[coreboot] Postcode at Lenovo x230

[Kyösti Mälkki]

Hi Rafael

On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 2:03 PM, Rafael Machado
<rafaelrodrigues.machado at gmail.com> wrote:

> The problem is that this time, with this x230, after I connected the
> postcard and turned the system on, the system stopped to boot. And the post
> card does not stop at a specific post code.

These cheap POST80 displays do not use PCI-e signalling. Looking at
Wistron Dasher-2 schematics that to my knowledge is (a/the) x230
mainboard, required LPC signals are not routed to either of the
mini-PCI-e slots. There is a separate (unpopulated) connector CN14 and
card-edge GF1 to use for post80 display.

> What happens now, is that every time I turn the system on, the battery led
> blinks 3 times, being two blinks followed by a 1 second stop and after that
> the last blink, and the system reboots.

:(

> The post card I'm using is this:
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/3in1-Mini-PCI-E-PCI-LPC-Tester-PC-Desktop-Diagnostic-Post-Card-Error-Code-Test/191862585496?hash=item2cabe6b898:g:x8MAAOSw2x1XKB5E

I have one these as well. That mini-PCI-e card-edge is not so great,
it is missing pads for pins 1 and 2. It also appears to be narrower
what the specs says, so you need to be very careful with proper
alignment on installation. Also have laptop battery removed while
doing so!

>
> So my questions are:
>
> -Does someone believe this postcard could have bricked the system? (Why?)
> -Any idea about how to solve that?

I would measure the 3.3V power rail on the mainboard (VCC3WLAN) . If
you had installed the postcard improperly/skewed to the socket you
could have caused some shortcut to GND and damaged the on-board power
circuitry. Other than that, I don't see how this post card could harm
a x230.

Hope this helps,
Kyösti