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authorFrancis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk>2014-11-06 01:52:36 +0000
committerFrancis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk>2014-11-06 01:52:36 +0000
commit8b2219bfa2da36e7809588ef723a10483a6e137f (patch)
tree8c4d74b9efbdabc1a2604b8cbd508c006c225241 /docs/install/x60tablet_unbrick.html
parent7429bdcdbb4fc51c61897115112468642afeecfc (diff)
Documentation: *major* cleanup.
Cleanup was long overdue. Old structure was messy and inefficient.
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+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta charset="utf-8">
+ <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
+
+ <style type="text/css">
+ @import url('../css/main.css');
+ </style>
+
+ <title>Libreboot documentation: Unbricking the ThinkPad X60 Tablet</title>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+ <header>
+ <h1>Unbricking the ThinkPad X60</h1>
+ <aside>This guide will show you how to recover from a bad flash that prevents your ThinkPad X60 Tablet from booting.</aside>
+ </header>
+
+ <p>Or go <a href="index.html">back to main index</a></p>
+
+ <h2>Table of Contents</h2>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#hardware_requirements">Hardware Requirements</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#software_requirements">Software Requirements</a></li>
+ <li>
+ Types of brick:
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#bucts_brick">Brick type 1: bucts not reset</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#recovery">Brick type 2: bad rom (or user error), machine won't boot</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1 id="hardware_requirements">Hardware requirements</h1>
+ <ul>
+ <li>a 2nd computer (maybe another X60 Tablet. any computer will do)</li>
+ <li>external flashrom-compatible programmer (I'm using the "bus pirate")
+ <li>SOIC-8 IC clip (I'm using the Pomona 5250)</li>
+ <li>Cable (programmer&lt;&gt;clip) - mine came with the bus pirate.</li>
+ <li>USB mini a to b cable (for buspirate&lt;&gt;computer connection).</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1 id="software_requirements">Software requirements</h1>
+ <ul>
+ <li>GNU/Linux (on the 2nd computer)</li>
+ <li>flashrom software (on the 2nd computer): <a href="http://flashrom.org/">http://flashrom.org/</a>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1 id="bucts_brick">Brick type 1: bucts not reset.</h1>
+ <p>
+ You still have Lenovo BIOS, or you had libreboot running and you flashed another ROM; and you had bucts 1 set and
+ the ROM wasn't dd'd.* or if Lenovo BIOS was present and libreboot wasn't flashed.<br/><br/>
+
+ In this case, unbricking is easy: reset BUC.TS to 0 by removing that yellow cmos coin (it's a battery) and putting it back after a minute or two:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0008.JPG" alt="" /><br/><br/>
+
+ *Those dd commands should be applied to all newly compiled X60 ROM's (the ROM's in libreboot binary archives already have this applied!):<br/>
+ dd if=coreboot.rom of=top64k.bin bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x10000] count=64k<br/>
+ dd if=coreboot.rom bs=1 skip=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k | hexdump<br/>
+ dd if=top64k.bin of=coreboot.rom bs=1 seek=$[$(stat -c %s coreboot.rom) - 0x20000] count=64k conv=notrunc<br/>
+ (doing this makes the ROM suitable for use when flashing a machine that still has Lenovo BIOS running,
+ using those instructions: <a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation">http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation</a>.
+ </p>
+
+ <h1 id="recovery">bad rom (or user error), machine won't boot</h1>
+ <p>
+ In this scenario, you compiled a ROM that had an incorrect configuration, or there is an actual bug preventing your machine from
+ booting. Or, maybe, you set BUC.TS to 0 and shut down after first flash while Lenovo BIOS was running. In any case, your machine is bricked and will not boot at all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &quot;Unbricking&quot; means flashing a known-good (working) ROM. The problem: you can't boot the machine, making this difficult. In this situation, external hardware (see hardware requirements above) is needed which can flash the SPI chip (where libreboot resides).
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0000.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Remove those screws:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0001.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Remove the HDD:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0002.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Push keyboard forward to loosen it:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0003.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Lift:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0004.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Remove those:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0005.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0006.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Also remove that (marked) and unroute the antenna cables:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0007.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Some X60T's you have to unroute those too:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0010.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Remove the LCD extend board screws. Also remove those screws (see blue marks) and remove/unroute the cables and remove the metal plate:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0008.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Remove that screw and then remove the board:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0009.JPG" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ At this point, you should wire up your programmer according to it's documentation. For me, this was (see: "SparkFun cable pin reference"):<br/>
+ <a href="http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Common_Bus_Pirate_cable_pinouts">http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Common_Bus_Pirate_cable_pinouts</a>.<br/>
+ Correlating with the following information, I was able to wire up my pirate correctly:<br/>
+ <a href="http://flashrom.org/Bus_Pirate#Connections">http://flashrom.org/Bus_Pirate#Connections</a><br/>
+ And by following that advice:<br/>
+ <a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation#Howto">http://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x60/Installation#Howto</a>.<br/>
+ Note: that last page says to wire up only those 5 pins (see below) like that: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.<br/>
+ Note: and then, for power it says (on that coreboot.org page) to connect the power jack to the board and connect the
+ AC adapter (without powering on the board).<br/>
+ Note: I ignored that advice, and wired up all 8 pins. And it worked.<br/>
+
+ Here is the pinout (correlate it with your programmer's documentation):<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60t_unbrick/0011.JPG" alt="" /><br/>
+ (SPI chip here is on the bottom of the board)
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Bus pirate:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60_unbrick/0019.jpg" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Pomona 5250:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60_unbrick/0020.jpg" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Connect pomona:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60_unbrick/0022.jpg" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Connect pirate to USB on 2nd computer:<br/>
+ <img src="../images/x60_unbrick/0024.jpg" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ <img src="../images/x60_unbrick/0025.jpg" alt="" />
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ On the 2nd machine, I did: <b>flashrom -p buspirate_spi:dev=/dev/ttyUSB0 -w bin/x60t/libreboot_ukqwerty.rom</b>
+ </p>
+
+ <pre>
+ flashrom v0.9.5.2-r1517 on Linux 3.2.0-61-generic (i686), built with libpci 3.1.8, GCC 4.6.3, little endian
+ flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
+
+ Calibrating delay loop... delay loop is unreliable, trying to continue OK.
+ Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) on buspirate_spi.
+ Reading old flash chip contents... done.
+ Erasing and writing flash chip... Erase/write done.
+ Verifying flash... VERIFIED.
+ </pre>
+
+ <p>
+ At the end it says "VERIFIED", which means that the procedure worked. If you see this, it means that you can put your X60T back together. So let's do that now.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Reverse the steps to re-assemble your machine.
+ </p>
+
+<hr/>
+
+ <p>
+ Copyright &copy; 2014 Francis Rowe &lt;info@gluglug.org.uk&gt;<br/>
+ This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions.
+ A copy of the license can be found at <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a> for more information.
+ </p>
+
+</body>
+</html>