thinkpad t430s bios eeprom location

[Anthony Martin]

Does anyone know where the BIOS EEPROM is on the Thinkpad T430s?

I've found an image online that shows the chip in a specific location
but I'm looking at a board that must be a different revision because
it's clearly not there.

Cheers,
  Anthony

[arian]

on _t420_ it's on the mainboard below the trackpad, underneeth the midframe. T430 is very similar, but I did not have a look inside one.

T420 also has an unpopulated header that can be used for flashing, does it exist in t430 too?

https://semioptimal.net/T420-firmware-header.html

regards, Arian

On 10.06.2016 09:52, Anthony Martin wrote:
> Does anyone know where the BIOS EEPROM is on the Thinkpad T430s?
>
> I've found an image online that shows the chip in a specific location
> but I'm looking at a board that must be a different revision because
> it's clearly not there.
>
> Cheers,
>   Anthony

[Anthony Martin]

I was able to find the EEPROM. It's a Winbond 25Q128BVEG WSON-8 on the
bottom side of the board next to the mSATA/mini-PCIe edge connector.

Getting to it requires completely disassembling the machine and flipping
over the mainboard. Quite annoying. Luckily, however, you don't have to
remove the heatsink and fan assembly.

arian  once said:
> T420 also has an unpopulated header that can be used for flashing,
> does it exist in t430 too?
>
> https://semioptimal.net/T420-firmware-header.html

That looks nice. Unfortunately, I didn't see any unpopulated headers on
the T430s.

Iru Cai  once said:
> The flash chip of T430s can be in SOIC package or WSON package, maybe
> yours is a WSON chip.

You called it. :)

Also, what's the best way to attach to the WSON without desoldering it?
I don't really want to remove it but I will if necessary.

Cheers,
  Anthony

[Peter Stuge]

Anthony Martin wrote:
> what's the best way to attach to the WSON without desoldering it?
> I don't really want to remove it but I will if necessary.

Try soldering wires to the pads on the mainboard, but be prepared that it
might not really work out.

The WSON packages usually have an exposed center pad, so you'll need
quite a bit of heat to get it off. Probably easiest with hot air.

//Peter