ThinkPad BIOS Problem

[dispher]

Recently, i bought a ThinkPad Z61p Motherboard from eBay. I installed it & long story short, it turned out to be not fully functional.
Sometimes the machine wont POST at all (lights are on, i can hear the HDD / CPU FAN) that’s it
Sometimes it boots for a couple of seconds & then stops doing anything (just keeps frozen on the ThinkPad splash screen.
sometimes it will boot normally but with a constant behavior: it will not boot from any fixed disk device (HDD / USB FLASH in fixed disk emulation mode / CD-ROM in fixed disk emulation mode) either it hangs or it tell me that the boot image is corrupt (Tried Windows Boot USB & CD/Linux Boot USB & CD) & the really wired thing is that this will happen for any 32bit / 64bit OS i attempt to load BUT 16bit OS (like DOS 6.22) works fine! Booting - installing & finally booting form fixed disk… it just works.
The BIOS just won’t update, i get this error from the update software: The system program file is damaged. The process has been canceled.
The RAM I’m using is my Kingston 2GB+2GB memory that were used in my T61p for more than a year without any problems.
My gut told me that is was a BIOS issue because of these wired problems
i attempted to flash the original bios using PHLASH16 witch is a toll used by the Lenovo BIOS update program to flash Phoenix BIOS chips, I had the following outcome: The Embedded Controller dose accept its firmware update but with warnings. The BIOS will not accept anything & complains: platform signature not found in the interface.
After tens of times using multiple command options & boot disks & boot methods, it did flash the BIOS using the same tool BUT i bricked the motherboard! How did flashing an original unmodified BIOS from the manufacture using an official bios update tool do such damage is really surprising.
Now i have a dead machine.

I’m thinking about getting this device to help me:

Mode edit - Removed link to a site that discusses password removal - against forum rules - Harryc

Anyone of you fine people tried it before? How well does it do the job?

Thanks!

A very frustrated Z61p Owner :/

[AIX]

Victor from (Mod Edit - removed reference to a password removal site. Against forum rules - Harryc) is a very serious guy; describe him your problem and ask him if his software can solve your problem.

Good luck!

[AMATX]

In the future, or for other users, when debugging and wondering about memory, pull out all but one of the memory sticks and see if that helps. If no change, then swap out the one that remained in the unit. If you have other memory around(say, in another Tpad) that does work, try using that, too. This way, you can better narrow down whether you may have a memory problem.

Probably not the central issue here, but this approach would have better eliminated memory a potential problem.

[Harryc]

I've removed two references to a password removal site from this thread. Please read the forum rules. We will not allow discussion of it or links to sites with that content.

[RealBlackStuff]

To fix your BIOS, you should contact the ThinkPad BIOS Recovery service, as advertised at the top of this page.
They can revive your bricked laptop.

[dispher]

I've removed two references to a password removal site from this thread. Please read the forum rules. We will not allow discussion of it or links to sites with that content.

oops! I thought that talking about the BIOS (not password hacking) is ok.... that's why i felt comfortable posting the link ... the mentioned site does have instructions about password removal so i guess your right i'll take care next time

In the future, or for other users, when debugging and wondering about memory, pull out all but one of the memory sticks and see if that helps. If no change, then swap out the one that remained in the unit. If you have other memory around(say, in another Tpad) that does work, try using that, too. This way, you can better narrow down whether you may have a memory problem.

I actually tested deferent combinations ... 1 stick / 2 stick with 3 deferent brands (Samsung / Kingston / Corsair) ... same issue... thanks for the tip. I really appreciate the heads up.

To fix your BIOS, you should contact the ThinkPad BIOS Recovery service, as advertised at the top of this page.
They can revive your bricked laptop.

I live in Saudi Arabia Man... It will cost me like $400 to ship this notebook to the USA for repair! It’s a good idea & I’m sure it would help allot ... but it's too costly to begin with...but thanks for the tip!

An update to this issue:

I have a William EEPROM Programmer (PCB5.0C) that already has an SPI pinout ... I’ll see what i can do with it...
Will keep you updated guys!

[RealBlackStuff]

Check your PM

[dispher]

So i went through all trouble (buying a new board, bricking the new board & fixing the new board ...) just to find out that my problem was never related to the motherboard in the first place...
After having no other option left, i asked a colleague for a T60 / R60 spare machine i swapped the CPU from an R60 with my Z61p CPU.

surprise surprise....It was the CPU !!!

the machine booted with no problems & was working like a charm!!!

Got back home, fired up eBay & ordered a CPU for $60.
In 16+ years working with computers, this is the second time a CPU dies on me.... lesson learned not to exclude the CPU from the equation....
It was a fun ride, i lost a lot of hair in the process ... but i got some first-hand experience working closely with ThinkPad motherboards.

Thanks for all the help & tips people!

[mediasponge]

The CPU that was in my A31p originally is still under suspicion. I replaced the MB recently and left the CPU that was in that MB in place. The plan was to run the A31p a while to make sure everything was OK, then swap the CPU for the faster one from the old MB. I haven't gotten to that point yet. The only other time I had a CPU go out was on a desktop where the on-board voltage regulators blew out the CPU and RAM due to cheap electrolytic caps.