Hey everyone! As you might have noticed, I'm not uploading as often as I used to lately, and that's because I'm currently busy with a full-time internship. My upload schedule will go back to normal as soon as the internship is over. Thanks for sticking around!
Some other things I learnt with some comments and people: 1st- All 8pin chips are 4mb and all 16pin chips are 8mb, that is true to almost all models, but you better recheck 2nd- Sometimes there might appear a menu to choose which chip you want to flash. Most people that just watched this video get a little lost. Normally the second option is the correct one, but if not, try the other options, flashrom will notify you if you messed up 3rd- Most times the long cables aren't an issue, so only rip the cables off if it really doesn't work 4th- Please check if the files you read aren't 0 in size! If they are, reconnect all the things, and consider shortening the cables, as wolfgang shows 5th- If you will do more libreboots, or will do libreboots to sell, it's better to modify your ch341a or buy a ch341a 1.6. Do not worry about what I am going to say unless you are really paranoid and you will libreboot more thinkpad, and want to have an 100% success rate on all thinkpad: ch341a has 5v to all other pins (MOSI, MIOS, CLK etc.), which in theory can fry your chip. Never actually seen anyone fry their chip by using a programmer, so I don't even know if it is true in practice. 6th- Buy a wifi card that works with an ath9k driver. This is just an additional tip, because like that, you will not have any binary blobs in your kernel, and things like Debian or FSF approved distros will boot without any firmware, otherwise, why libreboot anyway? 7th- If you still don't own a librebootable thinkpad, and think buying one, avoid getting the T and W thinkpads if you aren't comfortable disassembling the entire laptop. If you are, or don't care, go with it, a thinkpad T400 or T500 are the most powerful libre machines, this guide will also function for them 8th- Consider OSBOOT instead of libreboot. I know this is kind of strange, but if you want a libre machine, but still want to receive microcode updates, you should go with OSBOOT 9th- Update your Embedded controller (EC) before the libreboot. If you will want to update it after a libreboot, you will only be able to do it going back to BIOS, and updating it there, and next librebooting the computer one more time 10th- If you have an 8 pin clip, just buy a Pomona clip. Because the cheap ones are a pain in the ass to connect!
The 1st one with 4MB and 8MB chips is actually not correct. My Lenovo X230 for example has a total of 12MB flash space where one is 4MB and one is 8MB but they look identical (both are 8-pin chips). In theory there are also 16MB chips but I've never seen them in the wild (at least not for motherboard firmware)
Typing this from my librebooted X200 thanks to your video. Managed to do it with the CH341a and the cheap clip. You've gotta make sure the cheap clip is really well connected, I ended up pulling the unused pins out of the clip to make it easier.
If you ever feel like giving yourself a headache, try doing this with the X200s. The chip is on the back of the board, and is significantly smaller. You need to either de-solder the chip, or solder jumper wires directly to the pins.
Cool video! It was about time somebody made a good video on how to do this - I did it recently and I have to say I struggled using videos on the matter. It's tough librebooting some laptops and X200 is around the middle in difficulty I'd say. Keep up the good work and I'm glad you got it running.
It worked for me, a few hiccups along the way. Apparently my ThinkPad X200 has a macronix chip - flashrom and the ch431a reported that there were 4 to choose from and I had to specify the -c option. Not knowing which option, I did some research. A post suggested reading should be harmless, but writing the wrong type could be irreversible. The libreboot documentation referenced macronix chips, but no mention of the situation I had. In the end, I used the -c option with the option that had 9 characters, simply because the libreboot documentation also had 9 characters. It throws errors when it boots, I’m sure a clean OS install will fix it. I was expecting this anyway. Thank you for posting the video, and thank you to the community, I have achieved and learnt something new today.
There's one crucial thing that's worth mentioning after installing Libreboot for old Thinkpads: the display's backlight may be uneven or have a coil whine. My T400 has this problem that's fixed through a bash script. There's more info in the miscellaneous section of the Libreboot docs.
Felicitaciones a este chaval por realizar un tutorial muy sencillo para instalar libreboot, espero puedas hacer más tutoriales para otros modelos, saludos
Yes a CH341A usb programmer will work, but please please please if you can, avoid getting the black one or any one that the internets reported to output 5v instead of 3.3. Instead get a different design with the same chip, there are some green ones wondering out there, even some newer ones with dip switches for voltage. So yes, the problem with the black one is that most of the times it outputs 5 volts on the pins instead of 3.3. Most people succesfuly flashed chips with 5v, yes, but it's better to stay safe if you can. I got a black one myself and i had to do a mod, solder a couple wires on the programmer to output the sweet 3.3 volts. and also, the soldering job is not so great on this one, you may get oofy joints or flux leftover..
@@catapulte1 basically any green one you find like the one in these pictures, someone is also recommending a smaller blue one in the thread: reddit.com/r/coreboot/comments/azabhl/choosing_a_ch341a_programmer/ for an example is one on aliexpress: aliexpress.com/item/32283031779.html?pid=808_0000_0101&spm=a2g0n.search-amp.list.32283031779&aff_trace_key=670248e05fdd4104b4f9f9909f6e9ef0-1572451870005-00421-5vBAQyBA&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=5246amp-Y1IbVvgwDgB-r50TPrpX6Q1572843720344 . It doesn't have a clamp included though..
Wow, this video was uploaded only a few days ago?? I bought 2 X200 about 1 week ago and plan to put libre boot on them! How lucky am I?!?!? :D Thanks man!!!
@Ali Maldonado afaik this won't work on anything newer than x200 because Intel changed something in later CPUs... You can find more info on the libreboot website.
Thank you! The chart at 4:05 was really nice. I didn't manage to get a read from it the first few times and I was getting frustrated, but I took out all the pins I didn't need from the clip and it worked!
@@lukaspinoti107 to the point where the the WHOLE pin was out... right? its like a 2.5 inch ish pin? it doesnt go on the rom then? just making really sure
Great Video! One minor comment from my side is to please use cmp instead of diff for binary files to always be on the safe side, especially when flashing eeproms.
You don't need a external power supply with the beaglebone since it does have a 3.3V rail, however it seems to be a bit weak when you power it with a USB cable but with power adapter on the 5V barrel jack input it works fine (beagle bone regulates it down). I also recommend avoiding the cheap clamps, they seem to be a bit hit or miss. Mine was very bad quality and the small plastic hooks that grip onto the package just wore off and the clip just didn't hold well. Maybe there are good and cheap ones out there but I wouldn't recommend the headache and the potential for a short circuit so I would recommend spending some extra money on the clip.
Appearantly now Libreboot supports the X220, which i've been wanting to get recently. Same old thinkpad greatness, just less old. It involves a few more steps but hopefully I get it running from the libreboot website guide
Pretty much. On X200, Intel ME can be completely removed from the firmware. On newer Thinkpads, it can only be deactivated/"neutered", so your firmware will still have proprietary blobs in it.
I am subscribed to your channel. Must have been something about linux, but anyway, this was extremely interesting. Almost makes me want to go out and buy a used think-pad x200 just so I can try this on some rainy Sunday afternoon for fun.
Awesome pieces of advice to make sure the bin image is burned successfully to the ROM! (Though I believe if someone already has a Raspberry Pi, using the CH341A is still a good option, since the WCH chips in general are dirt chip while being super reliable!) BTW, may I ask, what's that beautiful terminal/shell that you're running? I didn't notice that `fish` have an auto-suggest feature, before!
protip: if you have an 8 pin SOIC, I highly recommend getting a Pomona clip - I've had nothing but success with mine. Initially, I had a cheap chinese one and it NEVER worked, even with shorter cables. My cheap chinese 16 pin one has given me no issues though.
2:55 he says they're "overpriced" and not necessary. Actually I disagree with a lot of what he says here. To say Raspberry Pis are too expensive. If you decided you didn't like the work involved with Libreboot, you'd at least have an incredibly useful and versatile RPi. Its also very common for tech geeks to have one already. If you wanted to learn more, the Bud Pirate 3.6 is also versatile. Ch3 41 blah blah SPI - I think there a good chance you'll never use it for anything else.
@@squirlmy That was why I mentioned this - a lot of guides say "just get the cheap chinese one it's the same" when they're actually way worse. I'd definitely have more uses for a raspberry pi than I would for a Ch341 (as far as I know), but they're more frustrating to use, since you need to shutdown the pi before you remove the clip. Even worse, if you haven't aligned the clip properly and it doesn't read, you have to shut down the pi, undo the clip, reseat the clip, then boot the pi again. A bit too tedious for my liking, and that's the way I did it the first time. Of course, you don't *have* to do the above, but it's the best way of guaranteeing you don't destroy your laptop! CH341 can just be unplugged each time.
@@squirlmy Same I recently watched it before I bought some of the things for loading skulls onto my machine. The plastic hooks on my clamp just wore off and didn't grip onto the chip at all, luckily I still found some wire hooks that came with my logic analyzer. They are a bit more work to put on since they are hooked on individually, but work like a charm. Might still invest in a Pomona clip. I also had no issues using my beaglebone black without special powersupply. The beaglebone already has a 3.3V supply rail and while the coreboot wiki says it's unrelyable I found this is only an issue when supplied over USB, it works well with a standard 5V barrel jack adapter.
This looks just challenging enough to be fun. Like modding a firearm or dating a super hot girl. Great video, and good on ya for including the info about changing the MAC address. I always use the lazy method and use macchanger, but this method is more interesting and correct. Cheers!
@@joshuastiebel8806 I looked before and found this piece review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/34359/11/Documentation/mainboard/lenovo/t440p.md And this forum thread (german) thinkpad-forum.de/threads/221288-Coreboot-auf-T440p I just don't feel confident enough with flashing such a chip myself since I never did something like that
Hi Wolfgang, I going to attempt to Libreboot my Thinkpad X200 so and have watched your video, which was very good, just want to let you know that instead of cutting the pins can I not pull it out, will that work as I can pull it out very easily or do I need the pins in even though I am not using it.
I never understood why people like the X200 so much over the X200s/t400/t410 which all have a slightly better screen or less cramped keyboard with no other downsides aside from the ULV Core 2 Duo on the X200s (the X201s uses the same Core i7 CPUs as the X201)
windows user use asprogrammer and i reccomend you power mod the ch programmer it has a design flaw that can cook the spi. as far as a version idk what to recommend. Thanks for the video.
This video should be titled "How not to libreboot a thinpad x200". "Buy the sh**** clip, you really don't need anything else and then mangle it so it *maybe* works (you won't be able to use it for anything else afterwards)". What he forgot to mention is that female breadboard connectors don't fit on it (until you force them to while tearing your hair out), and that it *may* not fit your chip (i had to shorten the spring in mine). Later on i just soldered wires to the chip, because it was easier and safer (yeah...) "Use ch341a because it cheap". Despite it stating on the libreboot website in capital letters: "DON'T USE CH341", and then, if you don't fuck it up, it *maybe* won't fry your chip. I bet a couple of people got turned away from libreboot because moronic advice like this helped them brick their computer.
The Libreboot website that you mentioned also doesn't recommend Raspberry Pi because of "proprietary" repositories, nor do they recommend BeagleBone Black because it's "very slow and unstable for SPI flashing". Which leaves no other options since those are the only two programmers officially documented. Plus, it's not like you can currently buy a Raspberry Pi at a decent price anyway rpilocator.com The only issue with CH341a is that there are a lot of really low quality models that don't "respect" the 3.3V volt jumper and always supply 5V. You should always check your programmer with a multimeter, and this is the only thing that I should've mentioned in the video. I have two of those, both tested with a multimeter, and use them regularly and succesfully to flash various SPI chips. You're free to go about this as pendatically and meticulously as you want. This video solely documents my experience and shows what worked for me, personally. There's always a risk associated with SPI flashing, and you need to be mindful about what you're doing, no matter the method.
Hello Andrea thanks fot uour great job. But i dont understand why install this programa. I have installed Linux on more than 50 laptops of diferent brands with 85% succesfully. Whats the reason to make all this process to change the bios......
kinda the bios is write-locked for the internal programmer (just like for the x200) but an external programmer is not subject to such restrictions however the x200s has a wson8 flash chip instead of a soic8 or soic16. a wson8 cannot really be clipped on to so you will probably need a hot air tool to desolder it. the recommended solution is to replace the wson8 with a soic8 so you can unbrick without desoldering it in the future (the x200s apparently has big enough pads to allow for this) if you desolder, you dont need a clip as you can get sockets for the chips. these also are more reliable as you dont have to worry about your programmer powering other components on the motherboard (resulting in diffiiculties flashing). i would still recommend a clip if you replace with soic8 in case you need to unbrick though.
hey, my ch341a outputs 5v from the little pins on it. But where you show 3.3v in your diagram 4:05 my ch341a DOES successfully output 3.3v on that one pin (in the middle of ground and 5v) should i still do the mod where all the datalines and pins output 3.3v or is this fine? regards
For SOIC-8 you can buy clips that are ready to go, no need to rewire anything manually. They’re usually sold with a CH341a programmer so that’s what you can use for corebooting
Wolfgang, i am trying to find a way to utilize my SAS drive. Do you happen to know a cheap solution for SAS controller (not the one that needs to be integrated into motherboard) so that i could use my SAS as external storage drive?
x240 cannot be librebooted since it has intel boot guard x201 isnt mentioned in the libreboot documentation so probably not but it could theoretically be ported
Did you deliberately didn't show any screens with actual Libreboot on laptop? I came here to look how it looks like :( Do it have advanced bios options and overclocking?
Libreboot is just a BIOS replacement. E.g. it initializes the hardware and gives it over to the OS. Then you’ll also technically need a “bootloader” of sorts so that’s where SeaBIOS comes in. You can also use a UEFI bootloader like Tianocore instead, but most people just use SeaBIOS At least in my limited understanding
@@winnie8614 no, seabios only implements BIOS for UEFI you want Tianocore (which also has a limited options menu), although bear in mind Tianocore does not (yet) support UEFI-CSM (BIOS mode boot) or Secure Boot
the process is different as the x200s has a wson8 flash chip (which cannot have a clip connected to it so you need to desolder and ideally replace with a compatible soic8 chip)
Thanks for the info! FYI, t440p doesn't support neither libreboot nore coreboot (yet), and eGPU won't work because there's no ExpressCard slot (only a smartcard reader on some models). I came across some people online who tried to make it work via M.2 PCIe slot for wifi but no success stories so far.
Hey Wolfgang, do you live anywhere in the Berlin, DE area?^^ I'm very interested in librebooting my x200 but didn't have the guts to do it nor the tools :S If so, xould you possibly send me a dm? Regards Sebastian
Some X200 chips are just picky like that. Sometimes there's no choice but to desolder the chip from the board and flash it using a special SPI programmer.
yayks, i'm on a w541 btw ;) There is no real guide for this so I try to do it by gathering the information I find here and there. The 2 chips of the bios give me 4 different bin files ... I want to kill myself Thanks for the *very* quick answer! :)
@@WolfgangsChannel they both serve as an initial program loader though? however, libreboot does not load programs/payloads in the same way as a typical BIOS or UEFI. if you want that, you should use seabios (BIOS) or tianocore (UEFI) payloads with libreboot
Wolfgang, the libreboot website strongly discourages the use of the CH341a. libreboot.org/docs/install/ch341a_setup.html should we still use your method?
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh Make sure your CH341A outputs 3.3V, use a multimeter if you can. As long as the current output is stable and has correct voltage, there's little that can go wrong. The warning on the Libreboot page is probably motivated by the cheap CH341A knock-offs sold on AliExpress that are known to brick devices because of unstable current or wrong voltage. I've had my CH341a for several years and used it to flash 4 different devices. No bricks so far.
@@WolfgangsChannel strange. I found information that CH341a has a 5V output. and you need to modify the device. but, I also found information that for many the procedure was normal on unmodified CH341a.
@@WolfgangsChannel i took the UNUSED pins off my soic16 clip so my jumper cables could fit on the pins without being bothered. Now im wondering if i did the right thing by pulling the pins out all the way that they arent even on the actual clipping part of the clip anymore(part that goes on the bios chip)... Is this alright? please help! @Wolfgang's Channel
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh You probably already figured out the answer, but I might aswell include here for other people that yes, if you take out the unused pins completely off the clip it is okay
the main ones are: open-source, so you can audit it for security vulnerabilities and add new features removes or inhibits the intel me firmware (on all the intel "core" cpus so i3 and above the me firmware cannot be entirely removed - i dont remember whether libreboot supports these newer platforms or if it is just coreboot which libreboot is based off of since libreboot likes to be blob-free) quicker boot times than vendor firmware as it is (almost always) less bloated
Only works on very limited hardware, requires a bunch of hardware/clips. Instructions are nearly non existent. This just is not a viable option at this point for nearly everyone.
as a second or third laptop, children's or tech-phobic grandparents, it is IDEAL!!!! Whoosh! If you are tech savvy enough to watch Wolfgang's channel: obviously not a daily computer for work or the latest games. For every non-nerd and/or non-gamer, Thinkpad X230s can be upgraded to 32GB ram, Easily runs the latest Windows10, so every flavor of x64 or x32 linux is fantastic. Obviously from your nametag, you're quite a lonely, sad and isolated person. Maybe you just aren't capable of thinking about anyone but yourself.
love the channel, but you might as well have titled the video: how to waste an hour of your time Edit: the 100% purity free software pill is just as cringe as stanning window managers as more convenient.
Hey everyone! As you might have noticed, I'm not uploading as often as I used to lately, and that's because I'm currently busy with a full-time internship. My upload schedule will go back to normal as soon as the internship is over. Thanks for sticking around!
No problem. Love your videos.
Its not a problem at all. When will your internship be over if you don't mind me asking?
Hey u are German ?
@@matzmatz4148 He's russian, but lives in Germany.
@@MemoreeLanee In December
You didn't embarrass yourself last week. Just proved you were human. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Some other things I learnt with some comments and people:
1st- All 8pin chips are 4mb and all 16pin chips are 8mb, that is true to almost all models, but you better recheck
2nd- Sometimes there might appear a menu to choose which chip you want to flash. Most people that just watched this video get a little lost. Normally the second option is the correct one, but if not, try the other options, flashrom will notify you if you messed up
3rd- Most times the long cables aren't an issue, so only rip the cables off if it really doesn't work
4th- Please check if the files you read aren't 0 in size! If they are, reconnect all the things, and consider shortening the cables, as wolfgang shows
5th- If you will do more libreboots, or will do libreboots to sell, it's better to modify your ch341a or buy a ch341a 1.6. Do not worry about what I am going to say unless you are really paranoid and you will libreboot more thinkpad, and want to have an 100% success rate on all thinkpad: ch341a has 5v to all other pins (MOSI, MIOS, CLK etc.), which in theory can fry your chip. Never actually seen anyone fry their chip by using a programmer, so I don't even know if it is true in practice.
6th- Buy a wifi card that works with an ath9k driver. This is just an additional tip, because like that, you will not have any binary blobs in your kernel, and things like Debian or FSF approved distros will boot without any firmware, otherwise, why libreboot anyway?
7th- If you still don't own a librebootable thinkpad, and think buying one, avoid getting the T and W thinkpads if you aren't comfortable disassembling the entire laptop. If you are, or don't care, go with it, a thinkpad T400 or T500 are the most powerful libre machines, this guide will also function for them
8th- Consider OSBOOT instead of libreboot. I know this is kind of strange, but if you want a libre machine, but still want to receive microcode updates, you should go with OSBOOT
9th- Update your Embedded controller (EC) before the libreboot. If you will want to update it after a libreboot, you will only be able to do it going back to BIOS, and updating it there, and next librebooting the computer one more time
10th- If you have an 8 pin clip, just buy a Pomona clip. Because the cheap ones are a pain in the ass to connect!
The 1st one with 4MB and 8MB chips is actually not correct. My Lenovo X230 for example has a total of 12MB flash space where one is 4MB and one is 8MB but they look identical (both are 8-pin chips). In theory there are also 16MB chips but I've never seen them in the wild (at least not for motherboard firmware)
I don't know about that. T420 has 4 pin chip that is 8MB
Typing this from my librebooted X200 thanks to your video. Managed to do it with the CH341a and the cheap clip. You've gotta make sure the cheap clip is really well connected, I ended up pulling the unused pins out of the clip to make it easier.
If you ever feel like giving yourself a headache, try doing this with the X200s. The chip is on the back of the board, and is significantly smaller. You need to either de-solder the chip, or solder jumper wires directly to the pins.
yeah i was pondering on buying x200s or x200t since those are easier to get but saw tripcode's video and NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE
Thanks Wolfgang!!! For sharing your trials and errors. We all benefit from your experiences. Much appreciated.
Cool video! It was about time somebody made a good video on how to do this - I did it recently and I have to say I struggled using videos on the matter. It's tough librebooting some laptops and X200 is around the middle in difficulty I'd say. Keep up the good work and I'm glad you got it running.
It worked for me, a few hiccups along the way.
Apparently my ThinkPad X200 has a macronix chip - flashrom and the ch431a reported that there were 4 to choose from and I had to specify the -c option. Not knowing which option, I did some research. A post suggested reading should be harmless, but writing the wrong type could be irreversible.
The libreboot documentation referenced macronix chips, but no mention of the situation I had.
In the end, I used the -c option with the option that had 9 characters, simply because the libreboot documentation also had 9 characters.
It throws errors when it boots, I’m sure a clean OS install will fix it. I was expecting this anyway.
Thank you for posting the video, and thank you to the community, I have achieved and learnt something new today.
Hi there, it appears that my X200 has a macronix chip too. Did you have luck after a clean OS install? I appreciate your help.
The chip should have the name of the chip you want to flash, you should be able to find it if you use a magnifying glass
There's one crucial thing that's worth mentioning after installing Libreboot for old Thinkpads: the display's backlight may be uneven or have a coil whine. My T400 has this problem that's fixed through a bash script. There's more info in the miscellaneous section of the Libreboot docs.
Interesting, might check it out
if wolfgang does a video on emacs i will literally bust so hard I will rupture my appendix
Felicitaciones a este chaval por realizar un tutorial muy sencillo para instalar libreboot, espero puedas hacer más tutoriales para otros modelos, saludos
6:55 Generate new MAC address, or use one you previously backed up from you laptop.
Or don't do it and pay a visit to a friend that also librebooted his ThinkPad and mess his local network ^^
@@heartlessalice5801 rude tbqh
@@readme_nfo that will only last while you're connected to your friend local network, that not like it will make permanent damage ^^
@@heartlessalice5801 >implying you'd have a friend who has a thinkpad AND is librebooted
😔
@@fr3fou >implying you'd have a friend 😭
Clear, quick, to the point. You are awesome Wolfgang
Failure teaches a lot. You got back and did this. Im a subb with a bell for your channel.
bless you, lad
Yes a CH341A usb programmer will work, but please please please if you can, avoid getting the black one or any one that the internets reported to output 5v instead of 3.3. Instead get a different design with the same chip, there are some green ones wondering out there, even some newer ones with dip switches for voltage.
So yes, the problem with the black one is that most of the times it outputs 5 volts on the pins instead of 3.3. Most people succesfuly flashed chips with 5v, yes, but it's better to stay safe if you can. I got a black one myself and i had to do a mod, solder a couple wires on the programmer to output the sweet 3.3 volts.
and also, the soldering job is not so great on this one, you may get oofy joints or flux leftover..
@@catapulte1 basically any green one you find like the one in these pictures, someone is also recommending a smaller blue one in the thread: reddit.com/r/coreboot/comments/azabhl/choosing_a_ch341a_programmer/
for an example is one on aliexpress: aliexpress.com/item/32283031779.html?pid=808_0000_0101&spm=a2g0n.search-amp.list.32283031779&aff_trace_key=670248e05fdd4104b4f9f9909f6e9ef0-1572451870005-00421-5vBAQyBA&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=5246amp-Y1IbVvgwDgB-r50TPrpX6Q1572843720344 . It doesn't have a clamp included though..
also if you are doing in system programming and have the wrong voltage, you can kill components other than just the SPI flash chip.
that's the video I needed!
Wow, this video was uploaded only a few days ago?? I bought 2 X200 about 1 week ago and plan to put libre boot on them! How lucky am I?!?!? :D Thanks man!!!
I'm always nervous when people use my videos as guides for hardware stuff... Be sure to double check with other sources on the internet!
@@WolfgangsChannel 🤣 I can understand that but don't worry, I won't hold you responsible if it doesn't work! 😉
@Ali Maldonado afaik this won't work on anything newer than x200 because Intel changed something in later CPUs... You can find more info on the libreboot website.
@Ali Maldonado that's cool! Good luck! Let us know how it went! 😄
Thank you! The chart at 4:05 was really nice. I didn't manage to get a read from it the first few times and I was getting frustrated, but I took out all the pins I didn't need from the clip and it worked!
did u remove the pins all the way? or did u just clip them with pliers or whatever from the top
please describe
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh I pulled them all the way out.
@@lukaspinoti107 alright thanks!
@@lukaspinoti107 to the point where the the WHOLE pin was out... right? its like a 2.5 inch ish pin? it doesnt go on the rom then? just making really sure
Quality content right there!
Keep up the good work!
Опа какие люди в галивуде. Надо както пиво втроем на какомнибудъ фосдеме сообразитъ. :D
Great Video! One minor comment from my side is to please use cmp instead of diff for binary files to always be on the safe side, especially when flashing eeproms.
Thanks for the tip!
You don't need a external power supply with the beaglebone since it does have a 3.3V rail, however it seems to be a bit weak when you power it with a USB cable but with power adapter on the 5V barrel jack input it works fine (beagle bone regulates it down).
I also recommend avoiding the cheap clamps, they seem to be a bit hit or miss. Mine was very bad quality and the small plastic hooks that grip onto the package just wore off and the clip just didn't hold well. Maybe there are good and cheap ones out there but I wouldn't recommend the headache and the potential for a short circuit so I would recommend spending some extra money on the clip.
Im comming for that librebooty
Cool stuff.
Love the channel!
Appearantly now Libreboot supports the X220, which i've been wanting to get recently. Same old thinkpad greatness, just less old. It involves a few more steps but hopefully I get it running from the libreboot website guide
Libreboot has lifted its "no proprietary blobs" requirement - so it's functionally identical with Coreboot now.
@@WolfgangsChannel Hmm, but does the X200 libreboot still remove them? If it does for X200 and doesn't for X220 then i'll get that one instead
Pretty much. On X200, Intel ME can be completely removed from the firmware. On newer Thinkpads, it can only be deactivated/"neutered", so your firmware will still have proprietary blobs in it.
I am subscribed to your channel. Must have been something about linux, but anyway, this was extremely interesting. Almost makes me want to go out and buy a used think-pad x200 just so I can try this on some rainy Sunday afternoon for fun.
Ronnie O Same. Except mine will also be my backup and traveling laptop.
Awesome pieces of advice to make sure the bin image is burned successfully to the ROM! (Though I believe if someone already has a Raspberry Pi, using the CH341A is still a good option, since the WCH chips in general are dirt chip while being super reliable!)
BTW, may I ask, what's that beautiful terminal/shell that you're running? I didn't notice that `fish` have an auto-suggest feature, before!
Just standard gnome-terminal and fish
@Wolfgang's Channel thank u very much for ur video, i was able to successfully libreboot my x200 just now, awesome =D
Wolfgang's Cosmic science
protip: if you have an 8 pin SOIC, I highly recommend getting a Pomona clip - I've had nothing but success with mine. Initially, I had a cheap chinese one and it NEVER worked, even with shorter cables. My cheap chinese 16 pin one has given me no issues though.
2:55 he says they're "overpriced" and not necessary. Actually I disagree with a lot of what he says here. To say Raspberry Pis are too expensive. If you decided you didn't like the work involved with Libreboot, you'd at least have an incredibly useful and versatile RPi. Its also very common for tech geeks to have one already. If you wanted to learn more, the Bud Pirate 3.6 is also versatile. Ch3 41 blah blah SPI - I think there a good chance you'll never use it for anything else.
@@squirlmy That was why I mentioned this - a lot of guides say "just get the cheap chinese one it's the same" when they're actually way worse.
I'd definitely have more uses for a raspberry pi than I would for a Ch341 (as far as I know), but they're more frustrating to use, since you need to shutdown the pi before you remove the clip. Even worse, if you haven't aligned the clip properly and it doesn't read, you have to shut down the pi, undo the clip, reseat the clip, then boot the pi again. A bit too tedious for my liking, and that's the way I did it the first time. Of course, you don't *have* to do the above, but it's the best way of guaranteeing you don't destroy your laptop! CH341 can just be unplugged each time.
@@squirlmy Same I recently watched it before I bought some of the things for loading skulls onto my machine. The plastic hooks on my clamp just wore off and didn't grip onto the chip at all, luckily I still found some wire hooks that came with my logic analyzer. They are a bit more work to put on since they are hooked on individually, but work like a charm. Might still invest in a Pomona clip.
I also had no issues using my beaglebone black without special powersupply. The beaglebone already has a 3.3V supply rail and while the coreboot wiki says it's unrelyable I found this is only an issue when supplied over USB, it works well with a standard 5V barrel jack adapter.
You forgot to wear striped thigh high socks, praise Felix and be gay. That way you'll get Libreboot to install on your thinkpad instantly.
This looks just challenging enough to be fun. Like modding a firearm or dating a super hot girl. Great video, and good on ya for including the info about changing the MAC address. I always use the lazy method and use macchanger, but this method is more interesting and correct. Cheers!
Where can I start learning to understand all thjs
Can you maybe also do a video on corebooting an x230 and t440p?
I don't think coreboot is comptaible with the t440p
@@joshuastiebel8806 I looked before and found this piece review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/34359/11/Documentation/mainboard/lenovo/t440p.md
And this forum thread (german)
thinkpad-forum.de/threads/221288-Coreboot-auf-T440p
I just don't feel confident enough with flashing such a chip myself since I never did something like that
Hi Wolfgang, I going to attempt to Libreboot my Thinkpad X200 so and have watched your video, which was very good, just want to let you know that instead of cutting the pins can I not pull it out, will that work as I can pull it out very easily or do I need the pins in even though I am not using it.
You do not need the pins.
@@lukaspinoti107 Thank you for the reply.
good stuff mate!
Outstanding walkthrough. I wonder if it's supported on my Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming laptop.
Does this apply to the x200T? do I use the same files or is there something I should know?
No, X200T has a different SPI chip that you need different tools for. The image you need to flash is also different
Niceeeee, I hope the thinkpad i will buy is able to run libreboot, also, what's the main difference between libreboot and coreboot?
Coreboot has some stuff that ships as a binary blob, so you can't see the source code of those individual things
Libreboot is fully FOSS, coreboot allows blobs (proprietary vendor binaries), e.g. Intel ME, Ethernet ROM, VGA BIOS, etc.
thanks!!!
I never understood why people like the X200 so much over the X200s/t400/t410 which all have a slightly better screen or less cramped keyboard with no other downsides aside from the ULV Core 2 Duo on the X200s (the X201s uses the same Core i7 CPUs as the X201)
Spectacular video!
0:49 Clearly says in the page it's free software.
is that arch linux on yor laptop?
what theme, icon, and terminal setting are you using?
Fedora 31, default everything
@@WolfgangsChannel thx
windows user use asprogrammer and i reccomend you power mod the ch programmer it has a design flaw that can cook the spi. as far as a version idk what to recommend. Thanks for the video.
why are you using 'pkcon' instead of dnf ??
Because dnf is much slower
@@WolfgangsChannel
Ah! I'll be sure to give that a try the next time I attempt to use Fedora.
This video should be titled "How not to libreboot a thinpad x200".
"Buy the sh**** clip, you really don't need anything else and then mangle it so it *maybe* works (you won't be able to use it for anything else afterwards)". What he forgot to mention is that female breadboard connectors don't fit on it (until you force them to while tearing your hair out), and that it *may* not fit your chip (i had to shorten the spring in mine). Later on i just soldered wires to the chip, because it was easier and safer (yeah...)
"Use ch341a because it cheap". Despite it stating on the libreboot website in capital letters: "DON'T USE CH341", and then, if you don't fuck it up, it *maybe* won't fry your chip. I bet a couple of people got turned away from libreboot because moronic advice like this helped them brick their computer.
The Libreboot website that you mentioned also doesn't recommend Raspberry Pi because of "proprietary" repositories, nor do they recommend BeagleBone Black because it's "very slow and unstable for SPI flashing". Which leaves no other options since those are the only two programmers officially documented. Plus, it's not like you can currently buy a Raspberry Pi at a decent price anyway rpilocator.com
The only issue with CH341a is that there are a lot of really low quality models that don't "respect" the 3.3V volt jumper and always supply 5V. You should always check your programmer with a multimeter, and this is the only thing that I should've mentioned in the video. I have two of those, both tested with a multimeter, and use them regularly and succesfully to flash various SPI chips.
You're free to go about this as pendatically and meticulously as you want. This video solely documents my experience and shows what worked for me, personally. There's always a risk associated with SPI flashing, and you need to be mindful about what you're doing, no matter the method.
Bro literally a smart NakeyJakey
Hello Andrea thanks fot uour great job. But i dont understand why install this programa. I have installed Linux on more than 50 laptops of diferent brands with 85% succesfully. Whats the reason to make all this process to change the bios......
its will work on x200s? Strange question, but some guides says that bios is locked for write in x200s.
kinda
the bios is write-locked for the internal programmer (just like for the x200) but an external programmer is not subject to such restrictions
however the x200s has a wson8 flash chip instead of a soic8 or soic16. a wson8 cannot really be clipped on to so you will probably need a hot air tool to desolder it. the recommended solution is to replace the wson8 with a soic8 so you can unbrick without desoldering it in the future (the x200s apparently has big enough pads to allow for this)
if you desolder, you dont need a clip as you can get sockets for the chips. these also are more reliable as you dont have to worry about your programmer powering other components on the motherboard (resulting in diffiiculties flashing). i would still recommend a clip if you replace with soic8 in case you need to unbrick though.
Hi Wolgang! I was wondering if i have to remove the bios battery as well to safely flash the image. Also thanks for the tutorial.
Not that I know, but I guess you might as well. Better safe than sorry
hey, my ch341a outputs 5v from the little pins on it. But where you show 3.3v in your diagram 4:05
my ch341a DOES successfully output 3.3v on that one pin (in the middle of ground and 5v)
should i still do the mod where all the datalines and pins output 3.3v or is this fine?
regards
nvm i figured it out
Nothing for the X201 model?
No Libreboot, but you can install Coreboot.
Can I use the same process for my T500?
I don't own a T500, so your best bet is to google
@@WolfgangsChannel OK thx for the answer
Question: Have you librebooted your T500 by now? (I'm asking this as a T500 Owner myself who wants to to this in the near future)
Are you still editing on windows?
yep
Hi , SOIC-16 connection scheme is easy to understand,thank you. i want another one for t420 coreboot,can you tell me how to make it ?
For SOIC-8 you can buy clips that are ready to go, no need to rewire anything manually. They’re usually sold with a CH341a programmer so that’s what you can use for corebooting
@@WolfgangsChannel i mean the scheme.(- V -)
Uh, Photoshop I guess. Or GIMP, if you prefer that
Is there a way to specify the chip's size? Because i have seen there are three libreboot variants for x200. The 4MB, the 8MB and the 16MB. Thanks!
AFAIK you don't need to.
Hey! Did you hear about how you can finally coreboot a t440p?
Hi! Yes, I've been told :) Heard they had some issues with the trackpad though
@@WolfgangsChannel oh... That's unfortunate
Wolfgang, i am trying to find a way to utilize my SAS drive. Do you happen to know a cheap solution for SAS controller (not the one that needs to be integrated into motherboard) so that i could use my SAS as external storage drive?
I'm not acquainted with enterprise storage but from what I know it would be cheaper to buy a new SATA drive
@@WolfgangsChannel Thanks Wolf. That is my conclusion too :)
how much worth today is a x200 in a good condition?
A cellphone shop near home is selling x201 and x240, can I Libreboot those models?
x240 cannot be librebooted since it has intel boot guard
x201 isnt mentioned in the libreboot documentation so probably not but it could theoretically be ported
Did you deliberately didn't show any screens with actual Libreboot on laptop?
I came here to look how it looks like :(
Do it have advanced bios options and overclocking?
Nope, it's because there are no BIOS options per se in SeaBIOS. www.reddit.com/r/coreboot/comments/5vpo9p/seabios_has_no_gui/
@@WolfgangsChannel hold on. Is it SeaBios or LiberBoot? I thought SeaBIOS is the thing inside QEMU 0_O
So as I understand now, libreboot is just repackaging of SeaBIOS for real hardware?
It doesn't implement UEFI spec?
Libreboot is just a BIOS replacement. E.g. it initializes the hardware and gives it over to the OS. Then you’ll also technically need a “bootloader” of sorts so that’s where SeaBIOS comes in. You can also use a UEFI bootloader like Tianocore instead, but most people just use SeaBIOS
At least in my limited understanding
@@winnie8614 no, seabios only implements BIOS
for UEFI you want Tianocore (which also has a limited options menu), although bear in mind Tianocore does not (yet) support UEFI-CSM (BIOS mode boot) or Secure Boot
A crossover with tripcode!q7 when?
(s)he's taken already
@@thechosenone8808 it hurts my soul to hear that...
@@thechosenone8808 What gender is (s)he actually? I mean I guess transgender but in which direction? Or is (s)he non-binary?
@@thechosenone8808 by luke smith
Is the X200S working same like this?
the process is different as the x200s has a wson8 flash chip (which cannot have a clip connected to it so you need to desolder and ideally replace with a compatible soic8 chip)
Where do you stream exactly? Twitch?
I stream here on RUclips
Which dell notebook do you have?
XPS 15 9570
@@WolfgangsChannel Oh it's the Break-a-lot laptop, your warranty support probably loves you ;^)
Thanks for the info! FYI, t440p doesn't support neither libreboot nore coreboot (yet), and eGPU won't work because there's no ExpressCard slot (only a smartcard reader on some models). I came across some people online who tried to make it work via M.2 PCIe slot for wifi but no success stories so far.
So far the only issues I've had come from software, the laptop itself is great
Hey Wolfgang, do you live anywhere in the Berlin, DE area?^^ I'm very interested in librebooting my x200 but didn't have the guts to do it nor the tools :S
If so, xould you possibly send me a dm?
Regards Sebastian
No, sorry, I don't live near Berlin :(
@@WolfgangsChannel alright:( but I'll your method, since it's better described than other tutorials^^'
Hey-do ! What if ... the 2 binary file ALWAYS differ ......... ?
Some X200 chips are just picky like that. Sometimes there's no choice but to desolder the chip from the board and flash it using a special SPI programmer.
yayks, i'm on a w541 btw ;) There is no real guide for this so I try to do it by gathering the information I find here and there. The 2 chips of the bios give me 4 different bin files ... I want to kill myself
Thanks for the *very* quick answer! :)
@@nobody_913 ruclips.net/video/ce7kqUEccUM/видео.html
Yes, I have already seen this video (a long time ago)! Thanks for the reference, I'll watch it again!
What is the benefit of libreboot?
Bragging rights
Is that gnome?
:/
@@psylocke1517 >:(
@@iercan1234 i3 dwm fln kullan ercann >:(
@@psylocke1517 XFCE
@@iercan1234 >:((((((((((((
does libre boot have any noticeable differences between regular bios?
Yes, they are two completely different things. For once, BIOS options menu isn't present on libreboot and it boots straight into grub
It's free as in freedom
it's free as in freedom and it allows you to disable intel ME
@@rm-rf4612 so no?
@@WolfgangsChannel they both serve as an initial program loader though?
however, libreboot does not load programs/payloads in the same way as a typical BIOS or UEFI. if you want that, you should use seabios (BIOS) or tianocore (UEFI) payloads with libreboot
Wolfgang, the libreboot website strongly discourages the use of the CH341a. libreboot.org/docs/install/ch341a_setup.html
should we still use your method?
It worked for me. Do it at your own risk
@@WolfgangsChannel i kinda wanna do it
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh Make sure your CH341A outputs 3.3V, use a multimeter if you can. As long as the current output is stable and has correct voltage, there's little that can go wrong.
The warning on the Libreboot page is probably motivated by the cheap CH341A knock-offs sold on AliExpress that are known to brick devices because of unstable current or wrong voltage. I've had my CH341a for several years and used it to flash 4 different devices. No bricks so far.
@@WolfgangsChannel alright, thanks! ill let you know how it goes.
im doing it at my own risk.
hey gamer
is the process the same for T420?
No
hi. do you modified CH341a to 3.3V?
No, my unit outputs 3.3V ootb
@@WolfgangsChannel strange. I found information that CH341a has a 5V output. and you need to modify the device. but, I also found information that for many the procedure was normal on unmodified CH341a.
Always measure with a multimeter before flashing. If your unit outputs 5V, stop immediately and do the necessary steps to modify the programmer
@@WolfgangsChannel thanks. I will modify the programmer. I'm just guided by the proverb "measure seven times - cut onece". So, everything ok/
Someone who uses Telegram that isn't furry? These times are strange.
4:08 which extra pins?
The ones on the clip. There are 16, and only 6 are used.
@@WolfgangsChannel i took the UNUSED pins off my soic16 clip so my jumper cables
could fit on the pins without being bothered. Now im wondering
if i did the right thing by pulling the pins out all the way
that they arent even on the actual clipping part of the clip anymore(part that goes on the bios chip)... Is this alright?
please help! @Wolfgang's Channel
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh should be fine
@@WolfgangsChannel epic
@@SyedAhmed-lv3kh You probably already figured out the answer, but I might aswell include here for other people that yes, if you take out the unused pins completely off the clip it is okay
what are the advantages of libreboot?
the main ones are:
open-source, so you can audit it for security vulnerabilities and add new features
removes or inhibits the intel me firmware (on all the intel "core" cpus so i3 and above the me firmware cannot be entirely removed - i dont remember whether libreboot supports these newer platforms or if it is just coreboot which libreboot is based off of since libreboot likes to be blob-free)
quicker boot times than vendor firmware as it is (almost always) less bloated
Don't use the CH341A its not worth it. Buy an old used PI.
German ?
Only works on very limited hardware, requires a bunch of hardware/clips. Instructions are nearly non existent. This just is not a viable option at this point for nearly everyone.
as a second or third laptop, children's or tech-phobic grandparents, it is IDEAL!!!! Whoosh! If you are tech savvy enough to watch Wolfgang's channel: obviously not a daily computer for work or the latest games. For every non-nerd and/or non-gamer, Thinkpad X230s can be upgraded to 32GB ram, Easily runs the latest Windows10, so every flavor of x64 or x32 linux is fantastic. Obviously from your nametag, you're quite a lonely, sad and isolated person. Maybe you just aren't capable of thinking about anyone but yourself.
love the channel, but you might as well have titled the video:
how to waste an hour of your time
Edit: the 100% purity free software pill is just as cringe as stanning window managers as more convenient.
>An hour
oh you sweet summer child
Wolfgang's Channel It takes me an hour, because in between typing commands I roll a fatass dart and chuff it to ash and wash it down with whiskey
Ach du bist deutscher?