Turning X220 into X230 - The Ultimate Frankenpad!

[@obfuscated3090]

You can also install classic keyboards on the X230 at much less effort. That's the cool thing about Pads. They're the easiest family of notebooks to modify!

[@GenePavlovsky]

They sure were. Are they still, though? Not so sure about the *40 and newer models.

[@alastorlol502]

No caps lock led though

[@jan5504]

@@alastorlol502 there's a x220 with a caps lock indicator on it's button.

[@cities_aviv]

​@@jan5504it can't work with x230 because of the pinout

[@FPSAnarchy]

you also need to isolate some pins on the x220 keyboard, the x230 motherboard sends voltage over some for backlight and you might fry your old keyboard

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Yeah, i mentioned that in the video. I couldn't get access to the pins on my keyboard (the screws were stripped), so i didn't do that.

[@pinpox]

@@WolfgangsChannel So you just ignored it? Does it work anyway or did you end up using the new keyboard?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

@@pinpox Sorry for the late answer but yes, it just worked. YMMV

[@BeHappyTo]

@@pinpox it works but there is a small burn mark on keyboard, hard to notice. After the burn mark appears, the wire connection is no longer there, meaning the voltage for backlight wont be there either

[@j.p.9522]

I got an X220 just a few weeks after the T480, you have superb taste in computers 👌🏻

[@chrisr2442]

Brilliant! As you say, these still make fantastic linux boxes... and with the extended battery can go all day on the road. I'm very tempted to try this myself. Thanks.

[@gabrielgomez2483]

Although most people don't isolate the pins on the classic keyboard I highly recommend that you do. I didn't, and if it wasn't for quick-acting would have completely fried my keyboard. I caught it early, even though it is still burnt, the keyboard works after I isolated the pings. If i left it running it would have burnt the pins from the inside out. I think it depends on the keyboard model, mine was Chicony I believe. The step is not that difficult and worth the time to avoid frying your board.

[@GenePavlovsky]

From what I read, not isolating the pins causes a short circuit, the relevant trace on the PCB burns out, and the problem fixes itself, so to speak. I agree with your advice, though :)

[@lucasm20]

Just did this on an i5 X220 because I wanted an i7 motherboard, pretty much just have to buy an X230 base and the rest fits just fine. Not a perfect installation but it works, had to temporarily flash the stock bios in order to flash support for the classic keyboard then reflashed Libreboot. Much nicer temps and less costly than getting a whole laptop in my case, no i7's in my country.

[@LoveShuffleBlues]

Wait a second.. I've seen your thinkpad in a stickers thread on /g/.. isn't it?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

I don't think so, i don't really post on /g/. Those stickers are pretty common though

[@Jorge-xf9gs]

@@WolfgangsChannel Could you please reveal where did you get them? They're absolutely awesome!

[@paschikshehu7988]

@@Jorge-xf9gs I've seen them on Redbubble.com

[@hidde1626]

@@Jorge-xf9gs 2 years late, but unixstickers has them very cheaply.

[@luclu7_]

Is that a hackintosh or a heavily skinned Plasma? o/ Anyway, nice video!

[@WolfgangsChannel]

It's the latter. Thank you!

[@Darkshine1]

My question is: why go trough the process to buy a x230 motherboard and a x220 laptop when you could just buy an x230 and only swap the keyboard? Expecially since you already have to fiddle around in order to make the keyboard work properly.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

I already had the X220 at the moment

[@Anonymous-qp4zf]

For views? Plus, why not xD

[@nuudul7639]

An x230 costs at least 100 euros. If you have an x220, it is cheaper to buy an x230 mobo and put it on an x220

[@naikkelas7495]

I wanted to know if I can put x230 board in my x220 tablet. Is this possible. I am from Pakistan

[@finhas8865]

Kinda wonder if the bottom shell of x230 fit with x220. That'll solve the dp hole problem.

[@saki-go1wr]

just curious, but can an x230 keyboard fit on x220?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Yes

[@GenePavlovsky]

Nice video, enjoyed it. Little advice - don't use so much thermal paste.

[@j.p.9522]

Do you think there's a slim enough mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter that could fill the gap?

[@bobpease7170]

Hello I appreciate your advice and I have a question for you. I have a Samsung Galaxy j2 dash phone, and on my settings, if I long press it . It says( more options ) but won't access anything, is there a way to open them?

[@СказочнаяРоссия]

Has it become much faster after the upgrade? Benchmarks shows 10-15% difference

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Well, the CPU isn't much faster, but HD4000 is a big upgrade from HD3000. Also USB 3.0

[@GenePavlovsky]

iGPU is ~30% faster. 2x USB 3.0 ports. X220 only had a single USB 3.0 port ONLY on i7-equipped models such as mine. And supposedly X230 has better Win10 supports, although my wife is using Win10 on her X220t, seems like without issues.

[@vonhohenzollern]

Hey Wolf, just a quick Q: can you use the same Delta Fan from an x220 on the x230 board? Im just curious 2 know..

[@tough_stuff6809]

Great job! I was wandering if you could fit an X230T motherboard in an X220. It's supposed to have a regular display port.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

I'm not sure, i think the display connector will be different since it's a touchscreen

[@FluffyDragonKitten]

You cant

[@serverdll]

have my x220 for a long time, i really love my laptop. it is perfect in every way but now 11 years old later it needs a refresh, is it worth to do this?

[@livtown]

I'd say so, the X230 is have is perfectly usable to this day and since the chips are BGA, you can't really easily change those either.

[@rintarouokabe5090]

Mr. Wolfgang, I just saw this video of yours. My T420s motherboard died, so I thought of copying what you did and replace it with a T430s motherboard. Do I just follow the same instructions you did? If I am not doing photo intensive work, is it still worth it (or should I just shop for a replacement T420s motherboard)? I just use my Thinkpad for the LibreOffice suite, and surfing the 'net.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

That’s a different laptop. This video is about X220/230. I don’t know if the same is going to work on T420s/430s

[@panio84]

can I put x260 into x220? or into x200? Have you tried that? I like the led light that is into the top edge of the screen and the keybord+ the trackpoint. Everything else is fine :)

[@GenePavlovsky]

No way, man! It's only possible with X220/230, because they share the same chassis.

[@mohamedazizsaouabi2481]

I wanna know if the X230 battery matches with the X220 ?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Yes! I think they first introduced battery whitelist in X230

[@MikyewiCZ]

Hi everyone, this video is over an year old... but anyway I would like to know if the version of the BIOS is somewhat important? The latest BIOS for x230 currently is 2.74 - Wolfgang is using version 2.61 in this video. I would just like to remove the battery whitelist using the method shown in the video, to use batteries from x220. Can I safely upgrade to the latest BIOS and use this method? Are there any drawbacks upgrading to latest BIOS on x230? I read somewhere that on T420 for example, there is BIOS version where if you upgrade to/or beyond you wont be able to flash older BIOS versions anymore. I dont remember the version of my BIOS but the Embedded Controller version is 1.13 Thanks anyone for response. And amazing work with this video, it is very helpful with very relaxing vibe to it :-) EDIT: update - Reading through the release notes of other BIOS versions, after every 2 BIOS versions you can no longer downgrade to lower version because of "security improvement" . Still not sure about the intel ME though...

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Hi! I'm not sure which version of BIOS is required, I just followed the guide here: github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec and it worked fine for me. Thank you for your comment. P.S. This video is just a few months old (September 2018)

[@MikyewiCZ]

Well, I did some research in regards of the BIOS versions and apperently if your BIOS version is 2.70 or newer, you can no longer downgrade to older versions before 2.70! Reference is the official release notes for BIOS 2.70 - download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/g2uj26uc.txt And I also read somewhere something about that in 2.70 or newer it is impossible to clear the Intel ME (with ME cleaner). So looks like the most recent "unrestricted" BIOS version is 2.68.

[@MikyewiCZ]

@@WolfgangsChannel Thank you, and I apologize for my confusion lol... You know, all the "2k19" got me somewhat confused -_-

[@alik250]

Yo, i know I'm a year late and you already broke this thing, but, was there a thinklight on your x220? Did it function after the MOBO swap if so? I'm trying to buy an x230 and retrofit a 220 keyboard but i can't find one with a thinklight and don't know if they can be modified in at all

[@GenePavlovsky]

Do you mean the backlit keyboard? If so, I don't know the answer. ThinkLight is the little LED light on top of the screen, near the webcam. X220 and X230 that I have (I have one of each) both have it, so I imagine it would work. The tablet versions don't.

[@jamest7677]

I am just a little confused, why don't you get an x230 and swap out the keyboard, very simple.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Already had an X220

[@manefedu8374]

Is it really very simple? I have a x230 and just found a keyboard for t420 (which I know are the same and interchangable) - is it kind of swap and done from the upside or have I to mod anything in the system?

[@jamest7677]

@@manefedu8374 T420 and X230 are not compatible, you need an T430 keyboard otherwise you will need to do some mapping as they are two different types.

[@brahimsaad6287]

is it still relevant in 2021 i found an X220 IPS for 270$ specs as follows: i7 2nd gen 8 Gb ram 500 HDD i just want something that handles text editing and browsing at the same time without freezing. and casual light gaming once in a blue moon.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Too expensive for what it is imo

[@brahimsaad6287]

@@WolfgangsChannel Prices are higher than Snoop Dogg in my country because of Covid

[@PsycosisIncarnated]

Get it. Im also from a country which its more expensive to buy thinkpads. I'd get it for that price due to the IPS and i7. Sounds like a steal for the x220 tbh. U could consider t440p too. Bigger screen and more modular. Also processor is socketed so if it ever breaks down you don't have to change the entire motherboard.

[@brahimsaad6287]

@@PsycosisIncarnated sadly it was sold i'm looking at a Latitude E5430 i5 3340M 6gb DDR3 320 HDD 230$ i'm still undecided about it because i read mixed reviews of people who love it and others who complain about heat issues

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Well, it's a 45W CPU in a 12-14" laptop. You'll have heat issues regardless of the model unless you want to go with something beefier, like W520/30. But older Thinkpads/Latitudes are still way better value than whatever new laptop you can get for $200-$300. P.S. Some unsolicited advice: don't get fooled by the i7 branding, always pay attention to the number of cores. E.g. the i7 x220 usually cost more just because of the i7, but it's a actually dual-core i7 which is barely faster than the i5.

[@ИринаКонстантинова-и4ю]

does the thinklight led work?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Yep

[@TheRIZKYRAMA]

hey is it possible to replace the cpu?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

No, unless you're friends with Louis Rossmann

[@archygrey9093]

Nope, its soldered on

[@ЮрийСанаев]

Привет у меня тоже такой не могу совместить F8-F9 с точпадом.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Что ты имеешь в виду?

[@ЮрийСанаев]

​@@WolfgangsChannel Ставлю VoodooPS2Controller.kext f8-f9 работают не работает тачпад ставлю ApplePS2SmartTouchPad.kext не работают F8-F9 тачпад работает.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Надо смотреть SSDT. Я с тех пор уже несколько ноутбуков поменял так что не могу помочь

[@ЮрийСанаев]

@@WolfgangsChannel SSDT ни чего не дают клава к ним не относится.

[@ЮрийСанаев]

Скинь мне свой dsdt я отредактирую.

[@oldtechie6834]

At 4:00 the keyboard flexes when the power button is pressed.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Ok

[@escapetherace1943]

I think he can live with it

[@atomicorang]

You did an awesome job!

[@tafri9824]

cool dude, i have X220 and X230 too

[@epic3662]

do you think x220 will handle office purposes in 2019?

[@guillermoleniz2740]

EPIC yes, with any problem

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Call it the X223

[@ff-mu6cc]

I like to do these kinds of upgrades but I have to learn coding.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

You really don't. I don't know how to code :)

[@Fishgod1216]

Give it a shot anyways, you learn from practice!

[@Sbatushe]

I became gay when i saw the BlackBerry, i got it too

[@atomicorang]

Good video. By the way .. you resemble a little bit Tom Brady..

[@jimmyliew64]

why not just buy an X230? simpler no?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

For sure. However, I already had an X220

[@mzg_9868]

Nice video

[@FPSAnarchy]

nice vid :D

[@mmcblk05studio]

its still better than pentium gold and, essentially atom, pentium silver

[@abeard1]

Aliexpress stickers? ;)

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Haha :D no, www.stickermule.com/unixstickers

[@beickus]

i prefer my T420

[@unh0lys0da16]

Why would you turn your x220 into a worse laptop?

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Worse how

[@mythos5202]

More like turn the X230 into a better laptop.

[@rainolet6921]

YATL

[@WolfgangsChannel]

Holey axis, friendo

[@smorrow]

You shouldn't post pics of your keys.

[@WolfgangsChannel]

oh snap