SATA-II BIOS patch for T61/T61p and X61/X61s (X61t coming)

[redleaderone]

Is there a chance we will ever see SATA-II on a regular T60?

Is it a hardware difference between the T60 and T61, where T61 has the capability (but wasn't enabled in the BIOS) but T60 does not have the ability at all?

[donzoomik]

I read through entire thread at Notebookreview and i didn't find any exact information about whitelist. I saw a few references to WWAN whitelist being disabled but is WLAN whitelist also disabled? I'd like to upgrade my 4965AG to 5100AGN - the generic versions are dirt cheap.

[geohsia]

Does anyone know if the fix also applies to the 2nd HDD bay? Thanks.

[Turboqueef]

Is there a chance we will ever see SATA-II on a regular T60?

Is it a hardware difference between the T60 and T61, where T61 has the capability (but wasn't enabled in the BIOS) but T60 does not have the ability at all?

I am also very interested in the answer to this question..

Thank you

[geohsia]

Does anyone know if the fix also applies to the 2nd HDD bay? Thanks.

I got the answer from the other forum. Apparently the ultrabay is uses a PATA controller so no love for the 2nd HDD bay.

[crashnburn]

Im glad I went for the T61 SXGA+

[j_bravo14]

Worked for my T61 as well. Got a Vertex 60gb. Does this mean I already broke the SATA I speeds? Sorry, never tested my SSD on SATA I as I already flashed mine with this bios.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 215.964 MB/s
Sequential Write : 106.336 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 161.293 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 96.723 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]

Test : 500 MB [C: 15.5% (7.6/48.7 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2010/08/14 4:27:32
OS : Windows 7 [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)

[kamaleon]

Is there a chance we will ever see SATA-II on a regular T60?

Is it a hardware difference between the T60 and T61, where T61 has the capability (but wasn't enabled in the BIOS) but T60 does not have the ability at all?

And me too I'd love to know this! I've just bought a 2nd hand OCZ Vertex SSD boy is this fast!
Maybe it's not possible since the T60 uses the 945 chipset rather than the 965 of the T61...

[ThinkPadophile]

I'd also like to see this for the T60 line. The 945 chipset supports SATA-II.

[jketzetera]

Only the desktop chipset supports it and not the notebook chipset.

[kamaleon]

Only the desktop chipset supports it and not the notebook chipset.

ok... is this the final word on it then?

[Radioguy]

I see there's an earlier thread here on the forum that's still active:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=84953

To reiterate my question there (in case a mod doesn't merge these): Considering this contains the whitelist hack, isn't this preferable to one of Zender's modded BIOS files?

[RealBlackStuff]

Zender's BIOS mods are only for bypassing the whitelists, nothing else.
Several of Zender's BIOSes are outdated by now, due to newer IBM/Lenovo BIOS versions, and Zender no longer being active.

Middleton's BIOS does the same, but has added support for SATA-II and can also bypass the thermal sensing check at POST.
I have successfully applied M's BIOS to my daughter's T61 (8897-03U).

The whitelists bypassed (by both Zender and Middleton) concern the errors for WLAN/WWAN/WiFi:

1802 Unauthorized network card is plugged in. Power off and remove the Mini PCI network card.
1804 Unauthorized WAN card is plugged in. Power off and remove the WAN card.
1805 Unauthorized Wireless USB card is plugged in—Power off and remove the Wireless USB card.

[kamaleon]

Hi, so which bios do you recommend? I've just recently bought a mint X61T and it would be nice to unlock the sata II in the event i should find an affordable SSD.

[RealBlackStuff]

For the X61t: Middleton's BIOS.
Read my previous post again! A Zender BIOS is ONLY good for whitelist bypasses.

[kamaleon]

So it does work for the tablet version too, great. Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Middleton BIOS: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... ost6501443

[Kamika007z]

Yes it supports the tablet, that's what the t in x61t stands for.

Also, middleton's BIOS is now recommended over Zender's BIOS.

Finally, I had asked middleton to update the BIOSes to Lenovo's latest revision 2.29 and he was gracious enough to do so, but the table on pg 8 hasn't been updated yet. You can find it on page 56 if I am not mistaken (its somewhere around those pages I forget exactly where).

Hope this helps!

[kamaleon]

sure does, great info! thanks!

[rssb]

Is there a Middleton BIOS which does not alter the thermal sensing monitor alerts, but enables only the SATA II functionality.

Have a T61 with a motherboard which supports Penryn natively, not sure if applying this BIOS would disable that even on a board which is supported ?

[RealBlackStuff]

Why don't you ask Middleton?

[rssb]

RealBlackStuff already asked him, waiting for a response on the other forum. Was trying to see if someone here has already come across it or in a similar boat.

[inogen]

I take it the x61 sxga+ bios is only for those of us brave enough to change the screen?

On a different note - I updated to lenovo's latest bios on Friday and have noticed the fan being considerably more quiet.

[tpx61]

I used modded bios to X61. SLIC 2.1 now works. Regarding the SATA speed difference is not noticed in the file copying 700MB from partition D: to E: on WinXP x64. File copies of the same speed on the old and new BIOS. Truthfully I think it is even slower.

Code: Select all

old BIOS, SATA  I - copy movie 699MB from D to E - 45 sec
new BIOS, SATA II - copy movie 699MB from D to E - 48 sec

I run test hdparm -tT after new BIOS flash but have different results depending on the operating system:

Code: Select all

hdparm for Windows x64

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:   430 MB in  2.00 seconds = 215.00 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  258 MB in  3.02 seconds =  85.54 MB/sec

hdparm for Debian 6.0.5 x86

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   3156 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1582.96 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 250 MB in  3.01 seconds =  83.15 MB/sec

HDPARM TOOL FOR WINDOWS

Please check SATA Generation version with Intel Matrix Storage Console on ThinkPad's which have old BIOS. After upgrade BIOS Intel Console display SATA Generation 2:

[msrice]

Please tell where to find the modified BIOS. thanks.

[wileE]

Middleton:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... st-9932632