacturers have learned how to set up their batteries so that they pass Lenovo's battery check.

Only thing I've noticed, is that the battery misses one of the two side-clips which is supposed to go in the lock-spot of the laptop case (to clairify, I just need to open only one of the two switches to unplug the battery from the laptop). Still I consider myself lucky.

That's normal, I think. The clip marked as (1) is in the laptop, not in the battery. When moved to 'locked' position, it slides into a groove in the battery and keeps it firmly locked in place. It's optional anyways - the battery can be held just by the clip marked as (2), it just wobbles more this way.

[cadillacmike68]

I can't stand the batteries and ThinkPads that have two clips / slide locks that you have to slide AND pull the battery. Did a three handed person design those???

I'm glad you finally decided to buy a battery.

[dr_st]

I can't stand the batteries and ThinkPads that have two clips / slide locks that you have to slide AND pull the battery. Did a three handed person design those???

On most such Thinkpads, the first latch stays in place after being moved to unlocked position. You don't actually need to hold both of them and pull at the same time. This is the case with the X220/X230, and Thinkpad 25/T470; but not with the T470p, for example (that one actually requires to actively hold both latches for some reason.

[Olivier]

Hello All,

I hope its on the right place for my question.
I have been downloading the image for disabling the battery check on the x230 but i cannot "burn" the image on a DVD nor on a USB as both tell me that the image is not valid.
Does anyone has a proper image i could use? Or what is going wrong?
Thank you all
olivier
the image i have is from there:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pgd6o6gn3xkvl ... d.x230.zip

[RealBlackStuff]

Instead download that image from https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec

[Olivier]

Thank you, but wich one of them?
would that be that one?
https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkp ... 6697714a53

When I click on it i do not see the download image though?

[RealBlackStuff]

Rightclick on x230.G2HT35WW.img.d and then "Save Link As..."

Or rather, using a browser like Firefox, go to https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec
Click on the green Code, then click on Download ZIP to get the whole shebang.
(thinkpad-ec-master.zip)

[Olivier]

Thank you, sorry for the bak and forth but it doesn't save it as an image but html firefox file?

[RealBlackStuff]

That xx.img.d is a zip with patch files.
Maybe time to read up on what and how it's done?

[Olivier]

Thank you but its not coming up as a ZIP file. I can open ZIP. Its not what ui get downloaded as

[RealBlackStuff]

Where does it say that you have to 'unzip' or even open that file?
RTFM.

[Olivier]

There is no Zip folder which is the issue.
I tried to post an image of what i get but it need a url link then cannot show it.
It is just a regular file that can't be open?
Thank you

I have little to no interent too then this is why i reply on the slow side...

[RealBlackStuff]

Zip is a general term to denote 'archive' files.
Depending on what program you open it with, the content varies wildly.
With Windows Explorer, the xx.img.d shows 10 patch files.
With EditpadPro that same file shows me about 2,390 lines of HTML.

Did you click on the green Code etc. to get a REAL .zip?
I guess not...

[Olivier]

Thank you for all the help about the battery check removal.
I did download now via the green button now as you said and download as a zip but it still not an image when i extract it?
Odd...
olviier

[RealBlackStuff]

There is no 'image' to burn onto a CD/DVD.
Read this: viewtopic.php?p=859667#p859667 plus the other posts in that thread.

[Olivier]

Oh, thank you. I thought there wa san image and you can boot it and its all sorted. I do not understand command promp...
Thank you.
olivier