600X BIOS Question

[w9cw]

I apologize if this specific question has been asked before, but I could not see any privous topics which addressed my situation. I've acquired a legacy ThinkPad 600X PIII/500 w/256MB in very decent condition. I was planning to install Win2000 Pro, as it's not as resource hungry as WinXP.

I was also considering updating the BIOS on the unit. Interestingly, the 600X has WinXP Pro installed and all seems to work well considering the CPU speed, and RAM. I added an Intel PRO/100 CardBus II PCMCIA Ethernet card, and no glitches - everything works. According to Intel's website, earlier BIOS versions cause blackscreens with this Ethernet card - but not the case, all works well. One wonders since everything seems to work as well as it is, if I should even consider touching the BIOS update!

But here is the strange dilemma I've noted: the current BIOS is ITET40WW dated 11/30/99.

According to the IBM website here are the BIOS versions for the 600X:

Diskette BIOS BIOS Slave controller Slave controller
Version Version Date Version Date
-------- -------- -------- ---------------- ----------------
1.00 ITET44WW 12-21-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.01 ITET45WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.02 ITET47WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.03 ITET48WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.05 ITET49WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.06 ITET50WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.07 ITET51WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.08 ITET52WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.09 ITET53WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.10 ITET54WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99
1.11 ITET55WW 11-30-99 1.10 IHHT10WW 10-08-99

Please note the listed original Version BIOS was ITET44WW, and the most recent BIOS is ITET55WW. However, as previously noted, the BIOS on my 600X is ITET40WW.

I would have thought this ThinkPad would have had a BIOS version somewhere from the initial version to the most recent version, but such is not the case! Confusing . . . yes.

What BIOS do I have?? A pre-production BIOS, or a proprietary BIOS version? The 600X was purchased off of eBay (it's in excellent condition, except for a dead battery pack and the 12GB HD bearings are a bit noisy), and it was an "off-lease" corporate unit.

Do you think it would be wise to update the BIOS? Since all seems to work OK, perhaps I should just "leave well enough alone." Advice would be sincerely appreciated.

Thanks.

[whizkid]

I Googled ITET40WW and found a few sites, so some machines were released with that BIOS. I would upgrade to the latest in a heartbeat.

[AlphaKilo470]

If the BIOS is dated 11/4/99 and the ones on IBM's reference end at 10/99, then it looks like he has the latest BIOS he'll find.

[pkiff]

If the BIOS is dated 11/4/99 and the ones on IBM's reference end at 10/99, then it looks like he has the latest BIOS he'll find.

No, the latest BIOS is Version 1.11 - ITET55WW and it had a date of release of 12 October 2001. The dates that are listed in the OP's post are the dates that are reported internally by the BIOS, not the date of release. This internal "BIOS date" is purposely kept the same on all the BIOS releases in order to force Windows 98/98SE (and Linux?) to detect power management properly and to install under APM mode instead of ACPI mode (Windows 98/98SE checks the BIOS date in order to decide which mode to use during installation).

I understood that a BIOS update was a necessity if you want to run XP well on a 600X. You can read the list of Symptoms corrected by the latest BIOS - ThinkPad 600X. You will see a specific reference to adding support for XP. You will also see a reference to one issue with 2000, but it looks like it is a rare issue. Personally, I would follow whizkid's advice and upgrade to the latest since that eliminates one possible cause of future errors that you may encounter when modifying your system or re-installing your OS. However, the general advice that is given most frequently about BIOS upgrades is that if your machine is working currently and you have no issues currently, then there is no reason to upgrade -- i.e. if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Phil.

[w9cw]

Phil, et.al.,

Thanks for the input. Yes, I am quite surprised WinXP Pro is working on the 600X without a hitch (so far) with the original BIOS. However, I have not as yet upgraded to SP2, and perhaps this is where I may see a problem.

My initial plan was to install Win2000 Pro on the machine. When I received the 600X from the eBay seller (a corporate end-of-lease vendor), I was surprised to find it had a fully licensed copy of WinXP Pro installed. I performed all of the security updates up to SP2, and all is still working fine.

I am leaning toward updating the BIOS to the most current version, but I'm going to think about it for a while. I've created the BIOS update floppy, but that's as far as I've gone. Sometimes, it's best not to update if all is working fine.

One question: as mentioned, the BIOS is currently ITET40WW, and I noted that ITET45WW provided support for FlashUpdate. Are all 600X's BIOS capable of FlashUpdates? Is it possible that my unit with the non-listed ITET40WW BIOS does not use a flash ROM, rather the old standard factory-programmed BIOS ROM?

Thanks again.

Don