did you flash libreboot on a thinkpad t400?
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Watching https://libreboot.org/docs/install/t400_external.html about disassembling the thinkpad t400, it appears to be very difficult. Did you manage to flash libreboot? Is it a requirement to take the thinkpad t400 that much apart?
Can I determine if the flashrom is soic8 or soic16 not detaching the computer that much?
I intent to purchase an t400 from Ministry of Freedom next year.
You already have one, or are you researching in order to make up your mind about it?
> You already have one
I have one. I am gathering what is required to flash. I got a raspberry pi 0. Not installed flashrom. I have bought a clip soic 8. Have a atx power supply.
Regarding not taking the whole thing apart, I recently flashed a T400 and did not take the whole thing apart. It really simplified the process and I had some advantages that the standard method doesn't have.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS BUT YOU'RE WELCOME TO TRY:
If you look closely, the flash chip is located just next to the ram modules, on the side of them that's facing the screen. There's a very small piece of frame that covers the flash chip. I was so discouraged by the fact that I had to take the whole thing apart, that I decided to just clip that part out. I flashed it with the whole thing put together.
Advantages:
I just plugged in the laptop to power the SPI chip. No supply required.
You can just power on the laptop immediately to see if flash worked
Disadvantages:
You structurally compromise the frame in a small way
The screw hole for the mini PCIe slot for intel turbo mem isnt there anymore.
A clip that clamps down a part of the heatsink doesn't work anymore.
Flakes of metal can come off the frame and onto the motherboard while you doing this. I didn't have any issues though.
It's all up to you. If you want a pristine laptop that isn't missing a few things, I recommend you do it the complete way and take it apart fully.
ALSO I think you can determine which chip you have without taking it apart, just identify it by running flashrom on it, and then use the documentation on Libreboot to determine which chip you have. I had the 16.
And the processors are upgradable. I bought a P9700 (fastest low watt processor you can get) for like $20 and upgraded the WiFi with (Atheros Samsung AR5BHB)a libre Dual Band chip, and it's running great and fast. Apparently you can put in like a X9100, I have one but like my P9700, and you can even overclock it to speeds of 3.5GHz! It gets really hot though. My battery life with a used 9-cell Lenovo battery was about ~3 hours, and uses typically 12-14 watts of energy but have gotten it as low as 8.99. Screen dimmness is really important with the CCFL backlit ones :(
You can just solder the wires to the SPI flash chip, for not to dissassemble the computer anymore.
Thank you for your answers. Watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTZds3NpTOc deterred me.
> was always SOIC16
I thought common is soic8.
> You can just solder the wires to the SPI flash chip
Are you saying, you can get to solder wires?
Do you have pictures?
I am not going to solder with a solder iron. What about conductive wire glue? https://picclick.com/02ML-Silver-Conductive-Wire-Glue-Paste-For-Electronics-301434805286.html#&gid=1&pid=1. Can it be removed after flashing? Maybe vacuuming is required.
> you can determine which chip you have without taking it apart
I have not been able to tell if it is a soic8 or 16 rom. I installed flashrom 0.9.6.1 on ubuntu 14.04 64bit. Sudo flashrom -p internal did not work. Nor did systemrescuecd. http://www.system-rescue-cd.org/Download/. Maybe it damaged the kernel.
Arctic MX-4. Other thermal paste you may use instead?
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