X200 X201 Hardware Flashing
Libreboot Laptops
NOTE: The Libreboot components of this wiki will be divested and merge upstream into the Official Libreboot Documentation here. Please use that from now on. Coreboot components will remain here.
Libreboot laptops are certified by the FSF to protect your freedom.
They contain no proprietary blobs of any kind, and have the best support for FSF certified GNU/LInux.
ThinkPads
Macbooks
Other Tutorials
- Customizing Libreboot
- X60 T60 Hardware Flashing
- X200 X201 Hardware Flashing
- Installing Trisquel with Full Disk Encryption
- BIOS Flashchip Identification Method
- Phoenix BIOS Crisis Recovery - (under research) Software method for recovering the factory BIOS, even if you lost the original dump.
Coreboot Laptops
Coreboot is an open source, user configurable BIOS. However, it does use a few proprietary blobs here and there.
ThinkPads
These require hardware flashing. Due to Intel Management Firmware, proprietary blobs are required for newer Intel motherboards to even power up.
-
ThinkPad T430/X230
- xx30 BIOS Whitelist Removal
- xx30 BIOS Mod with Old Keyboard - Since Libreboot's ROMs each can use a different keyboard layout, would it be possible to modify Coreboot to work with the old xx20 keyboard? Or just mod the official BIOS to do so?
- ThinkPad X201
- ThinkPad X200
- ThinkPad T60p (ATI GPU)
- ThinkPad T22 - Back when Coreboot was known as "LinuxBIOS", they installed it on a ThinkPad T22 for Richard Stallman.
Chromebooks
Most Intel Chromebooks come with Coreboot preinstalled. SeaBIOS can optionally be installed to add Windows support.
Just use John Lewis's Installation Script for All Models to autoinstall.
-
Chromebook Coreboot Installation - Install Coreboot + SeaBIOS for 2nd gen laptops. Not necessary for 3rd gen.
- Acer C7 Chromebook
- Toshiba Chromebook 2 - The only 13-inch model around with an FHD 1920x1080 IPS screen.
- Samsung Series 5 550
- Acer C720 Chromebook
- ThinkPad X131e Chromebook
- Install Typical BIOS
- Chromebook Pixel
Build Notes
Flashing Methods
The X200 and X201 can be flashed using a BeagleBone Black, a Raspberry Pi, or a Bus Pirate. Libreboot offically supports the BeagleBone Black, but the price of the BeagleBone is $55 compared to a $35 Raspberry Pi and if you're reading this, you likely have one lying around.
16-pin BIOS Chip
Only the numbers with an asterisk are plugged in to a wire.
16-pin X200 Pomona 5252
=== front (display) on your X200 ====
9 - - 8*
10* - - 7*
11 - - 6
12 - - 5
13 - - 4
14 - - 3
15* - - 2*
16* - - 1 - this is pin 1 on the flash chip
=== back (palmrest) on your X200 ===
| Pin # | SPI Pin Name | Bus Pirate (Seed Color) | BeagleBone Black | Raspberry Pi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3.3V | 3.3V PSU | 3.3V PSU | 17 or 3.3V PSU |
| 7 | CS | White | Pin 17 | 24 |
| 8 | MISO | Black | Pin 21 | 21 |
| 10 | GND | Brown | Pin 1 | 25 |
| 15 | MOSI | Gray | Pin 18 | 19 |
| 16 | CLK | Purple | Pin 22 | 23 |
8-pin BIOS Chip
Fun Fact: This chip pinout is exactly the same as the X60 and T60.
8-pin X200 POMONA 5250:
~~~~ VGA (left) ~~~~
4321
----
| |
----
5678
~~Hard Drive (right)~
| Pin # | SPI Pin Name | Bus Pirate (Seeed Color) | BeagleBone Black | Raspberry Pi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CS | White | Pin 17 | 24 |
| 2 | MISO | Black | Pin 21 | 21 |
| 3 | not used | not used | not used | not used |
| 4 | GND | Brown | Pin 1 | 25 |
| 5 | MOSI | Gray | Pin 18 | 19 |
| 6 | CLK | Purple | Pin 22 | 23 |
| 7 | not used | not used | not used | not used |
| 8 | 3.3V | 3.3V PSU | 3.3V PSU | 17 or 3.3V PSU |