Lenovo T400 / T500 :: BIOS Update On ThinkPad T420 Takes Too Long
Apr 8, 2014
I think my attempt to update BIOS with a "BIOS update bootable CD" method has failed!
My laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad T420, i5 @ 2.5GHz, 4 GB RAM.
My old BIOS infos (taken from Setup before update attempt):
UEFI BIOS Version 83ET52WW (1.22)
UEFI BIOS Date (Year-Month-Day) 2011-03-24
Embedded Controller Version 83HT27WW (1.11)
I intended to update my BIOS to version 1.46 using "BIOS Update Bootable CD" from this link: [URL] .....
Steps:
1) I downloaded this ISO image: [URL] .... and burned it on a DVD-RW(DVD rewritable) medium.
2) I placed the DVD in my T420 and turned it off, then turned it on, select F12 (boot menu), selected DVD to boot from, and the BIOS update utility started.
3) In BIOS update utility I pressed "1" to read the instructions, then press "2" to update BIOS. I clicked "Y" to confirm and the update operation started. First it said " Now updating... ", then afer about 2 minutes, it said "Still updating ..." and it stuck like this.
So, right now, this message stays on my screen for about 1,5 hours(!!!):
"Still updating...
It may take about a few minutes.
<<< CAUTION >>>
Do not turn off the computer during the update.
Do not remove the CD during the update."
Other details (on system setup and current behaviour): AC was continously plugged in before&during BIOS update, battery is OK, no hard disk activity at all, keyboard is(seems) unresponsive, system's temperature is pretty high, but not dangerously high...
Ever since i've wiped the machine, i've been having these two problems. When I close the lid, it used to go to sleep straight away, but now I can see the sleep light (and the power button) flash and flash, then it goes to sleep. When waking up it goes through the lenovo startup screen and resuming windows, then it asks for a password, before I used to open the lid and it would ask me for the password straight away. I know it was going to sleep because I could hear the beep straight away when I closed and opened it, but now it just takes too long.
Also, everytime I boot up into windows or resume into windows from a sleep state, I can hear the device noise, like something is being plugged in/out. But there is nothing being plugged in or out at the time. I can't get to device manager quick enough to see what it is that is causing it. But all drivers seem okay.
Also noticed, when the lid is closed, randomly the laptop turns off (hear the beep) an then turns back off again.
T420 model number: 4180-PR1 with OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
My T420 takes about 20 seconds from pushing the power on button to the Lenovo POST screen. After that boot takes about 30 seconds to Desktop. What bothers me is this long wait until I see the POST screen. It doesn't seem normal to me.
My System is setup with Windows 7 64bit booting from UEFI on a mSATA Crucial M500 SSD. It has 16GB of Ram and a i7 CPU. I have the newest BIOS (1.46) installed.
After the latest system update from Lenovo System update, my laptop T530 doesn't do a successful cold boot. A warm successive boot (with interruptible boot screen) works fine.
But cold boot always fails and the system powers down in less than 5s. This is seen after the BIOS updated to 2.59.1.12. restore to older version of BIOS(downgrade it)?
I purchased this wonderful machine from a friend of mine after he had me install a copy of Windows 7 (64) onto it. I am not entirely sure when this problem started.
Problem: I can access my BIOS, but my settings are completely greyed out, I cannot select, much less change anything in it. After startup and I press the "BLUE" button, it prompts me for a power up password, so I press the enter key without typing anything in, which is how I believe I set it, and it allows me to "see" the BIOS settings. I am never prompted for a SVP as I do not believe there is one, although when gazing into the mystic BIOS I see the security settings are as follows-
SUPERVISOR PASSWORD [ENTER] PASSWORD STATUS ENABLED LOCK VEFI BIOS SETTINGS ENABLED SET MINIMUM LENGTH DISABLED PASSWORD AT UNATTENDED BOOT [ENABLED] PASSWORD AT START DISABLED
The entire section is greyed out, and I do realize that I am indeed missing some settings that ARE in my BIOS, such as HDD Password (NONE) and I believe something else.
I am trying to edit my display and optimus settings, as I am an avid game player, and the NVIDIA card appears to be a much better option, but I however, cannot.
I have a T420 Thinkpad and have 2 external monitors connected; one using VGA into the docking station and one using DVI into the docking station. The laptop does not recognize the mobile PC display as an option when I attempt to extend to a 3rd monitor. The ultimate goal is 3 monitors extended: 2 external and 1 (the laptop display). Is this possible?
I've updated the BIOS on my t500 Monday. Followed all directions. Now when I power on the t500, it takes 10 minutes before it begins to boot. I see the lights, I hear the fans, but not video for 10 minutes.
I had an admin power on password on a T420 that contained a character that isn't allowed in the newer version (old password had a dash - in it) and I didn't remove the password prior to update so now I can't get into the BIOS as admin - are dashes changed to something else during update or can I revert back to a previous bios version (if so where are they located)?
we got several T420 with different BIOS versions (from 1.30 to 1.40) On 95% of them the "Clear Security Chip" Option is available @ BIOS but on some of them the option is missing.
I want to upgrade my BIOS, but there is no update available for bios in windows 8.1.. My Bios version is 1.18, I want to update because i read somewhere that if your fan make noise make sure you have updated BIOS :A.. I want to know if I can install "BIOS update for win 8" in my lenovo t410 with windows 8.1..
My Thinkpad T430, less than a year old, is having issues - corrupted .dll files, Windows Update not working, all sorts of fun stuff. I've exhausted pretty much every other option I can find to try to repair this at this point. The nuclear option is a reset to Lenovo factory settings from the Windows repair environment accessed by pressing F8 during boot, but before I do that I want to understand *exactly* what I would be doing to my computer.
Specifically: will a factory reset return all Windows system files to their original state, meaning there is no chance that the issues I'm having will persist? Will it guarantee that Windows Update will work again and that all of my .dll and other system files will be in a fresh, non-corrupted state? Does the process replace current system files with original versions that were installed on the computer?
I just don't want to restore to factory settings and find that Windows Update still won't work and now I have to install over a year's worth of updates manually from the Microsoft website, one by one, or go through the trouble of having to reinstall all of my programs, get my files back on the computer, fix settings to be as I want them again, etc. only to not have these issues fixed.
I am unable to enter the BIOS (or the boot device and application menu) of my T530. When I press Enter at the 'Press Enter to interrupt normal startup' prompt, nothing happens. It just ignores my input completely. F1 doesn't do anything either.
Otherwise my ThinkPad is working fine, but I would like to change some settings (especially change the boot device, to boot from USB).
I seem to have a failed brand new SSD. Before I RMA it.
-I've just used Samsung data migration to copy my C drive to a Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD as usual. -I went into device driver, and set the SSD to cache writes, so the SSD was working then. -I removed the 320GB SSD, installed the SSD and rebooted. -After the BIOS flash screen, the system halts with a funny symbol on the screen and a flashing cursor. -It responds to Ctrl Alt Del. but doesn't get as far as testing the DVD drive. -After replacing the SSD with the HDD and rebooting, all is fine again ... -The BIOS shows AHCI mode, and the SSD and contents (in a USB3 drive caddy) are visible and readable.
I can't use Samsung SSD magician because it won't see the SSD over USB (clever!), so can't work out how to upgrade firmware. This is an i5, 8GB, 320GB machine with 1600x900 screen, with XP Pro 64-bit.
What gives?? Others here have posted with working 840 Pros in a T420, so I think it's compatible. Could this be a SATA2/SATA3 thing or AHCI? I can't see any SATA2/3 control in the BIOS - does it just auto-negotiate?
I am getting a T420 as my new Corporate laptop. I want to buy an SSD drive to replace the internal hard drive. I found the newest bios/firmware and looked at the Readme file. It lists the latest drives and model numbers but not any of the previous models? How do I get a complete list of all SSD drives/models supported on the T420? The laptop is going to be imaged with Win7 if that matters.
I updated the BIOS of my TP T410 (2522), German keyboard, to 1.45. After the update both CTRL keys do not work any more. The same for AltGr. When I activate the FN CTRL switch in BIOS the FN key - as supposed - works like the CTRL key. But when I deactivate it again the FN gets back to its proper function and CTRL does not work.
When I connect an external keyboard via USB it works perfectly. How to get the CRTL key working again?
My T420 has the 2100 error on HDD0 few days ago. I went to the IT center and found the hard drive is completely dead. My original hdd is 500G seagate. So sad, all the music and good memories are gone.
I have to update the hard drive. Any suggestions on the SSD? I heard i can only update to 160G ssd, is this true?
I'm facing an annoying problem with my T420. When in battery mode the machine goes to sleep after some minutes. WHILE I'm working on it... But than it is NOT possible to wake it again.
I have been trying to install a new version of windows on my T420s laptop but have been unable to get the system bios to allow me to select the USB jump drive. I have tried a number of different BIOS setting trying to get the drive to show up in the F12 boot list. The only devices that show up are the SSD Hard Drive, the CD/DVD drive and the network boot option.
note I have tried all 3 USB ports, I have 3 different USB jump drives and each of them work when connected to other systems.
my 4-in-1 card reader (04W1701)is on the fritz, can't find any on ebay, but there are plenty of '5-in-1' (FRU 45M2658) to be had. Can I use that instead?
T440p | Core i7 4700MQ @ 2.4 ghz | 8 GB | Samsung 840 EVO 240gb SSD | 14" | Intel HD Graphics | Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
My T420 doesn't power on at all. I have tried to turn it on with cable, w/o cable, different baterries, removed rams and tried same things, tried holding down power button for 60 secs, tried with an other keyboard and I couldn't manage to start the laptop. No reaction at all, no blinking or anything.
I have a T420 with Windows 7 SP1. I bought a replacement battery of 0A36303 (ThinkPad Battery 70++ (9 cell)) and got one with a new Replacement part number (FRU) of 45N1007 (it is clearly written on the battery alongside “ASM P/N 45N1006”).
[URL] .....
After I installed it in the laptop and made sure to run System Update and update all the Lenovo software to its latest versions.
I also run the Lenovo Battery Firmware update utility, which informed me that the battery has the latest firmware (0003-0080-0100-0165). [URL] .....
When I run “Power Manager” (latest version, 6.66.3) and choose the tab of “Battery” I have this mismatch data:
Both “Design Capacity” and “Full Charge Capacity” shows "90.00 Wh" which almost fits the characteristics of the 0A36303 battery (as detailed at [URL] .....) which is "94 Wh" (in compare with "57 Wh" for the 0A36302 model, detailed on the same web page mentioned above)
But the “FRU part number” field says “45N1001” which fits the “0A36302” model… (as detailed at [URL] ....)
I bought t420 last month. Yesterday i spilled liquid on the clicks on touchpad. The right button works but it freezes sometimes, left doesn't work at all. Because i am in Europe now,the warnity does not cover. Also the ultranav buttons don't work. With external mouse it works.
I have multiple T430's at my company that are slow to shutdown. It takes approximately 10 minutes to shutdown. It is also consistant, as soon as you login and shut down it will take that long. These are all installed using an image. Running windows 7 64 bit. Looked in event log, but no indication of abnormal errors. Using Kaspersky, Office 2010, Mozy. Checked some registery settings on microsofts website but that didn't fix the issue either. Not sure if this is a lenovo problem, or a windows problem or a conflict with other software.
Is there a way to turn on or off the wireless/bluetooth radio when the T420 is docked and using an external keyboard? I don't want to open the lid on the T420 every time to use the Fn+F5 keys when docked.
I have Lenovo T420s plugged into ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3 with USB 3.0 90W. The problem I have USB 3.0 port on the dock (blue one) works as USB 2.0. The laptop port works fine. I am checking it by plugging Seagate mobile HDD - when the HDD is plugged into the blue port on the dock station Windows (7, 64-bit) complains 'Device can perform faster', using laptop's port doesn't trigger the message.
USB 3.0 driver is installed. BIOS version is 1.37. Intel Chipset drivers are updated.
Device manager shows the connection as a chain of two 'Generic USB Hub's, if HDD is connected to the laptop's port its chain of 'Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 .......
