Lenovo BIOS boot fix

[Allan Jude]

On 2015-07-13 15:45, Warren Block wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Jul 2015, Allan Jude wrote:
>
>> On 2015-07-13 14:08, Warren Block wrote:
>>> On Mon, 13 Jul 2015, Allan Jude wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2015-07-13 11:19, Warren Block wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Needing the active flag set is indeed a different problem. I am
>>>>>> working
>>>>>> on a patch for bsdinstall that will allow the user to request the
>>>>>> active
>>>>>> bit be set as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> For GPT, that should be the default, because it matches the standard.
>>>>>
>>>>> I would like to see an effort to get Lenovo to fix their broken
>>>>> UEFI/BIOS.  Adding non-standard PMBR configurations should be
>>>>> short-term
>>>>> hack.
>>>>
>>>> Lenovo has fixed the issue in newer models, x230, t530, t540 etc work
>>>> fine.
>>>>
>>>> Just the x220, t420, and t520 etc series do not.
>>>
>>> The latest BIOS update for the x220 was less than two months ago, so it
>>> is still supported.  That they've fixed the problem in other models
>>> shows they understand the issue.  So owners of those models should be
>>> bugging Lenovo, so to speak.
>>>
>>> Long-term, it seems like they as a company would be concerned that
>>> special bug fixes naming their specific models are needed.
>>>
>>> Short-term, we probably can't avoid this.  It would be nice to be able
>>> to remove a Lenovo-specific hack from gpart in the future with a commit
>>> that says "Fixed by Lenovo BIOS update #123, no longer needed".
>>
>> I tried the latest bios update for the X220, from 2015-05-27
>>
>> It does not resolve the issue.
>>
>> Also, it required some hoop jumping, as they only provide a bootable
>> cd (x220s do not have CD drives) and a windows program.
>>
>> However, if others are interested, this handy perl script:
>> http://userpages.uni-koblenz.de/~krienke/ftp/noarch/geteltorito/
>>
>> can be used to extract the el torito image from that .iso to a file,
>> that can then be dd'd to a USB stick and update the bios.
>
> Sorry, I did not mean to imply that the latest X220 BIOS fixed the
> problem, just that they were continuing to release BIOS updates for it
> and could not disown responsibility by saying the system was no longer
> supported.

Right. I was not aware they were still publishing BIOSs, so I was 
hopeful it was fixed, and was disappointed after jumping through the 
hoops to get the update without installing windows on my machine, or 
somehow connecting a CD drive to it.

Anyway, yes, hopefully Lenovo will fix this someday.

-- 
Allan Jude