How to change the systemboard serial number in the BIOS?

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cmarti · #1 Post by **cmarti** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:57 am

Hi!

I have replaced the motherboard of my T40 ( see my signature ) and now i don't have the unit serial number in the BIOS. How can i enter my serial in the BIOS?

Thanks for your help!!

Carlos..

#2 Post by **draco2527** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:47 pm

You need HMD V 1.72 or higher; this is only available to service centers etc!

Take it to an authorized service center, and they should be able to reset the password for you.

#3 Post by **bill bolton** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:31 pm

draco2527 wrote:You need HMD V 1.72 or higher.

HMD Vers 1.69, which is available on the public web, works OK for that!

Cheers,

Bill

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:21 pm

Two good links:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12263

http://www.thinkpad-portal.com/downloads/

cmarti · #5 Post by **cmarti** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:58 am

Thanks!!

Now i got the maint169 file and now please can you tell me the steps to follow i am not sure what to do.

Thanks for your help...Carlos..

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:40 pm

The info is in the forum.thinkpads.com link I posted above. I have not actually done it myself, so I can't provide anymore advice.

#7 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:02 pm

1.69 WILL NOT work with any ThinkPad above a T30!

Version 1.69 is available FREE from IBM's FTP site (if it is still there).

What the link above could point to is V 1.72 made to look like it is 1.69!!!

If the image is in ZIP format, you have to unzip the file and run the exe; this will prompt you to create a DISKETTE.

You need a Floppy and a floppy drive before you can run the utility.

If this is really version 1.69 it will let you get to all the steps, but when it writes to the EEPROM with the new information it will error out.

Also there are prefixes that must be entered for the data to be valid.

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:31 pm

draco2527 wrote:1.69 WILL NOT work with any ThinkPad above a T30!

Version 1.69 is available FREE from IBM's FTP site (if it is still there).

If you look at the thread I posted above, the OP Christian was able to use 1.69 successfully on a T40. He gives the procedure in the link. He wrote: "you have to type S1 in front of the type/serial number".

I also posted a link to 1.69 above.

cmarti · #9 Post by **cmarti** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:59 pm

I am right now at the doctor office when i get home i will follow the instructions on the link and will come back post the result if anyone has any more advise please post it.

Thanks for all the help all the members are giving.

Carlos..

#10 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:17 pm

GomJabbar wrote:
draco2527 wrote:1.69 WILL NOT work with any ThinkPad above a T30!

Version 1.69 is available FREE from IBM's FTP site (if it is still there).
If you look at the thread I posted above, the OP Christian was able to use 1.69 successfully on a T40. He gives the procedure in the link. He wrote: "you have to type S1 in front of the type/serial number".

I also posted a link to 1.69 above.

Yes, I read the posting! I guess we will see what happens when he runs it, it should come up with a red box stating that an error occured.

cmarti · #11 Post by **cmarti** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:32 am

I been trying to do this but i fail to understand what steps i am suposed to take, can anyone who has done this in the past can please guide me on this? I already have done the floppy disk and i see 22 files, but i do not know the one that needs to be opened.

Thanks ..

#12 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:26 pm

The floppy is bootable! Shut your machine down and boot from the floppy. The settings are easy to follow.

cmarti · #13 Post by **cmarti** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:49 pm

I did it!! It's works!!
Now i have my system serial number back.

Thanks guys..

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:16 pm

Glad to hear it!

#15 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:09 pm

Me too....

cmarti wrote:I did it!! It's works!!
Now i have my system serial number back.

Thanks guys..

NS!

When you loaded the application, did you happen to see what version it was?

KillaByte · #16 Post by **KillaByte** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:22 pm

@draco2527:
The HMD v1.69 *will* work with T42 ThinkPads if all you want to do is to update the serial number. I would however not try the testing routines etc.

I guess the error message you were referring to is the one that pops up if you forgot to disable the write-protection of the EEPROM by pressing the ESC key at boot-time when you see the IBM logo on the screen.

I've posted about the whole serial update process a while ago here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12336

Lloyd Gordon · #17 Post by **Lloyd Gordon** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:16 pm

I'm going to have to use the disk utilities to put the serial number in my T41 after a motherboard replacement. I don't have a USB floppy and my son told me about an alternative. I took my "9 IN 1" memory card reader and writer and put in a MMC card. I used the IBM utility to make a Flash diskette. Then I copied all the files to my desktop except the 3 DOS system files: Command.com and IBMIO.com and IBMDOS.com. Then I made a DOS boot diskette under XP. Then I used this program:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files ... 20306.html

to format the MMC card and make it into a DOS bootable drive. You refer to the floppy you just formatted to get the DOS system files. Then I copied all the IBM files except the DOS system ones to the MMC card. Then I tried it out on my thinkpad and it booted perfectly. This should work for a Flash Diskette and a Maintenance Diskette.

#18 Post by **draco2527** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:31 pm

KillaByte wrote:@draco2527:
The HMD v1.69 *will* work with T42 ThinkPads if all you want to do is to update the serial number. I would however not try the testing routines etc.

I guess the error message you were referring to is the one that pops up if you forgot to disable the write-protection of the EEPROM by pressing the ESC key at boot-time when you see the IBM logo on the screen.

I've posted about the whole serial update process a while ago here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12336

I am aware of the ESC issue!

Problem solved! I have version 1.62!!!!!..FK..another sign that I am getting OLD!

Sorry for any confusion I caused...

I just looked at the media, I have version 1.62 ( I obtained this from IBM, when I used to repair ThinkPads), since I could not get the thing to work on the T4X series I busted my a*s to get version 1.72

So I have V 1.62 and V 1.72 NOT version 1.69!!!!

Anyways, up to what version of the HMD are they now?

#19 Post by **bill bolton** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:39 pm

[quote="draco2527]Anyways, up to what version of the HMD are they now?[/quote]

HMD v 1.74 as far as I am aware.

Cheers,

Bill

Lloyd Gordon · #20 Post by **Lloyd Gordon** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:45 pm

I made a boot "disk" with the Thinkpad Hardware Maintenance Diskette version 1.74. There are a whole bunch of utilities on it with the latest date being 3/30/2005. I'm guessing the SERUPDT.EXE (and not the older SERUPDT2.EXE) is the one to update the serial number. ATUUIDAL.EXE, UUIDCALL.EXE, AUTOUUID.EXE must deal with UUID. Does one calculate the UUID and one enter it into the EEPROM? Any ideas? IDCSUMAL.EXE & SCIACSUM.COM seem to refer to check sums, has anybody any idea when and if they need to be used? I've read on the forums that you have to press ESC while the "IBM Access" screen is on to allow EEPROM writes. Is this correct? Also I've seen two opinions on what to enter before the serial number: either 1S or S1. Any ideas on which is right?
Also I upgraded my systemboard from a (dead) Radeon 9000 (T41) to FireGL 128 T2. If I enter in the old serial number will the IBM upgrade software assume my thinkpad has the 9000 or will it detect the FireGL?
Sorry for all the questions but maybe any answers will help others too.
Thanks,
Lloyd

Kerensa · #21 Post by **Kerensa** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:14 am

I made the disk from the 1.69 download and my T40 boots from it. I press ESC when the logo appears, but when I select to update the serial I get the message that the eeprom is locked.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Would a newer version make any difference with this?

Thank you

** got it, seemed the timing for hitting ESC was tricky for me.

#22 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:27 pm

Kerensa wrote:I made the disk from the 1.69 download and my T40 boots from it. I press ESC when the logo appears, but when I select to update the serial I get the message that the eeprom is locked.

Probably you need to change the security setting in the BIOS setup to "Enabled" for Flash BIOS Updating by End-users.

Access IBM Help wrote:If you select "Enabled," all users can update the Flash BIOS. If you select "Disabled," only the person who knows supervisor password can update the Flash BIOS.

det922 · #23 Post by **det922** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:52 pm

if anyone read my other post im getting a initialization error in windows about the security software and it crashes everytime i try to install the TPM could this be caused by not having any serial numbers? some of the ibm programs have problems recognizing it so i figured it was serial & UUID related

BobA · #24 Post by **BobA** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:34 pm

I am in the same situation as a number of you folks - unable to update the model/type and serial number because the EEPROM won't allow writes. I haven't seen a final solution to this - Maybe I've missed it. Can anyone help? Thanks.

jacb · #25 Post by **jacb** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:09 am

Kerensa wrote:I made the disk from the 1.69 download and booted from it.

I pressed ESC when the logo appeared, but when I select to update the serial number (option 1). I get the message that the “EEPROM is locked”.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Would a newer version make any difference with this?

Thank you

** got it, seemed the timing for hitting ESC was tricky for me.

THANK YOU FOR THAT LAST LINE UPDATE

I wasted lots of time, but stuck with it because of what you said.

For those that follow in my steps - Boot the computer with the USB floppy drive set to the first boot device. Press AND hold the Esc key the second you see the normal boot screen with the IBM logo. If successful you will see various DOS style commands scroll before you. When the Hardware Maintenance Diskette starts, option one will now work and not say that the BIOS is locked.

All the best

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