[Guide] Lenovo ThinkPad T440S [OpenCore 0.6.7]

[QCO]

i would like to update my X240 and T440S to latest version with just whitelist removed but without unlocked advanced menu, that one is just extra trouble and an additional option to mess up the optimal settings.

I can confirm the mod works for BIOS version 2.54 from April 2020. I downloaded the ISO from Lenovo, created USB stick following this guide, flashed the BIOS, restarted with whitelist error. Disassembled the Thinkpad, read out flash memory with clip, patch, write back yadayadayada.

 

[Sniki]

I can confirm the mod works for BIOS version 2.54 from April 2020. I downloaded the ISO from Lenovo, created USB stick following this guide, flashed the BIOS, restarted with whitelist error. Disassembled the Thinkpad, read out flash memory with clip, patch, write back yadayadayada.

Thanks, i might need others help to do the mod but that's for another time.

Extra news, we are implementing the Backlit Keyboard Level (GUI) indicator on the ThinkPad Assistant.
Keyboard will be working 100% like it was meant/build for macOS and not just Windows.

These laptops are getting better and better

 

[Sniki]

MacOS Catalina 10.15.5 got released and thank god it fixes an issue that wasted my evening yesterday, at least i was able to work on the ThinkPad Assitant:
There was an issue where after wake from sleep, couldn’t type the password on the login screen. It seems that was a problem on the Apple side as chang
- Addresses an issue that may prevent password entry on the login screen

this issue forced me to force reboot everytime i let laptop sleep.
Let’s hope this problem has been resolved and i assume it is as it wasn’t present on 10.15.3

 

[CoBrA2168]

ThinkPad Assistant working perfect as far as i have tested.

Here is the updated SSDT-KBD so you can use it, simply replace your EFI/OC/ACPI/ SSDT-KBD with this one that i attached, install the Application from https://github.com/MSzturc/ThinkpadAssistant/releases
Right click on the Menu bar icon and checkmark Launch at Login.

Enjoy !

Note: you will have to reset some of the keys that we used to set on SysPrefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts like:
F12, F11, F10, F9, F8 and F4 so they return to the normal shortcuts that they used to be.

It is almost perfect but it's missing the Backlit Keyboard GUI, i asked him if we can make that one as well to show up.

This is great! I saw the issue you opened over on his Github. Looks like you guys made great progress in just a few short days.

Someone else also opened up a ticket for Mojave compatibility. It seems to work fine, but I need to apply the updated SSDT-KBD file you posted here. I'm hopeful that it will work with my "previous" setup (Mojave + Clover). Will report back later today with the results.

 

[swatchie-1]

Dear @Sniki ,
Am impressed with your work here. Hope you have one for T440P soon like the other forumers.

Still trying to get yours to work on T440p.

Also hope this opencore solves the issue of the Ultra Dock not rebooting everytime it sleeps/shut down.
Does it happen on your T440S?

 

[raulmazda]

Have you managed to do the Mod by yourself ?, i would like to update my X240 and T440S to latest version with just whitelist removed but without unlocked advanced menu, that one is just extra trouble and an additional option to mess up the optimal settings.

Yep. It's an easy, incremental step on top of reading/writing the chip. Grab UEFIPatch from github, and the xx40 patch files at the link I posted. You can easily comment the Advanced menu portion of the patch.

 

[Sniki]

This is great! I saw the issue you opened over on his Github. Looks like you guys made great progress in just a few short days.

Someone else also opened up a ticket for Mojave compatibility. It seems to work fine, but I need to apply the updated SSDT-KBD file you posted here. I'm hopeful that it will work with my "previous" setup (Mojave + Clover). Will report back later today with the results.

There should be no issues whatsoever, however Fn+Spacebar is not available on the SSDT that i have uploaded, will replace it tonight if all goes by plan.
It should work.

If i manage to spare some time tonight in short words i will attempt to fix those:

• Add _Q1F to XQ1F rename and update SSDT-KBD for Keyboard Backlight HUD to work with ThinkPad Assistant.
• Fix audio issues after wake from sleep using the MacPeet manual mode patch.
• Add IRQ fixes (IPIC and HPET).

 

[CoBrA2168]

There should be no issues whatsoever, however Fn+Spacebar is not available on the SSDT that i have uploaded, will replace it tonight if all goes by plan.
It should work.

If i manage to spare some time tonight in short words i will attempt to fix those:

• Add _Q1F to XQ1F rename and update SSDT-KBD for Keyboard Backlight HUD to work with ThinkPad Assistant.
• Fix audio issues after wake from sleep using the MacPeet manual mode patch.
• Add IRQ fixes (IPIC and HPET).

Thanks for your continued support. I'll likely wait for the Fn+Spacebar fix for the keyboard backlight, since that's something I use daily.

Once that is fixed, I will apply to my Clover config. I still want to switch over to OpenCore eventually, but at this point I might wait until the next macOS major release (in the hopes that compatibility will improve since I have software that still does not run properly on Catalina).

 

[igorkulman]

The Thinkpad Assistant utility is great, I just found one issue and I am not sure it is an app bug or a problem with SSDT.

When I mute the microphone with fn+f4 the small led on f4 lights on, put the Thinkpad to sleep, wake it up again the small led on f4 is off but the microphone is still muted according to Thinkpad Assistant (pressing fn+f says it switched to unmuted).

 

[raulmazda]

Yep. It's an easy, incremental step on top of reading/writing the chip. Grab UEFIPatch from github, and the xx40 patch files at the link I posted. You can easily comment the Advanced menu portion of the patch.

I'll add a little cautionary tale to this bios mod encouragement ...

I swapped in a new i7 mainboard, so I read the bios, modded it, and wrote it back. It booted up OK, I hopped into Linux to redo the boot options and poke around to make sure everything worked. No problem. I buttoned it up, powered it on, and booted into OS X to a hang... the Intel graphics never came up.

Many hours later, I had an i7 T440s that could run Windows and Linux, but not OSX. I have an i5 laptop that can run them all (literally the same drive just moved back and forth between the two). I grabbed logs from both laptops booting up, poked at them, and was lost. I posted here (comment still awaiting moderation).

Then I figured it out.

"while I was in there" I used me_cleaner to disable the ME. The laptop wouldn't boot with the -S option (aggressive deletion), but booted up OK with the -s option (just flip a disable bit), so I thought nothing of it. While diffing the two logs, I noticed IMEI in the working one's log but not in the broken one. I associate IMEI with cellphones ... so I wondered if I just hadn't spotted a cell modem or something? Nope it's actually required for functioning Intel graphics on OSX. The me in me_cleaner is the ME in IMEI. So I undid the bit flip, and smacked myself for wasting an afternoon on silliness.

Having screwed around with bios modding, I'd recommend the whitelist removal and forget about the advanced menu (nothing too useful in there IMO), and definitely don't touch me_cleaner