IBM Thinkpad 600E bios mod for processor update

Don't ask how to hack password. (BIOS Passwords)
Sharedoc
Notebook Genius
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Since BartPE can be booted from USB stick I will next try a bit bigger image UBCD4Win that is built with same tools as BartPE.

On the other front I received SanDisk PCMCIA CF adapter card and ordered cheap Kingston 8GB CF module to start experiments with CF booting.
cp
BIOS Guru
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for the IDE CF DMA pins check:

http://projects.loetaffe.de/index.php?o ... &Itemid=12

it's in german but there are NICE high-res pictures. if you still have any questions just ask :)
If you email me include [WIMSBIOS] in the subject.
Sharedoc
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I received Kingston 8GB CF module. Bad news, TP600E does not boot with it in the PCMCIA slot. XP detects it when booted normally from disk but fdisk and ghost do not detect it when booted from Win98 startup floppy. XP install from CD does not detect it.

I guess DMA pins are not connected in the PCMCIA CF adapter or Kingston 8GB does not support UDMA. I opened the adapter and it is just a PCB connection PCMCIA pins to CF card pins. There is no IC in the PCB. I will check the wiring of UDMA control pins. If there is no luck I will have to go buy another IDE 2.5/CF adapter

I have had a lot of experiments with BartPE and UBCD4Win booting from USB stick. BartPE works ok but UBCD4Win complains some errors (error code 18) . I will start from BartPE and add plugins one by one from UBCD4Win to see which plugin is causing the errors.
Sharedoc
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Ubuntu 10.04LTS installation CD detects PCMCIA 8G CF as a harddisk and allows to install Ubuntu on it.
Don't knw yet how to boot from it, propably from installation CD somehow...
Sharedoc
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Quicly tested Ubuntu install CD does not find already installed Ubuntu on the CF disk... uh.
Ordered cheap IDE 2.5 CF adapter for further trials...
edwin
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ghost and fdisk most likely need a seperate DOS driver to see the pcmcia adapter holding an emulating IDE controller, a bit like using USB under DOS. same with the winXP CD, compare it to having a SATA controller, you need a driver for it.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
Sharedoc
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Ddisk and Ghost are no more immediate problems because I have Ubuntu installed on the PCMCIA CF to work with.
Immediate problem is how to boot Uuntu form PCMCIA CF.

I am going to study if I can open the Ubuntu install CD .iso and modify the point where it asks whether to install or run from CD; add
third option to run from existing image on disk. This should be possible because at this phase Ubuntu sees the PCMCIA CF disk.

This would lead to a slow booting system bu it does not matter so much because this is for a 24/7 running server application.
Sharedoc
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Ubuntu has SmartBootManager which on paper promises PCMCIA atapi drivers for CD .
edwin
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for CD, yeah, but for harddisk as well?
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
Sharedoc
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SmartBootManager did not detect PCMCIA/CF card.Maybe CF card should be formatted as FAT16, but then you only get 2G of the capacity.
I will wait for the IDE CF adapter to arrive for further tests on CF.

I wil resume USB stick tests.
Sharedoc
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Good news: I received IDE 2.5 CF adapter.
Bad news: Creates error 174 when booting with Kingston 8GB CF card

8GB card is ok, because it is readable using PCMCIA adapter.
Sharedoc
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IDE CF -adapter was faulty but I was able to fix it. There was aluminium deposit that was somehow glued on two adjacent pins that connect CF connector to circuit board. Clearing that aluminium deposit off and the adapter ceased to cause 174 error on boot.

I managed to install and boot Ubuntu.
edwin
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I had trouble getting Ubuntu netbook version to install from an USB stick so I connected a sata dvd drive to an USB adapter. that did work. weird...
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
Sharedoc
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I have not been able to install XP on IDE CF adapter. 1st round of Installation seems to go fine but boot from CF disk gives error message "A disk error occurred. Press ctrl+alt+del to restart".

I wonder if has something to do that XP considers disk to be "removable". There is Sun Disk utility to force CF to be fixed media, maybe I have to try it unless I found a workaround somewhere else.
Sharedoc
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Sun Disk utility ATCFWCHG did not work on Kingston 8GB CF card.

Tried several workarounds found in the internet, no success yet in installing XP on Kingston 8GB CF.
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