Installation instructions


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Need help?

Help is available on Libreboot IRC and other channels.

If you want professional installation, Minifree Ltd sells Libreboot pre-installed on select hardware, and it also provides a Libreboot preinstall service if you want to send your machine in to have Libreboot installed for you.

Leah Rowe, the founder and lead developer of Libreboot, also owns and operates Minifree Ltd; sales provide funding for the Libreboot project.

FLASH ERRORS (and workarounds)

NOTE: Libreboot standardises on flashprog now, as of 27 January 2024, which is a fork of flashrom.

This section relates to installing libreboot on supported targets.

Right out of the gate, some users may experience errors with flashprog when using the internal programmer. They are:

/dev/mem access error

NOTE: if running flashprog -p internal for software based flashing, and you get an error related to /dev/mem access, you should reboot with iomem=relaxed kernel parameter before running flashprog, or use a kernel that has CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM not enabled.

On NetBSD and OpenBSD systems, the equivalent to iomem=relaxed in this case is kernel.securelevel=-1; see NetBSD securelevel manual and OpenBSD securelevel manual.

ERROR: Could not get I/O privileges

Error message: ERROR: Could not get I/O privileges (Function not implemented)

If you get this while running flashprog -p internal -w filename.rom (or any internal flash operation), note: flashprog heavily uses ioperm/iopl functions to operate the internal flasher, at least on x86 machines.

See: https://lwn.net/Articles/804143/

Yeah, just enable CONFIG_X86_IOPL_IOPERM in your Linux kernel. This is a build-time option, so you must re-compile your kernel, or find a build that has this option enabled (IOPL emulation). Many default kernel configurations now disable this option.

Here’s a handy-dandy guide for building a kernel from source: https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling-linux-kernel-26.html

BSD users: On OpenBSD and NetBSD if you get similar errors, note that it should work here, but you need to boot with kern.securelevel=-1. See: NetBSD securelevel manual and OpenBSD securelevel manpage.

Otherwise, if you get such errors, it may just be that you’re not root. You must run flashprog as root, at least to use the internal flasher (using external USB flashing dongles doesn’t normally require root).

SAFETY WARNING!

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

PRECAUTIONS

libreboot flashing can be risky business. Please ensure that you have external flashing equipment, in case anything goes wrong. The general rule of thumb with firmware is this: if it’s non-free, replace it, but if you’re already running free firmware and it works nicely for you, you do not need to update it. However, you might want to tweak it or try out newer releases of libreboot if they have bug fixes for your board, and/or new security fixes.

If you’re already running libre firmware on your board, you should decide for sure whether you wish to risk it. See changelogs on the release announcements via the news page and decide for yourself.

Haswell/Ivybridge/Sandybridge machines

BLOBS MISSING IN RELEASE ROMs

E.g. ThinkPad X220, X230, T440p, W541. - also desktop boards such as HP Elite 8200 SFF.

The lbmk build system automatically fetches required vendor code for these boards, when building, and sets them up properly, e.g. me_cleaner is used. The same process is also available in a script, which can insert them into ROM images.

If you’re using release ROMs, these files are missing, and must be added. See: ivy_has_common.html.

About ROM image file names

Init types and display mode

NOTE: regardless of init type, on desktops, an external/add-on GPU can always be used. On laptop hardware in libreboot, libgfxinit will always be used. On desktop/server hardware, if available, libgfxinit will also always be used by default (but in that setup, SeaBIOS can be used if you want to use an add-on graphics card, e.g. on KCMA-D8, KGPE-D16, GA-G41M-ES2L)

This means that on desktop hardware such as KCMA-D8, KGPE-D16, G43T-AM3, GA-G41M-ES2L and others, you can use either the internal GPU or an add-on PCI-E graphics card. Simply use a ROM image that starts with SeaBIOS, and you can use both. On desktop/server hardware, libgfxinit simply means that you CAN use the internal graphics chip, but you don’t have to; external add-on GPUs will also still work! However, if libgfxinit is enabled, that disables coreboot from loading/executing PCI option ROMs which means you MUST use SeaBIOS if you wish to use the add-on cards!

libgfxinit

In this setup, on supported systems, coreboot’s own native video initialization code is used. This is referred to generically as libgfxinit, which is coreboot’s library in 3rdparty/libgfxinit but not all boards with native video initialization use libgfxinit; some of them are using coreboot’s older style of video initialization method, written purely in C.

corebootfb (libgfxinit)

high resolution coreboot framebuffer used on startup

txtmode (libgfxinit)

int10h text mode is used on startup.

vgarom

NOTE: no configs in libreboot are currently available that use this method.

With this method, coreboot is finding, loading and executing a VGA option ROM for your graphics hardware. This would not be done on laptops, because that implies needless supply of non-free software in libreboot, so this setup would only ever be provided on desktop hardware where no GPU exists or where it is desirable for you to use an external/add-on graphics card

vesafb (vgarom)

high resolution VESA framebuffer used on startup. This is equivalent to corebootfb (high resolution framebuffer), but for setups where a VGA Option ROM is used.

txtmode (vgarom)

int10h text mode is used on startup

normal

NOTE: Dell Latitude E6400 Nvidia variant uses this.

int10h text mode startup is implied here. The vesafb mode is unavailable here. For vesafb mode, please use init type vgarom; most useful for GRUB payloads or perhaps Tianocore.

In this setup, coreboot is neither implementing libgfxinit / native graphics initialization nor is it finding/loading/executing VGA option ROMs. In this setup, SeaBIOS would most likely be used for that.

The normal setup is supported in the libreboot build system, but not currently used. It is there for desktop hardware that will be added in the future, where those desktop boards do not have an onboard GPU and therefore an add-on GPU is always used..

Payload names

grub

ROM images with just grub in the file name will start first with the GRUB payload. They may or may not also provide other payloads in the menu, such as memtest86+, SeaBIOS, Tianacore and so on.

seabios

ROM images with just seabios in the file name will start first with the SeaBIOS payload. They will only contain SeaBIOS, but may also contain memtest as an option in the boot menu.

seabios_withgrub

ROM images that have seabios_withgrub in the file name start with SeaBIOS first, but also have GRUB available in the boot menu when you press ESC.

seabios_grubfirst (DEFUNCT)

DEFUNCT

This build option is obsolete, and should not be used. It was deleted in lbmk revision e1bbdadc9584291cf062660d67128e9f17ab788e.

It was believed, in earlier theory, that VGA ROM initialisation could be used in SeaBIOS and then SeaBIOS boots into a GRUB payload (built for coreboot), where the initialisation would continue to be used, but it didn’t work that way.

It’s best to use PC GRUB (normal BIOS GRUB), but compile it into a floppy image to insert inside CBFS, to then be executed by SeaBIOS. This is referred to as SeaGRUB by the Libreboot project, and it would be quite useful for desktop users, but it’s largely irrelevant on laptops where coreboot’s own libgfxinit is usually available (or the option ROM is easy to extract from vendor firmware and insert).

Where direct bare metal GRUB is desired, but you use a desktop system with an add-on graphics card, you must extract the VGA ROM for your card and insert it into the coreboot ROM, for coreboot itself to execute. This will require custom configuration on your part, and it is thus beyond the scope of the Libreboot project, in context of lbmk (automated build system).

Some older Libreboot releases included ROM images built using this option, and those specific ROM images (seabios_grubfirst ones) should not be used; you should only use seabios_grubfirst or seabios, in most scenarios, if SeaBIOS is required.

For most desktop users, if running an external graphics card, it’s easier to simply boot in text mode with a SeaBIOS payload and use only that. This will Just Work with almost all graphics cards, allowing you to use an operating system with a full display and (drivers permitting) full 2D/3D acceleration.

Which systems are supported?

Refer to the hardware compatibility page

Sandy/Ivybridge/Haswell MAC address (e.g. X230, X220, T440p, W541, hp8200sff) Intel GbE MAC address (IFD-based systems) =====================================================================

You can change the MAC address in flash, on these machines. See: nvmutil documentation

The MAC address is stored in a region of the boot flashed called GbE NVM which is short for gigabit ethernet non-volatile memory. Refer to the following article:

For GM45/ICH9M systems (e.g. ThinkPad X200/T400, Dell Latitude E6400), see: ich9utils documentation (you can also use nvmutil, see link above)

libreboot puts a default MAC address in the available ROM images, but this is a generic MAC address and it’s identical on every ROM image. Technically, you can use it but if you encounter other libreboot users on the same ethernet switch, using the same physical network as you, you will encounter a MAC address conflict.

NOTE: R500 thinkpads do not have an Intel gigabit ethernet NIC, so on that laptop you can just flash the default ROM and you do not have to worry.

There are also some Intel X4X platforms that use an ICH10 southbridge, supported in libreboot, but these are flashed in a descriptorless setup, which means that the MAC address is irrelevant (either there will be an Intel PHY module that is now unusable, and you use an add-on card, or it doesn’t use an Intel PHY module and the onboard NIC is usable).

HP EliteBook 820 G2

Please refer to the 820 G2 page for specific flashing instructions, both internal and external.

HP EliteBook 8560w

Please refer to the 8560w page for specific flashing instructions, both internal and external.

Install via host CPU (internal flashing)

On all mainboards is a built-in programmer, which can read, erase and rewrite the boot flash. However, it is not always usable by default. For example, it may be configured to restrict write privileges by the host CPU.

In some situations, the host CPU can rewrite/erase/dump the boot flash. This is called internal flashing. This means that you will run software, namely flashprog, to read/erase/write the contents of the boot flash from a running operating system on the target device.

NOTE: please also read the sections further down this page. On some systems, external flashing is required. This means that you power the system down and use a special tool that connects to and reprograms the boot flash.

NOTE: in some cases, external flashing is possible but special steps are required. This depends on your mainboard. Again, please read this page carefully.

Run flashprog on host CPU

You can simply take any ROM image from the libreboot project, and flash it. Boot a Linux distribution on the target device, and install flashprog.

In some cases, this is not possible or there are other considerations. Please read this section carefully.

Flash chip size

Use this to find out:

flashprog -p internal

In the output will be information pertaining to your boot flash.

Howto: read/write/erase the boot flash

How to read the current chip contents:

sudo flashprog -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,boardmismatch=force -r dump.bin

You should still make several dumps, even if you’re flashing internally, to ensure that you get the same checksums. Check each dump using sha1sum

How to erase and rewrite the chip contents:

sudo flashprog -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,boardmismatch=force -w libreboot.rom

If you are re-flashing a GM45+ICH9M laptop (e.g. ThinkPad X200/X200S/X200T, T400, T500, R400, W500 etc - but not R500), you should run the ich9gen utility to preserve your mac address. Please read the ich9utils documentation: /docs/install/ich9utils.html

NOTE: force_I_want_a_brick is not scary. Do not be scared! This merely disables the safety checks in flashprog. Flashrom and coreboot change a lot, over the years, and sometimes it’s necessary to use this option. If you’re scared, then just follow the above instructions, but remove that option. So, just use -p internal. If that doesn’t work, next try -p internal:boardmismatch=force. If that doesn’t work, try -p internal:boardmismatch=force,laptop=force_I_want_a_brick. So long as you ensure you’re using the correct ROM for your machine, it will be safe to run flashprog. These extra options just disable the safetyl checks in flashprog. There is nothing to worry about.

If successful, it will either say VERIFIED or it will say that the chip contents are identical to the requested image.

NOTE: there are exceptions where the above is not possible. Read about them in the sections below:

Exceptions

If your boot flash is currently write-protected

You must flash it externally

DELL Latitude E6400 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E6400 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E6420 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E6420 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E6430 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E6430 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E6520 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E6520 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E6530 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E6530 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E5520 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E5520 Libreboot Installation Guide

DELL Latitude E5530 laptop

See: Dell Latitude E5530 Libreboot Installation Guide

ThinkPad X200/T400/T500/W500/R400/R500 vendor BIOS

If you’re running one of these, it cannot be flashed internally if you’re still running the original Lenovo BIOS firmware.

You must flash it externally

See notes further down on this page. We have guides for specific thinkpads, related to disassembly and reassembly so that you can access the flash.

Please also see notes about the built-in MAC address inside the boot flash, for the onboard NIC (ethernet one); not relevant on R500, which doesn’t use an Intel NIC.

TARGET: ThinkPad X201/X201S/X201 Tablet

SUPPORT WAS REMOVED, because fan controls fail when the ME is neutered on this platform. This only affects the arrandale machines, and does not affect newer Intel platforms.

Intel D510MO and D410PT running original Intel BIOS

You must flash it externally

D410PT is more or less the same board as D510MO, but we would like more info about this board. If you have a D410PT mainboard, please contact the libreboot project via IRC and ping leah before you flash it. When you do so, please reference this paragraph on this web page.

Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2l (any firmware)

Ignore this section. Internal flashing is possible, but there are two chips and you must flash both chips. Refer to the guide:
Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L installation guide

Macbook1,1 running original Apple EFI firmware

This laptop requires external flashing. Remove the mainboard and refer to the external flashing guide; if libreboot is already running, you can flash internally.

MacBook2,1 can be flashed internally.

ASUS KFSN4-DRE?

Simply boot Linux with the default vendor firmware, and flash it internally, but before you do: take a push pin, remove the metal pin, and superglue the plastic part to the chip. Then remove the chip after you booting your Linux system. Install a new chip, and flash that.

This board uses LPC flash in a PLCC32 socket. This coreboot page shows an example of the push pin as a proof of concept: http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools

ASUS KGPE-D16 running original ASUS BIOS

You must flash it externally

ASUS KCMA-D8 running original ASUS BIOS

You must flash it externally

ASUS D945GCLF running original Intel BIOS

You must flash it externally

ThinkPad X60/X60S/X60T/T60 with Lenovo BIOS

WARNING: Libreboot 20231021 and likely older 2023 releases do not have the bootblock copied in release ROMs, so the bucts trick below will actually cause a brick. This is fixed in lbmk as of 25 October 2023 onward, but you should do this on 20231021 release ROMs before following the instructions below:

dd if=libreboot.rom of=bootblock.bin bs=1 skip=$(($(stat -c %s libreboot.rom) - 0x10000)) count=64k

And then do this:

dd if=bootblock.bin of=libreboot.rom bs=1 seek=$(($(stat -c %s libreboot.rom) - 0x20000)) count=64k conv=notrunc

(This was fixed in Libreboot 20231101)

NOTE: the section below pertaining to 20160907 static binaries references flashrom. Libreboot recommends flashprog nowadays, but if you’re using that utils archive, please note that it is from a time when Libreboot used flashrom. Use flashrom there as that’s what included in those binaries. Libreboot does not currently document how to patch flashprog for sst/macronix on X60/T60, when going (in software) from lenovobios to libreboot.

NOTE: This section partially relates to utils release archive in Libreboot 20160907, which contains static compiled binaries for things like bucts and flashrom. It will still work on modern distros, and thus is still referenced here. The flash script in that release can be used, with modern Libreboot ROMs. Current Libreboot releases do not include pre-compiled utilities, only ROMs.

NOTE: If BIOS password auth is enabled, you can clear it by shorting pins on an EEPROM and then resetting the password in Lenovo BIOS, prior to flashing Libreboot. For T60, see: https://ounapuu.ee/posts/2022/10/13/recovering-password-locked-thinkpad-t60/ (TODO: link something here for X60)

X60 BIOS password (Lenovo): you might find info here: https://bios-pw.org/

You can just get bucts from the libreboot project, same thing for the patched flashrom. In the Libreboot 20160907 release, there is a utility archive, which has statically compiled executables. They still work just fine on modern systems, and they can be used for this purpose.

Here are a list of targets:

You can replace Lenovo BIOS with libreboot, using flashrom running on the host CPU. However, there are some considerations. NOTE: needs patching for SST and macronix chips, but libreboot doesn’t yet do this for flashprog. You can use the old Libreboot 20160907 sources to get the modified flashrom instead, which contains this patch - and static binaries are provided, for convenience; they will still work, due to libs being statically linked.

Firstly, make sure that the yellow CMOS battery is installed, and functioning correctly. You could check the voltage. The battery is a CR2032 coin cell and it should be providing a 3V signal. You should check this while it is connected to the board, because this will give a more accurate reading (if the battery is weak, it will have severe voltage drop when there is any load on it, which there will be. This coincell powers the real-time clock and CMOS memory).

Lenovo BIOS restricts write access, but there is a weakness in it. With a specially patched flashrom binary, you can easily flash it but the top 64KiB region of the boot flash, containing your bootblock, cannot be flashed just yet. However, there is a register called the Backup Control or BUC register and in that register is a status bit called Top Swap or TS.

There are 2 bootblocks possible. The other bootblock is below the upper 64KiB one, which can’t be flashed, but the lower one can. By using bucts, you can set the machine to boot using that lower 64KiB bootblock, which is read-write. You do this by setting the BUC.TS register to 1, using the bucts program referenced below.

The libreboot ROM images already have the upper 64KiB bootblock copied to the lower one, so you don’t have to worry about copying it yourself.

If you use the Libreboot 20160907 utils archive, there will be three binaries:

It’s these last two binaries that you should use. Now compile bucts (just run make in the bucts source directory).

Run the bucts tool:

sudo ./bucts 1

Ensure that your CMOS battery is connected too. Now you must determine whether you have Macronix or SST. An X60/T60 thinkpad will have either an SST or a Macronix chip. The Macronix chip will have “MX” written on the chip. You will use flashrom_i945_sst for the SST chip, and flashrom_i945_mx for the Macronix chip.

Now run flashrom from the Libreboot 20160907 utils archive (for SST):

sudo ./flashrom_i945_sst -p internal -w coreboot.rom

Or Macronix:

sudo ./flashrom_i945_mx -p internal -w coreboot.rom

NOTE: you can just run both. One of them will succeed. It is perfectly harmless to run both versions of flashrom. In fact, you should do so!

You’ll see a lot of errors. This is normal. You should see something like:

Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... spi_block_erase_20 failed during command execution at address 0x0
Reading current flash chip contents... done. Looking for another erase function.
spi_block_erase_52 failed during command execution at address 0x0
Reading current flash chip contents... done. Looking for another erase function.
Transaction error!
spi_block_erase_d8 failed during command execution at address 0x1f0000
Reading current flash chip contents... done. Looking for another erase function.
spi_chip_erase_60 failed during command execution
Reading current flash chip contents... done. Looking for another erase function.
spi_chip_erase_c7 failed during command execution
Looking for another erase function.
No usable erase functions left.
FAILED!
Uh oh. Erase/write failed. Checking if anything has changed.
Reading current flash chip contents... done.
Apparently at least some data has changed.
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.

If you see this, rejoice! It means that the flash was successful. Please do not panic. Shut down now, and wait a few seconds, then turn back on again.

WARNING: if flashrom (from Libreboot 20160907 utils) complains about /dev/mem access, please run sudo ./bucts 0. If flashrom is complaining about /dev/mem, it means that you have CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM enabled in your kernel. Reboot with the following kernel parameter added in your bootloader: iomem=relaxed and try again with the above instructions. DO NOT continue until the above works, and you see the expected flashrom output as indicated above.

If you did run flashrom and it failed to flash, but you set bucts to 1 and shut down, don’t worry. Just remove the yellow coin-cell battery (it’s underneath the keyboard, connected to the mainboard), wait a minute or two, reconnect the coin-cell and try again from scratch. In this instance, if flashrom didn’t do anything, and didn’t flash anything, it means you still have Lenovo BIOS but if bucts is set to 1, you can flush it and set it back to 0. BUC.TS is stored in volatile memory, powered by that CR2032 coin-cell battery.

Assuming that everything went well:

Switch to flashprog now! (avoid flashrom)

Flash the ROM for a second time. For this second flashing attempt, the upper 64KiB bootblock is now read-write. Use the unpatched flashprog binary:

sudo ./flashprog -p internal -w libreboot.rom

NOTE: At this point, we recommend use of flashprog instead of flashrom, for the reasons mentioned in the Libreboot 20240225 release.

To reset bucts, do this:

sudo ./bucts 0

ONLY set bucts back to 0 if you’re sure that the upper 64KiB bootblock is flashed. It is flashed if flashprog said VERIFIED when running the above command.

If it said VERIFIED, shut down. If it didn’t say VERIFIED, make sure bucts is still set to 1, and consult the libreboot project on IRC for advice, and avoid shutting down your system until you get help.

If all went well, libreboot should now be booting and you should be able to boot into your operating system.

If you messed up, there are external flashing instructions. See main navigation menu on this page. These “external” instructions teach you how to flash externally, using special equipment (requires disassembling your laptop and removing the mainboard).

Install using external flashing equipment

In many situations, the host CPU is restricted from rewriting/erasing/dumping the boot flash. In this situations, you must re-flash the chip (containing the boot firmware) externally. This is called external flashing.

DO NOT buy CH341A! Read the above link, which explains why you shouldn’t use it. CH341A will damage your flash chip, and other components on your mainboard.

How to use external flashing equipment

Refer to the following article:
Externally rewrite 25xx NOR flash via SPI protocol

DELL Latitude E6400 laptop (easy to flash, similar to X200/T400)

See: Dell Latitude E6400 Libreboot Installation Instructions

DELL Latitude E6430 laptop (easy to flash, no disassembly)

See: Dell Latitude E6430 Libreboot Installation Instructions

ASUS KFSN4-DRE

The KFSN4-DRE has an LPC chip. Most people have been flashing these internally, hot-swapping the chip out after boot, preserving the original chip, and using flashprog on a new chip as described above.

TODO: Document PLCC32 (LPC) flashing. The FlexyICE has been used to flash these chips, but it is hard to find now. A custom flasher may be made such as flashprog serprog stm32 or teensy flasher

TARGET: DELL Precision T1650 desktop

Refer to the T1650 hardware page.

TARGET: DELL OptiPlex 7020/9020 SFF and MT desktops

Refer to the 7020/9020 hardware page.

TARGET: Apple Macbook2,1, Macbook1,1 and iMac5,2 (i945 platform)

iMac5,2 is essentially the same board as Macbook2,1, and it is compatible with libreboot.

Refer to the following article:
Macbook2,1 and MacBook1,1 installation guide

iMac5,2 isn’t documented but you can find the flash chip on that board quite easily. See the generic flashing guide:
Externally rewrite 25xx NOR flash via SPI protocol

TARGET: HP EliteBook laptops

Refer to the hardware page for info about HP laptops.

Links to specific HP laptop pages:

TARGET: HP Elite 8200 SFF

See: HP Elite 8200 SFF hardware information

TARGET: Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L mainboard

Refer to the following article:
Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L

TARGET: Intel D510MO and D410PT mainboards

Refer to the following article:
Intel D510MO and D410PT boards

TARGET: Intel D945GCLF mainboard

Refer to the following article:
Intel D945GCLF

TARGET: ASUS KGPE-D16 mainboard

Refer to the following article:
ASUS KGPE-D16

TARGET: ASUS KCMA-D8 mainboard

Refer to the following article:
ASUS KCMA-D8

TARGET: ASUS Chromebook C201 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ASUS Chromebook C201

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad X60 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad X60

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad X60 Tablet

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad T60 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad T60

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad X200 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad X200

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad X200S or X200 Tablet laptop

Software-wise, identical to regular X200 but SMD rework skills are required. You must de-solder the default flash chip, and replace it with another one.

Refer to the following article:
25xx NOR flashing guide

That guide, linked above, has instructions for how to deal with these machines.

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad T400

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad T400S laptop

Software-wise, identical to regular T400 but SMD rework skills are required. You must de-solder the default flash chip, and replace it with another one.

Refer to the following article:
25xx NOR flashing guide

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad R400 laptop

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad R400

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad T500 or W500 laptop

These two laptops have identical mainboard, except for a few minor changes.

Refer to the following article:
ThinkPad T500/W500

TARGET: Lenovo ThinkPad R500 laptop

Refer to the following laptop:
ThinkPad R500

sandybridge/ivybridge/haswell

If using release ROMs, neutered ME must be inserted. Refer to the info below.

On currently supported HP laptops AND desktops

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

Refer to links about and the hardware page for installation instructions on each HP mainboard.

TARGET: ThinkPad X220/T420/T420s

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

Similar to X230 but there’s only 1 flash. Intel ME image must be inserted if using release ROMs. See: guide (says ivy/haswell but the insert script for ME works with sandybridge aswell).

Refer to assembly/disassembly guide for T420:

ThinkPad T420 external flashing (T420s is very similar)

X220/X220i: disassembly/reassembly very similar to X230. Please refer to X230 instructions, but note: X220/X220i has one flash chip, not two.

If using release ROMs, neutered ME must be inserted. Refer to the above guide.

TARGET: Thinkpad X230/T430/T530/W530

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

NOTE: no install docs for T430/T530/W530 yet, but check coreboot wiki.

NOTE: Internal flashing is also possible, on this machine, from vendor firmware, but it’s still recommended to use a clip and a SPI flasher. However, follow internal X230 flashing from Lenovo firmware if you wish.

Refer to the ivybridge/haswell common guide. for how to make the rom image usable for external flashing (with a clip). If using release ROMs, you must insert the neutered ME. Look at the info on that page.

Read board documentation for disassembly.

TARGET: Thinkpad X230t

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

Refer to the ivybridge/haswell common guide. for how to make the rom image usable for external flashing.

Read board documentation for disassembly. (same instructions as X230, for this purpose of external flashing, but full disassembly will differ slightly)

If using release ROMs, neutered ME must be inserted. Refer to the above guide.

TARGET: Thinkpad t440p/w541

IMPORTANT ADVICE: PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING/UPDATING LIBREBOOT.

Refer to the ivybridge/haswell common guide. for how to make the rom image usable for external flashing.

Read board documentation for disassembly.

If using release ROMs, neutered ME must be inserted. Refer to the above guide.

Markdown file for this page: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/index.md

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