Lenovo ThinkPad T420 with UEFI Only

[pepo930]

After formatting the flash drive and copying the Sierra installer using the terminal command, there's no ESP (EFI) folder on the usb stick.

"Diskutil list" says there's only one partition named "install macOS Sierra". I can't copy Clover and make the drive bootable.

What do I do?

[tluck]

@pepo930 - try formatting the USB as GUID/GPT vs MBR. I split my 16GB USB into 2 8GB partitions - El Cap is on one and Sierra is on the other partition. there is a separate ESP too if you do this with Disk Utility

 

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *15.6 GB    disk3
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Install-10.12.3         7.8 GB     disk3s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Install-10.11.6         7.3 GB     disk3s3

[pepo930]

@pepo930 - try formatting the USB as GUID/GPT vs MBR. I split my 16GB USB into 2 8GB partitions - El Cap is on one and Sierra is on the other partition. there is a separate ESP too if you do this with Disk Utility

 

I was formating it using GUID/GPT and OS X Extended Journaled but for some reason it didn't work.

However using the Terminal did the job. Here's the command i used "diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ USB disk2"

[Fibroga]

Ehi Guys, don't you have some graphics glitches like this? 

 

http://imgur.com/a/1yTMQ

[tluck]

@Fibroga - how much memory do you have?

 

for such glitches:

if you have 4GB - try the patch in this post

or add DIMM(s)  to make it 8GB

[kosakgroove]

Even though my question is a non functional one, i wonder if there is a way that the wifi led lights up.. I am using the Atheros AR9285 .

Is it necessary to do a hardware hack or will a software hack suffice??

[tluck]

@kosakgroove - i noticed this lack of WiFi LED on bezel in macOS around the time i installed Win10. i always wondered if there is a way to keep in on. never looked in to it. that is to see if there as easy way to turn the LED on via DSDT etc. 

[kosakgroove]

@kosakgroove - i noticed this lack of WiFi LED on bezel in macOS around the time i installed Win10. i always wondered if there is a way to keep in on. never looked in to it. that is to see if there as easy way to turn the LED on via DSDT etc.

I am thinking its probably some code fault in the DSDT since the led works in some Linux distros , not all, and in Windows. Maybe we could investigate this little thing.

Just found this: 

 

LED on ThinkPad with 3rd-party WiFi

Note: This guide assumes your ThinkPad has already been patched to allow 3rd-party (non IBM/Lenovo) WiFi cards.

I recently wanted to upgrade the WiFi card in my ThinkPad T43. It had an A/B/G card, but I wanted 802.11 N support.

One card I’ve seen recommended is the TP-Link TL-WN861N. It costs around $40 online. I ordered one, slapped it in, and realized that the WiFi LED no longer worked.

After searching Google to try and figure out why, I read that the LED is not controlled by the system, but by the WiFi card directly. Here is a good explanation from ThinkWiki:(http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card)

 

After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn’t happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the “radio kill” switch input. As a result, the LED doesn’t get proper signals and fails.

The solution may seem a little difficult at first: We have to physically alter how the WiFi MiniPCI card operates. It really isn’t that difficult, and it is not a permanent change. Basically, ground the pin 13 connector on the ThinkPad.

Something to note is that all odd-numbered pins are facing us on the card. Pins 1, 3, 5, etc. Pin 1 is to the left of the “key” (the notch), which makes pin 13 the sixth one to the right of the notch on the MiniPCI card.

The ThinkPad is expecting a positive/+ signal from pin 11, and a negative/– signal from pin 13. Pin 11 on my new WiFi card was providing 3.3v, but my pin 13 was also providing 3.3v, which was preventing the WiFi LED from working.

What I did:

– Cut a piece of clear tape with scissors so that it was thin enough to cover just *one* pin. I then used a pair of tweezers to place the tape over pin 13 on the WiFi card. The system won’t be using pin 13 on this card, and we don’t want the ground wire to touch it, just the pin 13 connector on the T43 itself.

– I got a thin wire and placed it over pin 13 as I inserted the card. I gave a gentle tug on the wire to make sure it was secured. I placed a piece of electrical tape behind it to make sure it couldn’t make contact with anything else if pressed down.

– I connected the other end of the wire to the MiniPCI card release latch to ground it. When you pull the latch to release the MiniPCI card, you will notice that it is made of two pieces of metal that pull apart. I found it easy to just slide the wire in that gap.

After powering on my T43 I noticed the LED light was on and flickered to indicate WiFi network traffic!

Here is a picture I took of the card:

One thing of note is that after installing the WiFi drivers (first the TP-LINK drivers, then generic Atheros drivers), the default behavior of the WLAN LED is to blink when WiFi is on. While you may notice the LED flicker to indicate traffic, the constant blinking (even if there is no traffic) may be annoying.

The solution was to change two keys in the system registry.

Load up RegEdit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

You will need to find the Atheros entry under that. It may be numbered “0009”, “0024”, etc.

The two keys are ActivityLEDFunc (default value is 19) and LinkLEDFunc (default value is 21). If you swap the values (change ActivityLEDFunc to “21” and LinkLEDFunc to “19”), then Disable & Enable the network card in Device Manager, the LED should remain solid when WiFi is on!

Update (October 26th, 2012):

I just installed Windows 8 on my ThinkPad T43. An updated driver gets installed for this (“Qualcomm Atheros AR922X”) that did not seem to include the above registry settings.

You can simply add new DWord values with a binary value of 21 and 19. This will re-enable the LED on Windows 8.

Update (October 26th, 2013):

As with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 has installed updated drivers for the WiFi card on my T43.

The above method still works! Create the following keys with these values:

ActivityLEDFunc (DWORD (32-bit) Value) = 21 (Decimal)

LinkLEDFunc (DWORD (32-bit) Value) = 19 (Decimal)

Disable and re-enable the device from Device Manager, and the LED should now be working again!

Other links:

Fix the LED under Linux with this WiFi card:

http://xenomorph.net/misc/guides/ubuntu-t43/

MiniPCI pin layout: http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html

ThinkWiki: http://www.thinkwiki.org/

ThinkPad forum link where I found info: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=58251

 

Maybe this can make a difference??

[Fibroga]

 

@goodguess - here is a clover kext patch that give you 512MB with 4GB of memory - I do this on my son's box that only has 4GB

<dict>
    <key>Comment</key>
    <string>HD3000 384 to 512</string>
    <key>Find</key>
    <data>
    x0W8AAAAGA==
    </data>
    <key>Name</key>
    <string>AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB</string>
    <key>Replace</key>
    <data>
    x0W8AAAAIA==
    </data>
   </dict>

how to use this?ß

[tluck]

put this in you clover config.plist in the Kext Patch section.

[theslashy]

Hey guys,

 

I hope you can help me with wifi:

 

I run 10.12.3 and have bought a  BCM94322HM8L Wifi Card.

I have installed the Whitelist BIOS and when i boot a Linux HDD Wifi Works.

 

I have installed the following kexts:

• BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext
• BrcmPatchRAM2.kext
• FakePCIID.kext
• FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext

With this tool:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/140647-latest-kext-utility-macos-sierra-super-speed-edition/

 

In the System Information I don't see any Wifi device..

 

But nothing happens....can anybody give me a hint what to do?

[dio_do]

MANY MANY THANKS!

[tluck]

@dio_do - you are welcome! 

 

@theslashy - did you get wifi working? 

you see anything in your clover boot log - that shows that is sees an airport card?

 

something like this?

 

$ cat /Library/Logs/Clover/boot.log | grep -i air

5:269  0:000  Found Airport Atheros at 0x1C0001, 0x0, DeviceID=0x002A
5:271  0:000  Start Airport Fix
5:271  0:000  AirportADR=71E1 add patch size=B0

 

using the dspci command tool, does it list it as PCI device?  google DPCIManager if you dont have it.
 

[jakibaki]

Here's how to enable nightshift in 10.12.4:

 

https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/4398/

 

Just change the 09 (green) to something smaller (I used 07 but 08 should work too) using the hex-editor of your choice and the nightshift menu should appear after a restart.

[theslashy]

@dio_do - you are welcome! 

 

@theslashy - did you get wifi working? 

you see anything in your clover boot log - that shows that is sees an airport card?

 

something like this?

 

$ cat /Library/Logs/Clover/boot.log | grep -i air

5:269  0:000  Found Airport Atheros at 0x1C0001, 0x0, DeviceID=0x002A

5:271  0:000  Start Airport Fix

5:271  0:000  AirportADR=71E1 add patch size=B0

 

using the dspci command tool, does it list it as PCI device?  google DPCIManager if you dont have it.

 

I have this:

 

6:263  0:000  Start NetWork Fix

6:264  0:001  _DSM already exists, patch LAN will not be applied

6:265  0:000  Start Airport Fix

6:266  0:000  AirportADR=713F add patch size=B0

6:266  0:000  adr 713F size of arpt=CE

6:267  0:001  Start SBUS Fix PCI=1B4E len=ACBB

6:267  0:000  device (SBUS) found at 7606

6:267  0:000  name BUS0 present at 20

 

DPCIManager doesnt list anything related to wifi

[Fibroga]

put this in you clover config.plist in the Kext Patch section.

I'm stupid, can't understand lol

[jiivee82]

Here's how to enable nightshift in 10.12.4:

 

https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/4398/

 

Just change the 09 (green) to something smaller (I used 07 but 08 should work too) using the hex-editor of your choice and the nightshift menu should appear after a restart.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I also had to do

 

sudo codesign -f -s - /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreBrightness.framework/CoreBrightness 

 

after the edit or it would crash with some code signing related error.

[hrk23]

Many, many.... thanks for your support! 

[Fibroga]

Is it possible to installa 1.46 modeded bios, from sierra? i don't have windows on my pc

And my problem with usb port is again here.
Sometimes wifi is perfect sometimes not. this is because usb have some kind of problem that i can't sourt out, cause iphone have always the top speed..

[tluck]

to install modded BIOS you need to run from Windows or create a DOS boot disk or CD.

 

what is your problem with USB?

Note: if you sleep your system with the N10 wifi in - it will cause problems - can hang up.

[Fibroga]

to install modded BIOS you need to run from Windows or create a DOS boot disk or CD.

 

what is your problem with USB?

Note: if you sleep your system with the N10 wifi in - it will cause problems - can hang up.

the problem with my usb, is that sometimes N10, works at max speed, like 15 mbps , but after like 5 mins, it goes to 1mbps.

Changed usb, done test with all usb, nothing to do.

and the n10 wifi is working right with another pc.

So can't figure what is the problem..

http://imgur.com/a/As9nT

This, with your kext. It's impossible..damn!

https://www.asus.com/it/Networking/USBN10_NANO/ this is my dongle.

If you can, take a look at this video , this is Exactly what happens , with every downlod source, with every app, also when navigating with safari/chrome. It's like a drop of internet, idk. But is only with mac. Like if it sleeps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DCrkHGrXKI       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJC0JyD-yiw

[theslashy]

I have this:

 

6:263  0:000  Start NetWork Fix

6:264  0:001  _DSM already exists, patch LAN will not be applied

6:265  0:000  Start Airport Fix

6:266  0:000  AirportADR=713F add patch size=B0

6:266  0:000  adr 713F size of arpt=CE

6:267  0:001  Start SBUS Fix PCI=1B4E len=ACBB

6:267  0:000  device (SBUS) found at 7606

6:267  0:000  name BUS0 present at 20

 

DPCIManager doesnt list anything related to wifi

 

Can anybody help me here?

[Naveed Hashmi]

Thanks a lot for taking a plunge into eltorito, tluck.

I´ll put the files together on a DOS boot stick to try whether pflash does handle the 1.49 BIOS on my "new" T420.

Wish me luck that I won't end up with a big black bookend.

 

Edit: Success!

All went well and I can´t thank you enough that this was made possible by your work.

I had been thinking of returning the T420 to the seller as 1.49 would have been a no go.

Would have been sad to see it go with 4/120GB, WWAN, smartcard reader, no signs of wear, docking station and bag for EUR 230.

Quite a nice testing ground for Sierra, 4GB is not too much, but maybe I´ll make it 6GB for both T420.

 

I´m uploading an image of my thumb drive right now, hoping that someone may find it useful.

Included is a USB image tool for Windows to read/write USB sticks.

I wrote a how to which is on the USB stick, together with the text  editor TE for DOS.

maybe not the most elegant writing, but here it is.

 

READ_ME.txt

Erratum: Viewing the file from the Mac side, I found a weird character in the PFLASH command.

The correct input is: "PFLASH /sa B146.FL1" with a blank (space) behind /sa.

sa stands for skip all (BIOS) checks here, BTW.

 

The thumb drive image is available from Mega.nz, feel free to improve it.

 

https://mega.nz/#!tt0VUA5Y!Tcv8_NVekGr9SL8g3SdoGlcxm1C6S7XNHe0sIgO4C24

The DL is 800MB, mainly zero bytes, as the whole data content is merely 30MB.

I already took the smallest thumb drive (1GB) I could find.

I´m not aware of creating a smaller image file in Windows.

 

Regardless of the contrary told at many sites, a BIOS downgrade of a T420 is possible and not too hard to achieve.

If you are located in the EU and are tempted to buy one, this seller can be recommended -

presuming the ThinkPad is in good as new condition like mine : http://stores.ebay.de/jereist/_i.html?_nkw=T420&submit=Finden&_sid=29150972

Dear goodguess, could you please compress your usb-image file with 7-Zip or WinRAR and re-upload it?

I hope it would be within 40mb in size after compression.

 

Regards.

[Somez]

Hi All,

 

I've just noticed using my wife's hackintosh (HP 8470p) that the finder animations on her machine are fluent while mine compared to her is not. I would not say mine is laggy but it's certainly different, runs on lower frame rate.

 

For example i have the Downloads folder kept in my dock and when I click on it the pop-up effect is not as smooth as it is on the 8470p.

Can this be due to the difference between the GPU of the 2 machines? HD3000 (T420) vs HD4000 (8470p)?

Or is this due to some setup I did not do properely? Is there a way to "measure" or confirm that mine is running fine apart from seeing it with my own eyes?

 

Just some additional differences to note:

My wife's machine is on El Cap while my T420 is on Sierra.

Her VGA has 1.5 GB allocated memory according to the system profiler while mine has 512 MB. Both machines have 8 GB RAM and no discrete GPU.

 

Thanks.

 

UPDATE #1: I'm monitoring the GPU frequency with the Intel Power Gadget and no matter what I do it's constantly on 0.65 GHZ. Is this ok? I believe it should go up when I run something GPU intense.

[jiivee82]

Very smooth on my T420 384mb HD3000 w/ Sierra atleast up until 1080p, but it gets choppy on the "superscaled" HiDPI resolutions accessible with RDM, SwitchResX etc.

 

El Cap in general ran a bit smoother than Sierra though.