Changing BIOS Boot Logo - IBM Thinkpad T41

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akerman · #61 Post by **akerman** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:15 pm

I just used Chatboxes guide, and it worked out beautifully. The hard part is getting your image below the 10kb mark. I think I spent like 3-4 hours in photoshop to achieve that - I had a rather complex image to begin with, and I did not want to look too bad after the compression, so I manually edited colors etc. .. as it turned out, I had to go all the way down to a total of 8 different colors in the 640x480 picture, before it would compress to less than 10kb. Still looks decent though - too bad it's only shown for like 0.5 seconds at boot, I think I have to make something way simpler next time

btw in photoshop, all you do is go to Mode->Indexed color

synapse · #62 Post by **synapse** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:33 am

Thanks for all your help! One more question, I will have to update my BIOS and Embedded Controller to the new versions. I downloaded both of them non-diskette versions. What order should I upgrade them in and how to I avoid restarting the OS in between? Thanks for all the help so far!

-Dan

Kenn · #63 Post by **Kenn** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:02 am

Thanks to everyone, and especially Chatbox!

30 minutes to create a simple image (IBM and Centrino image, with my name, email information, reward notification), 5 minutes to go through the entire process of flashing the BIOS!

One good thing I noticed - if you want to change your picture, you DO NOT need to reload an older version of the BIOS first. Just create a new picture and go through Chatbox's update process as usual.

akerman · #64 Post by **akerman** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:12 am

Nice to hear kenn..

synapse > embedded controller first

synapse · #65 Post by **synapse** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:26 am

akerman wrote:synapse > embedded controller first

Will I have to start windows in between then? Or does that not matter if I do embedded controller first? If I don't have to start windows, how would I go about changing my startup logo then? Thanks!

-Dan

Kenn · #66 Post by **Kenn** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:17 pm

I acutally didn't touch the embedded controller update before I updated the main BIOS to 3.06f.

I don't even know where to check what my current version is.

synapse · #67 Post by **synapse** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:43 pm

Ok, I tried that and it just gives me an error and says it cannot find LOGO.MOD. I tried using a 3k all black background just to see if it was the file size. Well, I decided to go ahead with the update anyways and now whenever I view the Hard Drive Active Protection System and click on the Real Time status tab it freezes and will no longer close or work or anything, including switching to other tabs. The protection seems to work fine, but I just can't click on the tab. I only noticed this after updating the BIOS and EC. Anyone else experience this? Thanks!

-Dan

Leon · #68 Post by **Leon** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:21 pm

Two questions about this process on a T42. I have both Power On and Disk Passwords set, and I would like the Startup Screen to have "Return To Me" information.

1. It seems that the only way to do it is to change your BIOS version. Mine was delivered with the latest. It seems both intrusive and chancy to change to an earlier version and back again just to accomplish this. Is there any way around it?

2. When I power on the machine, the Startup (IBM) Screen comes up, and then immediately clears the screen and goes to a screen that only contains the password prompt. If I do this (or any other) process, can I get information on the same screen as the Password Prompt so people have a chance to read it?

Kenn · #69 Post by **Kenn** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:18 pm

Hi Leon,

I was just going to set a user password just now, so it's actually good to know that enabling it might cause a problem with viewing the logo - thanks.

To answer your other question, I was able to reflash my current 3.06f bios several times with new pictures without having to roll back the BIOS first or update the embedded controller BIOS. I imagine YMMV, but it wasn't an issue for me.

Leon · #70 Post by **Leon** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:23 pm

Kenn, let me know if enabling the password makes your logo disappear.....

dcdomain · #71 Post by **dcdomain** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:55 am

I'm having a similar problem to Synapse's.
I tried to run LOGO.BAT within a command window, and it keeps returning:

Could Not Find A:\logo.mod
LOGO.BMP file is not found or is not correct.

I've gotten the file size down to less than 10kb before running it through the logo.bat. I'm pretty sure it's 16 colors... I don't know what the heck I'm supposed to do to get this to work. The error message is basically telling me that I don't have the right kind of image right? But I'm sure I have the image as a 640x480 16 color image. Except the only thing is that it's already compressed. If I don't check off the compress RLE box in Photoshop, it'll give me a BMP that is 300kb, too large to fit on the disk. Any help? Thanks. I was able to get similar images to work as loading screens...

s0larian · #72 Post by **s0larian** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:50 pm

As far as I remember, you have to put the compressed image and the bmp file to the disk. Just the compressed image didn't work for me.

dcdomain · #73 Post by **dcdomain** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:14 pm

I tried to put the uncompressed image, but it won't fit on the 'disk.'

How large were your uncompressed images? I was able to get mine down to 300KB after much effort... but it has to be smaller to fit on the disk.

JahJah · #74 Post by **JahJah** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:17 am

Hi folks,

is there any way to backup the old logo before uploading the new one ? If i want to sell my T42 maybe the my customer will not accept the new logo....

Leon · #75 Post by **Leon** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 10:59 am

Since this topic has "popped up" again, I wish to revisit an unanswered, but important question. One of the most useful applications for a changed boot-up logo screen would be to place identity/return/reward information on the screen if the TP is lost or stolen. But the screen is there for too short a time. Is there a way to have it pause? More specifically, here is my prior unanswered question:

When I power on the machine, the Startup (IBM) Screen comes up, and then immediately clears the screen and goes to a screen that only contains the password prompt. If I do this (or any other) process, can I get information on the same screen as the Password Prompt so people have a chance to read it? (Or can I put a "pause" in the logo screen?)

aleung · #76 Post by **aleung** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 1:26 pm

i don't know how many people set startup password and harddisk password. but I been doing that since my first laptop

xtypestereotype · #77 Post by **xtypestereotype** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:54 am

And how do we set the logo screen back to normal?
Do we just run a BIOS update or what?

s0larian · #78 Post by **s0larian** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:42 pm

yes, you will be asked during the bios update if you want to replace your customized bootlogo with the original one.

xtypestereotype · #79 Post by **xtypestereotype** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:37 pm

s0larian wrote:yes, you will be asked during the bios update if you want to replace your customized bootlogo with the original one.

What if the BIOS is already updated to the lastest version?

JohnT · #80 Post by **JohnT** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:10 pm

I tried the steps. Thanks Chatbox for the guide.

However, I also found that with 3.16 step 8 is not necessary. In the readme file, that step is listed for administrators only, that is, I assume, it's for batch upgrade to many TPs in a company.

Also, I have to leave the original LOGO.BMP in the image otherwise the patch will not find the customized logo and instead will directly ask whether you want to keep the original customized logo already in the BIOS. (I have to reflash since my 1st is too complicated and caused garbled display.)

Chatbox wrote:Here's my first real contribution to this forum.
I have a 100% software solution to this particular issue. You don't need a physical floppy disk, CDR/RW nor a USB key.

Two files to download:
1. Download Virtual Floppy Disk (VFD) from http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.zip.
2. Download the BIOS upgrade from IBM (the disk-less version).

NOTE: If your current BIOS is the same as the one you're downloading in Step 2, you'll need to downgrade your BIOS first before you continue.

Step 3: Unzip vfd.zip (from step 1) into a temporary directory. Or if you're lazy, unzip to the desktop will do.

Step 4: Double click on the IBM BIOS upgrade file (from step 2), then click Next, then accept the agreement and Next again. Go straight to step 5 (i.e. leave this running for now).

Step 5: Run vfdwin.exe (from step 3). The image file that you're going to use is from C:\Documents and Settings\[Your Username]\Local Settings\Temp\ In one of those directory, there's another sub directory containing the extracted files (from step 4). The size of the image file is 1440kB with .IMG extension. Select it and mount it. Viola, you now have a floppy disk drive with the files. NOTE: VFD is slightly buggy, if you can't see A: drive under My Computer, just type in A:\ in the Address Bar in explorer (it'll take you to A: drive).

Step 6: Copy your Logo.bmp (640x480, 16 colours Bitmap file) to A:\.

Step 7: Run logo.bat. You'll know if you're successful or not. The generated LOGO.MOD has to be less than 10kB.

Step 8: Edit lcreflsh.bat (from A:\) to contain "flash2.exe /u /L:LOGO.MOD" (without quotes). NOTE: lcreflsh.bat might be "read-only" so make sure it isn't, otherwise you can't save the edited version).

Step 9: Unmount A:\

Step 10: Continue with the BIOS update (i.e. clicking Next 4 times).

I hope this is useful for you guys. Let me know.

zver17 · #81 Post by **zver17** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:10 pm

ian wrote:Very easy to change the logo on the System Properties page - simply add a bitmap named OEMLOGO.bmp to the Windows\System32 file.

You can also add information - who to call when the system crashes (bit late by then...) etc. by adding another file OEMINFO.bmp to the same Windows\System32

If you mail me I'll send you examples.

Check out www.themexp.org for the boot and startup execs...when I last looked there were over 2900 login screens and around 1700 boot screens!

ian, i followed these instructions but it didnt work - the picture at the system properties page did not change. the file is 330kb - would this matter?

Steve007 · #82 Post by **Steve007** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:29 am

dcdomain wrote:Fantastic info! Can't wait till mine arrives. Half the fun is just customizing it...

That's where half the problems stem from too.

Changing BIOS Boot Logo - IBM Thinkpad T41

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