X201 severely crippled after disabling Intel AMT / AT in BIOS

[knacky805]

Hi all,

My X201 has been running great for a number of weeks now, but somehow I managed to pretty much destroy it.  Before going to do a fresh install (been trial testing different antivirus packages) I went into BIOS by hitting F1 during boot and disabled Intel AMT and Intel AT.  Since these are enterprise features I didn't think I would need them at the house here.

After disabling both and doing a save-and-quit, I got a screen saying something to the effect of "configuration updated" and it rebooted.  Except now it takes about 1 full minute to get through POST and hitting F1 takes about 15 seconds before BIOS configuration is shown.  Here is what I have observed since disabling AMT and AT...

1) CPU fan is now disabled. The left side of the unit will get so hot it will burn your finger.

2) From main BIOS screen, choosing the "Config" option will cause it to hang and freeze.

3) From main BIOS screen, choosing the "Security" option will no longer show the "Intel AMT" menu option so there seemingly no way to reenable it.

4) Waiting over a minute to get through POST and it will still boot the OS, but even when running Win7 the CPU fan will not enable.

5) During various stages of boot (initial power-on and right after hitting F1 to get into BIOS) the CPU fan will turn on for no more than 2 seconds and then turn back off.

My 2 immediate ideas to fix this haven't panned out...

-- Created a BIOS update CD from the .iso available in the support section.  Booting from CD works but it says something to the effect of "BIOS does not been to be updated.  Process is cancelled."

-- Googling around I have been unable to find any reference to a jumper on the X201 mainboard to clear CMOS or any reference to a CMOS Clear button.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and knows a fix, or knows how to clear CMOS on the X201?  I still have over a year left on the factory warranty but I'd like to fix this myself if I can.

[knacky805]

Update... still no luck.

Using the service manual for reference, I removed the backup battery in an attempt to clear CMOS.  Powered on the X201 and it said configuration defaults used" so I assume that reset at least something.  But it is still terribly sluggish during POST, still freezes if you choose "Config" from the BIOS screen (Time, Security and the others work ok), and still no CPU fan.

[RedEd12 Retired Support Specialist]

knacky805:

Resetting the CMOS should resolve the issue, if you are comfortable opening your Thinkpad, you can try that. What you'll want to do is unplug the AC adapter, open up the Thinkpad, remove the battery, then the CMOS, press the power button a few times to ensure you drain the capacitors. You can then replace all components starting with the CMOS and it should restore all the default settings in BIOS including the Intel AMT settings.

Please note: Use an electrostatic discharge (ESD) strap to establish personal grounding, If you don't, you can make sure you and the computer are at Zero Potential by continuously touching an un-painted metal surface of the Thinkpad chassis.

Let us know if this solves your problem!

[knacky805]

Hi Red,

Thanks for the reply.  I have already followed the steps you outlined, sorry I omitted the fact that I did press the power button a few times to drain the caps.  On initial boot afterwards it did say something about invalid configuration and "configuration defaults used" so I am pretty sure I did it correctly.  This did not solve the problem.

As a last ditch effort I downgraded the BIOS from 1.39 to .138 using the .iso from the support section.  The downgrade completed successfully but it's still horribly slow on POST and CPU fan still refuses to run more than 2 seconds.

[RedEd12 Retired Support Specialist]

If you haven't already, I would start by downloading/running TVT System Update to make sure all drivers/firmware are up-to-date.

[pwerner]

Dear knacky805,

I have exactly the same problem - can you tell me how you fixed it?

Greetings from Vienna,

Peter

[nichnormal]

I also have that problem now...I was always satisfied with my thinkpad x201t, but now I disabled Intel AMT. The computer takes about a minute now to just show the "lenovo"-screen, another few minutes to go through BIOS-Post. It takes a long to access the BIOS setup, and when i select "config", the computer freezes.

Any solution?