[solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

orschiro · 2014-04-06 18:49:52

Hi there,

I was reading through the wiki page Flashing BIOS from Linux because I am considering updating the BIOS of my Thinkpad X200T from within Linux.

However, I am cautious because I do not want to mess up my only working machine.

Has anyone succeeded with updating the BIOS of a X200(T) from within (Arch) Linux and can share his experiences?

Thanks!

Last edited by orschiro (2014-05-02 11:23:43)

WonderWoofy · 2014-04-06 19:21:14

There isn't a bootable ISO option for this?

If there isn't, I wouldn't do it from Linux. While it may be possible, it is likely not the safest option. Instead, make a bootable FreeDOS USB, and then stick the windows update on there. This is actually what the bootable updates do anyway.

Edit: BTW, I think that the X200 was part of the battery recall. You might want to get yourself a new one for free from them.

EditEdit: I just looked and there is a provided bootable bios update on the Lenovo site. Also the X200 is indeed part of the battery recall.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2014-04-06 19:26:09)

orschiro · 2014-04-06 20:38:03

@WonderWoofy

Do you mean this bootable iso?

BIOS Update Bootable CD for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad X200, X200s ... Learn more
Version: 3.22-1.07

Can it be used although it states only Windows?

Regarding the battery recall, you are talking about this?

Determine if your battery is being recalled

This is a Windows .exe. How can I determine if my battery is being recalled?

WonderWoofy · 2014-04-06 20:48:08

I just saw the banner that says that the X200 is included amongst the recalled devices.

It may say that the bootable CD is for windows, but that is a bunch of crap. It is really just an ISO. You should be aware though that it may require that you update it with an optical drive. At least fort my E430, the ISOs are not set up to be used with a USB.

orschiro · 2014-04-07 05:36:49

I found this instruction which suggests that the bootable ISO should indeed be also created from within Linux:

wget 'http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~krienke/ftp/noarch/geteltorito/geteltorito.pl'
perl geteltorito.pl 8duj10uc.iso > biosupdate.img
sudo dd if=biosupdate.img of=/dev/usbthumdrive bs=512K

I followed the steps + added the boot flag to my USB pen drive. But it refuses to boot from it, saying that it cannot find a bootable OS.

I do not have access to an external optical drive. Any other ideas I could try?

WonderWoofy · 2014-04-07 14:55:05

Make a bootable FreeDOS USB, then use the windows exe updater from within it.

orschiro · 2014-04-28 14:15:56

Sorry for the late reply. I did not manage to look into the issue earlier.

So, I created a bootable FreeDOS USB using unetbootin. However, how do I copy the BIOS update onto the stick?

I downloaded the BIOS Update Utility exe as you suggested and extracted its contents using innoextract. Then I copied the extracted files onto my stick.

But on reboot I still get the same message: No operating system installed.

orschiro · 2014-05-02 11:23:17

I finally succeeded with updating the BIOS by using the grub4dos approach:

You need an empty FAT32 USB stick and the corresponding BIOS ISO image. Then you can proceed with the following steps:

$ cp /path/to/iso /media/stick/thinkpadbios.iso
$ sync
$ wget http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/grub4dos-0.4.4.zip
$ unzip grub4dos-0.4.4.zip
$ cd grub4dos-0.4.4
$ cp grldr /media/stick/
$ sudo ./bootlace.com /dev/sdX # where sdX refers to the corresponding USB drive

At this stage you should receive the following message:

Disk geometry calculated according to the partition table:
       Sectors per track = xx, Number of heads = yyy
Success.

Final step: Create /media/stick/menu.lst with the following content:

color blue/green yellow/red white/magenta white/magenta
timeout 30
default /default

title ThinkPad BIOS Update
map (hd0,0)/thinkpadbios.iso (hd32)
map --hook
chainloader (hd32)
boot

Arch Linux

#1 2014-04-06 18:49:52

[solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#2 2014-04-06 19:21:14

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#3 2014-04-06 20:38:03

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#4 2014-04-06 20:48:08

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#5 2014-04-07 05:36:49

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#6 2014-04-07 14:55:05

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#7 2014-04-28 14:15:56

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

#8 2014-05-02 11:23:17

Re: [solved] Experiences with updating the BIOS of a Thinkpad X200(T)

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