./build.sh -c $(ls -1 x230/config-* | cut -c 13-22) x230
should produce the exact release image file. Get it from our release page1f
from 2018-02-07 see package 20180312 under Intel's licensesudo ./x230_before_first_install.sh
on your current X230 Linux systemsudo ./external_install_bottom.sh
on the lower chip
and sudo ./external_install_top.sh
on the top chip of the two../x230_skulls.sh
. No need to disassemble.And always use the latest released package. This will be tested. The git master branch is not meant to be stable. Use it for testing only.
Before starting, run Linux on your X230, install dmidecode
and run
sudo ./x230_before_first_install.sh
. It simply prints system information and helps
you find out your RAM voltage. Make sure you have RAM that uses 1,5V, not 1,35V.
Before flashing coreboot, consider doing one original Lenovo upgrade process in case you're not running the latest version. This is not supported anymore, once you're running coreboot (You'd have to manually flash back your backup images first, see later chapters).
Also, this updates the BIOS and Embedded Controller (EC) firmware. The EC is not updated anymore, when running coreboot. The latest EC version is 1.14 and that's unlikely to change.
In case you're not running the latest BIOS version, either
use the latest original CD and burn it, or
use the same, only with a patched EC firmware that allows using any aftermarket-battery: By default, only original Lenovo batteries are allowed. Thanks to this project we can use Lenovo's bootable upgrade image, change it and create a bootable USB image, with an EC update that allows us to use any 3rd party aftermarket battery:
sudo apt-get install build-essential git mtools libssl-dev
git clone https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec && cd thinkpad-ec
make patch_disable_keyboard clean
make patch_enable_battery clean
make patched.x230.img
That's it. You can create a bootable USB stick: sudo dd if=patched.x230.img of=/dev/sdx
and boot from it. Alternatively, burn patched.x230.iso
to a CD. And make sure
you have "legacy" boot set, not "UEFI" boot.
Remove the 7 screws of your X230 to remove the keyboard (by pushing it towards the screen before lifting) and the palmrest. You'll find the chips using the photo below. This is how the SPI connection looks like on both of the X230's chips:
Screen (furthest from you)
______
MOSI 5 --| |-- 4 GND
CLK 6 --| |-- 3 N/C
N/C 7 --| |-- 2 MISO
VCC 8 --|______|-- 1 CS
Edge (closest to you)
... choose one of the following supported flashing hardware examples:
A Raspberry Pi can directly be a flasher through it's I/O pins, see below. Use a test clip or hooks, see required hardware.
On the RPi we run Raspbian and have the following setup:
Connect to the console: Either
picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0
) or minicomin the SD Cards's /boot/config.txt
file enable_uart=1
and dtparam=spi=on
For flashrom we put spi_bcm2835
and spidev
in /etc/modules
Connect to a wifi
or ethernet to sudo apt-get install flashrom
connect the Clip to the Raspberry Pi 3 (there are prettier images too):
Edge of pi (furthest from you)
(UART)
L GND TX RX CS
E | | | |
F +---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
T | x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x |
| x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x |
E +----------------------------------^---^---^---^-------------------------------^--+
D | | | | |
G 3.3V MOSIMISO| GND
E (VCC) CLK
Body of Pi (closest to you)
Now copy the Skulls release tarball over to the Rasperry Pi and continue on the Pi.
The CH341A from Winchiphead, a USB interface chip, is used by some cheap memory programmers. The one we describe can be bought at aliexpress, but it's available elsewhere too.
Connect the programmer to your PC's USB port
Connect your clip or hooks to the programmer's SPI pins
TODO description and foto
mkdir skulls
tar -xf skulls-x230-<version>.tar.xz -C skulls
cd skulls
The Intel Management Engine resides on the 8MB chip (at the bottom, closer to you). We don't need to touch it for coreboot-upgrades in the future, but to enable internal flashing, we need to unlock it once, and remove the Management Engine for security reasons:
sudo ./external_install_bottom.sh -m -k <backup.bin>
That's it. Keep the backup safe.
Background (just so you know):
-m
option above also runs me_cleaner -S
before flashing back, see me_cleaner.-l
option will (re-)lock your flash ROM, in case you want to force
yourself (and others) to hardware-flashing.sudo ./external_install_top.sh -i <release-image-file>.rom -k <backup>
That's it. Keep the backup safe, assemble and turn on the X230. coreboot will do hardware init and start SeaBIOS.
Only the "upper" 4MB chip has to be written.
You can again flash externally, using external_install_top.sh
just like the
first time, see above.
Instead you can run the update directly on your X230 using Linux. That's of course very convenient - just install flashrom from your Linux distribution - but according to the flashrom manpage this is very dangerous:
iomem=relaxed
boot parameter (for example in /etc/default/grub GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
)sudo ./x230_skulls.sh
for generating all necessary files and instructionsHeads is an alternative BIOS system with advanced security features. It's more complicated to use though. When having Skulls installed, installing Heads is as easy as updating Skulls. You can directly start using it:
iomem=relaxed
boot parameterbuild/x230/coreboot.rom
to Skulls' x230 diretorysudo ./x230_heads.sh
That's it. Heads is a completely different project. Please read the documentation for how to use it and report bugs over there
Switching back to Skulls is the same as updating. Just run
./x230_skulls.sh
.
On the X230, there are 2 physical "BIOS" chips. The "upper" 4MB one holds the actual bios we can generate using coreboot, and the "lower" 8MB one holds the rest that you can modify yourself once, if you like, but strictly speaking, you don't need to touch it at all. What's this "rest"? Mainly a tiny binary used by the Ethernet card and the Intel Management Engine.