BIOS upgrade on TP 760XD without battery?

G

Guest

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Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hello,

I wanted to upgrade the BIOS using the service diskette
donwloaded from the IBM web site on my Thinkpad 760XD but the
machine refuses to do it because my machine has dead batteries.
I bought it second-hand knowing this limitation. I don't know
where to buy fresh batteries so I am seeking for alternative solutions.

Do you have any idea how to bypass this check? I know it is for
safety reasons since the system board could damage if a power
interuption occurs during update. I have two ideas, maybe
someone could expand them.

1. The service diskette is essentially a boot disk which
contains the following files:

Command.com
Config.sys
flshbios.sys
Ibmbio.com
Ibmdos.com
Updtflsh.exe
Userint.exe
Utilinfo.exe
$0022000.fl1

I suspect that one of the com or exe files does the check and provides
the user interface, while another one does the update, so renaming
some file could do the job. I know it might be dangerous...

2. The battery is an intelligent one so some hacking could make it
being recognised by the system as charged.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated!

MTiA,
dmerk
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I dont remember the hack, but this topic has been brought up many many times
over the last few years. Do a Google search for "upgrade BIOS battery" and you
should find the posts.

TJ

dmerk wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I wanted to upgrade the BIOS using the service diskette
> donwloaded from the IBM web site on my Thinkpad 760XD but the
> machine refuses to do it because my machine has dead batteries.
> I bought it second-hand knowing this limitation. I don't know
> where to buy fresh batteries so I am seeking for alternative solutions.
>
> Do you have any idea how to bypass this check? I know it is for
> safety reasons since the system board could damage if a power
> interuption occurs during update. I have two ideas, maybe
> someone could expand them.
>
> 1. The service diskette is essentially a boot disk which
> contains the following files:
>
> Command.com
> Config.sys
> flshbios.sys
> Ibmbio.com
> Ibmdos.com
> Updtflsh.exe
> Userint.exe
> Utilinfo.exe
> $0022000.fl1
>
> I suspect that one of the com or exe files does the check and provides
> the user interface, while another one does the update, so renaming
> some file could do the job. I know it might be dangerous...
>
> 2. The battery is an intelligent one so some hacking could make it
> being recognised by the system as charged.
>
> Any help or ideas would be appreciated!
>
> MTiA,
> dmerk

--
=================================================================
Pilots track their lives by the number of hours in the air,
as if any other time isn't worth noting....
Michael Rarfit
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC <Dec7.1941@cableaz.com> wrote:
> I dont remember the hack, but this topic has been brought up many
> many times over the last few years. Do a Google search for "upgrade
> BIOS battery" and you should find the posts.

http://www.thinkpads.com/batteryless.htm

Regards,

James
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

yeah... thats it... Thanks Jim,

teege

JHEM wrote:
>
> Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC <Dec7.1941@cableaz.com> wrote:
> > I dont remember the hack, but this topic has been brought up many
> > many times over the last few years. Do a Google search for "upgrade
> > BIOS battery" and you should find the posts.
>
> http://www.thinkpads.com/batteryless.htm
>
> Regards,
>
> James

--
=================================================================
Pilots track their lives by the number of hours in the air,
as if any other time isn't worth noting....
Michael Rarfit
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC" <Dec7.1941@cableaz.com> wrote in message news:<407EAF5E.B5395B0F@cableaz.com>...
> >
> > http://www.thinkpads.com/batteryless.htm

Thanks. The problem is that the documentum you cite refers to
another machine, not 760XD which have different service disk
structure (see my original post).

I tried the following:

I copied Updtflsh.exe (thinking that this files does the flash
upgrade) to the new boot disk and also the file $002000.fl1
which I renamed to bios.rom according to the instructions
but tried also its original name, but when I rebooted
and ran Updtflsh.exe in both cases it said "Service
Disk Damaged" and refused to do anything. Then I looked
into the file and found the text referring to battery and
AC power ("This process requires a charged battery to avoid
an accidental power off during an update") - it seems
that it performs the check.

I didn't want to take more risks so I stopped trying.

Any more ideas?

d.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

What you've said makes no sense whatsoever. What (error) msg did you
encounter when you tried to flash the thing thru a diskette?
 
G

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

bobchang <totallyincorrect@yahoo.com> wrote:
> What you've said makes no sense whatsoever. What (error) msg did you
> encounter when you tried to flash the thing thru a diskette?

None, the unit will simply refuse to continue with the BIOS upgrade without
a fully charged battery installed.

This is a very well known limitation with Thinkpads.

Regards,

James
 

Snoopy

Distinguished
Nov 20, 2001
2
0
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

This is quite correct. I've encountered the issue myself while trying to
refurbish a 755C.

"JHEM" <James@ESAD_SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in message
news:Sx9ic.14538$eK3.8275@nwrdny01.gnilink.net...
> bobchang <totallyincorrect@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > What you've said makes no sense whatsoever. What (error) msg did you
> > encounter when you tried to flash the thing thru a diskette?
>
> None, the unit will simply refuse to continue with the BIOS upgrade
without
> a fully charged battery installed.
>
> This is a very well known limitation with Thinkpads.
>
> Regards,
>
> James
>
>
>
>
 
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Guest

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Snoopy wrote:

> This is quite correct. I've encountered the issue myself while trying to
> refurbish a 755C.
>
> "JHEM" <James@ESAD_SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in message
> news:Sx9ic.14538$eK3.8275@nwrdny01.gnilink.net...
>
>>bobchang <totallyincorrect@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>What you've said makes no sense whatsoever. What (error) msg did you
>>>encounter when you tried to flash the thing thru a diskette?
>>
>>None, the unit will simply refuse to continue with the BIOS upgrade
>
> without
>
>>a fully charged battery installed.
>>
>>This is a very well known limitation with Thinkpads.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>James
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
Hi,
BIOS update instruction states that fact.
Tony
 
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Archived from groups: ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

In article <387cc259.0404142237.5f9ddcc8@posting.google.com>,
dmerk@pro.hu (dmerk) wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I wanted to upgrade the BIOS using the service diskette
> donwloaded from the IBM web site on my Thinkpad 760XD but the
> machine refuses to do it because my machine has dead batteries.
> I bought it second-hand knowing this limitation. I don't know
> where to buy fresh batteries so I am seeking for alternative solutions.
>
> Do you have any idea how to bypass this check? I know it is for
> safety reasons since the system board could damage if a power
> interuption occurs during update. I have two ideas, maybe
> someone could expand them.
>
> 1. The service diskette is essentially a boot disk which
> contains the following files:
>
> Command.com
> Config.sys
> flshbios.sys
> Ibmbio.com
> Ibmdos.com
> Updtflsh.exe
> Userint.exe
> Utilinfo.exe
> $0022000.fl1
>
> I suspect that one of the com or exe files does the check and provides
> the user interface, while another one does the update, so renaming
> some file could do the job. I know it might be dangerous...
>
> 2. The battery is an intelligent one so some hacking could make it
> being recognised by the system as charged.
>
> Any help or ideas would be appreciated!
>
> MTiA,
> dmerk

Check this out:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1363