X200: Does it matter if BIOS is locked if I plan on flashing a Libreboot BIOS?

[thinkpadfanman]

Hi all,

I have seen advice online suggesting one to NOT buy a thinkpad with a locked BIOS since these laptops are popular corporate machines, which may suggest that it was stolen. Since I plan on flashing its SOIC BIOS chip with Libreboot and running a fully libre GNU/Linux operating system, maybe this doesn't matter.

I found one at a Goodwill store that was donated and on sale for a fairly cheap price. Would definitely like to buy it, if the locked BIOS is not an issue for me as a future Libreboot user.

Thank you all for your advice!

[RealBlackStuff]

If you know how to flash Libreboot, a locked BIOS is irrelevant.
OTOH, it's not that difficult to remove the password, just search online (but NOT on this Forum).

[thinkpadfanman]

If you know how to flash Libreboot, a locked BIOS is irrelevant.
OTOH, it's not that difficult to remove the password, just search online (but NOT on this Forum).

Ok! I'm glad to know that if I come across an X200 with a locked BIOS, then that won't affect the flashing process if I want libreboot on the computer as my BIOS instead.

I read on a reddit forum that someone who flashed their X200 with libreboot was complaining that their EC (Embedded Controller, I presume?) wasn't the latest version. So someone told them to flash their computer again with a stock BIOS in order to update their firmware.

How can I tell whether an X200 laptop I purchased received the most up-to-date firmware on the BIOS that originally shipped with the laptop?

[RealBlackStuff]

How can I tell whether an X200 laptop I purchased received the most up-to-date firmware on the BIOS that originally shipped with the laptop?

By DuckDuckGoing or Googleing for: lenovo x200 bios update it tells you BIOS/EC versions.
You may also be able to still LOOK into the BIOS (press F1 at boot), but not be able to change anything if there is a password.
Even on locked machines, if you can still run Windows on them, programs like HWINFO can tell which BIOS/EC it has.