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--- projects:t530 [2017/03/07 13:15] – photonicsguy
+++ projects:t530 [2021/07/06 07:15] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ~~NOTOC~~
-====== Lenovo T530 Laptop Wi-Fi upgrade ======
+====== Lenovo T530 Laptop WiFi upgrade ======
-BIOS Version: G4ET62WW (2.04 )
+I successfully installed an [[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7260-bluetooth.html|Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 wireless card]] by modifying the whitelist in the BIOS. I've compiled this step-by-step guide with references as I had trouble finding a similar resource online.{{ :projects:t530:programming.jpg?direct&300|}}
-Current Network card: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2200 [8086:0891]
+Living in Toronto, the 2.4GHz WiFi band is over saturated and my best wireless throughput was roughly 16Mbps, now with 5GHz Wireless AC, I get an average of 700Mbps. I decided not to upgrade to the latest BIOS and to attempt the whitelist modification on my current version, G4ET62WW (2.04).
-I successfully installed an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 wireless card by modifying the whitelist in the BIOS. I've compiled this step-by-step guide with references as I had trouble finding a similar resource online.
+There are two flash memory chips, MX25L6406E (8MB) and MX25L3206E (4MB) (Under frame), according to various resources, I need to flash the 4MB chip. There is also another flash memory chip on the underside which contains the bios settings and password which I don't need to touch.
-<note>
+There are forums for whitelist removal, such as [[https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Forum-WiFi-WWAN-Whitelist-Removal|www.bios-mods.com]] but I wanted to figure out how to modify the whitelist myself and to only use the forum as a last resort if I'm unable to make it work myself. (Also, I'd still need to figure out the bios reading and writing)
-New Network card ID: [[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7260-bluetooth.html|Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260]]
-  * Bluetooth: [8087:07DC]
-  * Wi-Fi: [8086:08B1], Secondary: [8086:4070]
-</note>
-IBM COMPATIBLE 486 BIOS COPYRIGHT Phoenix Technologies, Ltd
-Phoenix BIOS SC-T v2.2
-{{ :projects:t530:t530_overlay.jpg?direct&300|}}
+VID:PID's
-{{:projects:t530:chip1.jpg?direct&100|MX25L6406E}}{{:projects:t530:chip0.jpg?direct&100|MX25L3206E}}
+  * Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 [8086:0891] (original)
-  * MX25L6406E (8MB)
+  * Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 [8086:08B1], Secondary: [8086:4070] (upgrade)
-  * MX25L3206E (4MB) (Under frame) (This is the BIOS chip I need to flash)
+    * Bluetooth: [8087:07DC] (built into the wireless card)
-  * There is another EEPROM on the underside of the bios which contains the bios passwords which I am not going to touch.
+If you are looking for more information, or have any questions, please feel free to [[:contact|contact me]] and I can do my best to answer.
 ===== Required components =====
   * Your Thinkpad laptop (of course)
-  * New PCI-E Network card (Approx. $20 from eBay or Aliexpress)
+  * New wireless card, I used the [[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7260-bluetooth.html|Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 wireless card]] (Approx. $20 from eBay or Aliexpress)
   * A second computer (I used another Linux computer. A Windows computer can work, but I haven't tried it)
+    * Download [[https://www.flashrom.org/Downloads|Flashrom]]
+    * Download [[https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool/releases/tag/0.21.5|UEFITool]]
   * A high quality (small) Phillips screwdriver, all of the screws in the laptop are Phillips, and you don't want to accidentally strip any screws.
-  * Hex driver for the studs on the SVGA connector
+  * A Magnetic sheet - {{:projects:t530:magsheet.jpg?linkonly |useful for keeping screws in order}}
+  * Hex driver for the studs on the {{ :projects:t530:svga.jpg?linkonly |SVGA connector}}
   * CH341A programmer (Approx. $3 from eBay or Aliexpress)
   * SOIC8 Test clip (Approx. $4 from eBay or Aliexpress)
+  * Thermal compound (for the CPU heatsink)
+  * Air duster (optional, for cleaning)
+  * Tape (When reassembling and routing wires)
 ===== Steps =====
+<note warning>**VOLTAGE WARNING!!**
+I never tested, nor thought to test, nor had problems, but I've heard other people have. I'd suggest verifying the correct voltage before you use the programmer:
+**check voltage:**
+  * [[https://www.chucknemeth.com/laptop/lenovo-x230/flash-lenovo-x230-coreboot]]
+**fix:**
+  * [[https://www.chucknemeth.com/usb-devices/ch341a/3v-ch341a-mod]]
+</note>
 <note warning>Take plenty of photos as you disassemble your laptop, including cable routing, as well as which screws came from where. Also, Take your time, don't rush</note>
-  - Determine current wireless card VID:PID via Linux: lspci -nn
+  - Determine current wireless card VID:PID via Linux: lspci -nn (This is a useful reference when looking for the whitelist)
   - Download [[https://www.flashrom.org/Downloads|Flashrom]]
   - Download [[https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool/releases/tag/0.21.5|UEFITool]]
@@ Line 39: / Line 53: @@
   - Pin 1 of the test clip is the wire with the Red stripe, which goes towards the corner of the memory chip with the circle.
     - I was fortunate enough to have a similar memory chip from another device I was able to use to test the programmer connections ahead of time.
-  - Connect the test clip to the programmer, {{:projects:t530:ch341.jpg?linkonly |(Facing downwards, in the top half of the ZIF socket)}}
+  - Connect the test clip to the programmer (Facing downwards, in the top half of the ZIF socket) {{ :projects:t530:ch341.jpg?direct&200|CH341A}}
   - Read the existing BIOS
     - flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "MX25L3206E/MX25L3208E" -r ORIGINALBIOS.ROM
@@ Line 84: / Line 98: @@
       - Clean off the existing thermal compound, put new thermal compound on the CPU (and GPU if you have discrete graphics)
   - Note: I'm using a separate Bluetooth adaptor, so I'm not concerned about enabling the integrated Bluetooth (Which involves placing kaptop tape over a pin)
-==== Bios from website ====
-  - Download matching firmware (Bootable CD) from [[http://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/downloads/ds029249|Lenovo website]]
-  - Extract firmware
-    - [[http://freecode.com/projects/geteltorito|geteltorito]] will extract the bootable disk image from the downloaded ISO Firmware files
 ==== Current Whitelist ====
 TODO: Revise list as I made an error in reading to hex file
 ^Vender:Device^Description^
 |8086:4238|Centrino(R) Ultimate N 6300|
@@ Line 116: / Line 125: @@
     * flashrom -p ch341a_spi -V
   * [[https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/t530|T530 flashing directions on Coreboot.org]]
-    * It should be safe to read/flash the chip in situ...
+<note>After reading the flashing instructions on coreboot.org, I decided it would be safer to attempt this without removing the memory chip from the system board. If I had access to a hot air rework station, I would have removed to chip to reduce risk of damaging the system board.</note>
-**Tested on a similar flash chip**
+===== Files =====
-<code>
+  * {{ :projects:t530:t530_g4et62ww_bios.tgz |t530_g4et62ww_bios.tgz}} - My original and modified bios dump
-# flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "MX25L3206E/MX25L3208E" -r T530_BIOS_MX25L3206E -V
+  * {{ :projects:t530:t530_hardware_maintenance_manual.pdf |}} Thinkpad T530 Hardware maintenance manual
-flashrom v0.9.9-r1955 on Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae (i686)
+  * {{ :projects:t530:bios_error.jpg?linkonly |}} - BIOS error message after my first attempt
-flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org
+  * {{ :projects:t530:programming.jpg?linkonly |}} - System board connected to the CH341A programmer
-flashrom was built with GCC 4.9.2, little endian
-Command line (7 args): flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c MX25L3206E/MX25L3208E -r T530_BIOS_MX25L3206E -V
-Calibrating delay loop... OS timer resolution is 2 usecs, 745M loops per second, 10 myus = 12 us, 100 myus = 101 us, 1000 myus = 1006 us, 10000 myus = 9992 us, 8 myus = 10 us, OK.
-Initializing ch341a_spi programmer
-Device revision is 3.0.4
-The following protocols are supported: SPI.
-Probing for Macronix MX25L3206E/MX25L3208E, 4096 kB: probe_spi_rdid_generic: id1 0xc2, id2 0x2016
-Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L3206E/MX25L3208E" (4096 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.
-Chip status register is 0x00.
-Chip status register: Status Register Write Disable (SRWD, SRP, ...) is not set
-Chip status register: Bit 6 is not set
-Chip status register: Block Protect 3 (BP3) is not set
-Chip status register: Block Protect 2 (BP2) is not set
-Chip status register: Block Protect 1 (BP1) is not set
-Chip status register: Block Protect 0 (BP0) is not set
-Chip status register: Write Enable Latch (WEL) is not set
-Chip status register: Write In Progress (WIP/BUSY) is not set
-This chip may contain one-time programmable memory. flashrom cannot read
-and may never be able to write it, hence it may not be able to completely
-clone the contents of this chip (see man page for details).
-Reading flash... done.
-</code>
-===== Coreboot project =====
-  *
-  * [[https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/tree/master/util/ifdtool|ifdtool]]
-=== BIOS Files ===
-  * xxx.PAT are CPU Microcode files
-  * xxx.hsh are CPU Microcode hash files
-  * something.FL1 the actual BIOS image.
-  * There's also .FL2, that's the Embedded controller((http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html))
 ===== Reference =====
@@ Line 176: / Line 152: @@
     * https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/archive/index.php?thread-21048.html
 ====== Screen ======
-Currently: 15.6", 16x9, 1366x768
+I replaced my WXGA (1366x768) screen with FHD, [[http://www.panelook.com/N156HGE-L11_Innolux_15.6_LCM_overview_16512.html|Chi Mei N156HGE-L11]]. My old screen was [[http://www.panelook.com/B156XTN02.1_AUO_15.6_LCM_overview_15248.html|B156XTN02.1]].
-^FRU^Description^Resolution^
-|04W3339|LCD 15.6"HD AG|WXGA (1366x768)|
-|04W3345|BOE 15.6"HD AG|WXGA (1366x768)|
-http://replacethinkpadscreen.blogspot.ca/2013/01/replacing-t530s-screen.html
-Possible replacement: B156HW01 V.4
+I used this as a guide: http://replacethinkpadscreen.blogspot.ca/2013/01/replacing-t530s-screen.html
+I also highly recommend watching multiple YouTube videos on mating LVDS connectors.