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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
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body {
background:#fff;
color:#000;
font-family:sans-serif;
font-size:1em;
}
</style>
<title>Libreboot documentation: Unbricking the ThinkPad X60</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 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. 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<>clip) - mine came with the bus pirate.</li>
<li>USB mini a to b cable (for buspirate<>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/" target="_blank">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="x60_unbrick/0004.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" target="_blank">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>
"Unbricking" 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>
Remove those screws:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0000.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Push the keyboard forward (carefully):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0001.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Lift the keyboard up and disconnect it from the board:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0002.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Grab the right-hand side of the chassis and force it off (gently) and pry up the rest of the chassis:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0003.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
You should now have this:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0004.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect the wifi antenna cables, the modem cable and the speaker:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0005.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Unroute the cables along their path, carefully lifting the tape that holds them in place. Then, disconnect the modem
cable (other end) and power connection and unroute all the cables so that they dangle by the monitor hinge on the right-hand
side:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0006.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Disconnect the monitor from the motherboard, and unroute the grey antenna cable, carefully lifting the tape
that holds it into place:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0008.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Carefully lift the remaining tape and unroute the left antenna cable so that it is loose:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0009.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove the screw that is highlighted (do NOT remove the other one; it holds part of the heatsink (other side) into place):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0011.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove those screws:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0012.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Carefully remove the plate, like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0013.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Remove the SATA connector:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0014.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Now remove the motherboard (gently) and cast the lcd/chassis aside:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0015.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Lift back that tape and hold it with something. Highlighted is the SPI flash chip:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0016.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" target="_blank">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" target="_blank">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" target="_blank">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="x60_unbrick/0017.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
My programmer, usb cable and clip:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0018.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
My programmer (bus pirate):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0019.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
My clip (pomona 5250):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0020.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
My USB mini a to b cable:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0021.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
Connecting the pomona:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0022.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
Connecting the USB cable from programmer to 2nd(working/non-bricked) computer, my T60:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0024.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
Programmer is now active:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0023.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
Now I install flashrom on the T60 (running Trisquel GNU/Linux) and do this:<br/>
<b>flashrom -p buspirate_spi:dev=/dev/ttyUSB0 -w bin/x60/libreboot_usqwerty.rom</b><br/>
Note: there are also other ROM images for X60<br/>
Note: this is using buspirate as the programmer, so it is flashing the X60, not the T60!<br/>
Here's my terminal window on the T60:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0025.jpg" alt="" /><br/>
So, you should see the following:<br/>
--
<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>
--<br/>
At the end it says "VERIFIED", which means that the procedure worked. If you see this, it means
that you can put your X60 back together. So let's do that now.
</p>
<p>
Remove the programmer and put it away somewhere. Put back the tape and press firmly over it:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0026.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Your empty chassis:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0027.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Put the motherboard back in:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0028.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Reconnect SATA:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0029.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Put the plate back and re-insert those screws:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0030.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-route that antenna cable around the fan and apply the tape:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0031.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Route the cable here and then (not shown, due to error on my part) reconnect the monitor cable to the motherboard
and re-insert the screws:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0032.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-insert that screw:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0033.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Route the black antenna cable like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0034.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Tuck it in neatly like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0035.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Route the modem cable like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0036.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connect modem cable to board and tuck it in neatly like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0037.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Route the power connection and connect it to the board like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0038.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Route the antenna and modem cables neatly like so:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0039.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connect the wifi antenna cables. At the start of the tutorial, this machine had an Intel wifi chip. Here you see I've replaced it with an
Atheros AR5B95 (supports 802.11n and can be used without blobs):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0040.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connect the modem cable:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0041.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Connect the speaker:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0042.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
You should now have this:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0043.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-connect the upper chassis:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0044.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-connect the keyboard:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0045.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Re-insert the screws that you removed earlier:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0046.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Power on!<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0047.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Trisquel live USB menu (using GRUB's ISOLINUX parser):<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0048.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<p>
Trisquel live desktop:<br/>
<img src="x60_unbrick/0049.jpg" alt="" />
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
Copyright © 2014 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk><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>
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