iamdarkyoshi's Lenovo T430 Modding Log

[iamdarkyoshi]

Figured I'd document this whole saga. Its half build log half modding log, figured build logs was the best place for it.

 

So as many of you may know, the lenovo thinkpads have gained quite a reputation of being damn good machines, if not with some drawbacks. The T430 is probably one of the most popular machines to modify, and parts are fairly cheap for them.

 

I'm not done modding mine yet, but here's what I've got so far:

 

 

Lets start with the screen, probably one of the easier and most worthwhile mods. As you can see above, the blacks are so much darker and don't look awful like the original TN panel.

Screen

To quote The Definitive T430 Modding Guide...

Quote

Every single one of the stock T430 displays are complete and utter garbage. They are TN panels, with no IPS option available, with horrible viewing angles, terrible brightness, bad colors, and just an overall unpleasant experience.

Quote

FHD Kits are incredibly rare but nonetheless available for the T430. Kits such as these are clones of the original T420s/T430s kits that were not meant for the non-s models due to the flickering issues present on the non-s models. FHD kits are hit or miss and some people may not experience the flicker issues at all, but they seem to be present more often than not, so regardless of the kit, you are taking a risk upgrading a non-s model to FHD. My personal machine has flicker issues with the FHD kit, but only when charging, and it functions properly when on battery.

Well... this guide must be a little outdated. 1080p IPS upgrade kits exist on aliexpress, and I can say that mine was a perfect drop in replacement, having no issues whatsoever. @TheGamingBarrel has apparently managed to find a 1440p kit...

 

Due to the lack of LVDS 40 pin screens in IPS, we have to resort to newer eDP 30 pin screens (Used in laptops around haswell and up) but to do this, you'l need a board to convert one signal to the other. Thats where the kit comes in. It comes with a new LCD and converter board, complete with cables. I just tore my bezel off, ran the eDP cable to the LCD and hid the converter board next to a very convenient place next to the CPU cooler, and connected it where the old LCD used to go. Booted it up and was treated to an orgasmically good looking image. 

This mod cost about 150$ after shipping prices. Bit expensive but damn well worth it.

 

Keyboard

I got most of my info from here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Classic_Keyboard_on_xx30_Series_ThinkPads

The T430 was the first thinkpad to introduce the new crappy keyboard style with the grid between the keys. The T420 had the classic style keyboard, which also had more keys on the top right. It used the same connector as the T430, but a few things were different between the two keyboards, like the bottom nubs and the keyboard matrix having a slightly different pinout.

 

With a bit of modification of the bottom five nubs and a piece of tape over a couple contacts, we had a drop in replacement for the original keyboard.

 

Sorta. The old keyboard had more keys and the fn keys are different. There's a fairly easy fix, however: https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec

 

Just create a flash drive to boot to and update the firmware. You'll need an AC adapter plugged in or it'll wait to actually flash it. 

 

The caps lock LED will not work, as the T430 never had one. I will be creating a mod for this issue in the future. A couple blue fn functions will also not work, as they were never present in the T430.

 

 

CPU and RAM

My T430 came with a dual core "i5" but I plan to upgrade it to a quad core i7. The one I selected is a 3630QM, more of a midrange CPU for this machine nowadays. There are two flavours of coolers on these things for the intel integrated GFX models. One has a denser fin stack. Mine's got the denser fin stack, but the fan is INCREDIBLY whirry.

 

I'm still waiting on this part to arrive. Mail service delivered it to the wrong location, and are currently trying to find it

 

As for RAM, I stole the 8GB sticks out of my dead lenovo yogas, and they both worked, so I've got 16GB DDR3L in here.

 

According to the modding guide linked above, you can go all the way up to an intel extreme edition CPU in these as well as higher clocked RAM, and overclock them. I don't really need that much power or heat lol

Battery

When I got my used T430, it still had its original 6 cell battery. It only lasted about 30 minutes on a charge. Lenovo still sells brand new batteries for these machines, including a 9 cell extended battery, available here on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085MPGDG/

 

With my screen at full brightness as I write this thread, I've got 4 hours left on 65% battery. Not bad.

 

Charger

With a bigger battery, faster CPU, more RAM and a better screen, a bigger PSU certainly couldn't hurt. But lenovo put a different connector on their beefy 170W chargers. It has two nubs inside that prevent it from fitting into the T430's DC jack. 

 

However, you can knock those nubs out with a screwdriver and it'll work perfectly on the T430. Just don't damage the pin inside the connector.

 

 

Trackpad Surface

My T430's trackpad was pretty worn. Turns out its actually a sticker! I just peeled it off and cut a piece of carbon fibre vinyl wrap to fit on it. Finger glides very well over it.

 

 

 

~~~~~Uncompleted Mods~~~~~~

 

 

Caps lock LED

To get around the T430 not having hardware to switch the caps lock LED on and off, I figured the easiest way to fix the issue would be to mod in the controller for a cheap USB keyboard, and wire the LED connection on the controller to the one on the keyboard. I'll need to find an unused USB line in the computer, as well as figure out the pinout of the keyboard so I can figure out what pins are the LED. I think the mPCIE slots actually have a USB line on them, and I'm not using the second mPCIE slot. I'll have to test this tomorrow to see if I can get a USB line off it.

 

More USB 3.0 Ports

Pretty easy one here, they make expansion card USB 3.0 controllers. I'd just stick it on the expansion bay on the right of the laptop, preferably securing it somehow so it doesn't come out when I unplug something.

 

Better sound

This one's going to be a different one. The stock speakers sound clear, but they're not very loud and lack good bass. I plan to 3D print an optical drive shaped speakerbox and put a couple little drivers from some HP wankwoofers in it, trying to keep the original cabinet size for them in the 3d printed bay.

 

I can then put a high pass filter on the main speakers and crank the volume using a 5v class D amp, as well as another one to run the drive bay wankwoofers.

 

I'd just need to figure out where the analog audio is on the mainboard and tap into it for the custom amps.

 

Better Wifi

Stock wifi card ain't that good. Lenovo locks out custom wifi cards, but thats something a custom bios can fix.

 

My wifi at home is so damn good that the stock wifi card is pretty quick, so this one's not too high on the list.

 

Different LED colours

Pretty silly and pointless mod here, but I'd like to change the colours of various indicators on the machine. Easy as SMD rework and a pack of SMD LEDs. Don't tempt me to make an RGB thinklight.

 

 

 

All in all, the T430 is a well loved and very good machine. Modding it to make it your own unique laptop is a lot of fun too. Even if you do make the system font comic sans

 

I'll keep this thread updated as I finish more planned mods, lemme know if you guys have any ideas!

[JohnDongus]

Alright now you have to spray paint it to finish it off. I have no other input.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, JohnDongus said:

Alright now you have to spray paint it to finish it off. I have no other input.

I might vinyl wrap it. Not sure yet. It looks real nice as is tbh.

[JohnDongus]

Just now, iamdarkyoshi said:

I might vinyl wrap it. Not sure yet. It looks real nice as is tbh.

The sleeper build?

i have never seen laptop modding wish i could do something with this ROG G750Jw its just been a brick for the last 2 years.

 

But if you are going all out on this little thing what about the camera?

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, JohnDongus said:

The sleeper build?

i have never seen laptop modding wish i could do something with this ROG G750Jw its just been a brick for the last 2 years.

 

But if you are going all out on this little thing what about the camera?

Cameras break as soon as they are powered on when I'm in front of them, so it'd be a waste

[JohnDongus]

3 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Cameras break as soon as they are powered on when I'm in front of them, so it'd be a waste

I would like to see someone go all out one day and cut out the large bezel and try to fit a slightly larger screen in.

I also did not know that custom bios's were a thing for these laptops. 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

damn that looks nice. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, JohnDongus said:

I would like to see someone go all out one day and cut out the large bezel and try to fit a slightly larger screen in.

I also did not know that custom bios's were a thing for these laptops. 

From modded stock bioses to entirely new ones, like coreboot!

https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/t430

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

i just realized how fast that thinkpad will be with the cpu upgrade. 

 

it'll be about 30% faster than my MacBook!!! 

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3630QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2675QM/626vsm597

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

i just realized how fast that thinkpad will be with the cpu upgrade. 

 

it'll be about 30% faster than my MacBook!!! 

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3630QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2675QM/626vsm597

Waaaaaaait

 

Thats a 15in 2011 if I'm not mistaken

 

How has your GPU not poo'd itself yet? That model had rampant GPU failures

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

22 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Waaaaaaait

 

Thats a 15in 2011 if I'm not mistaken

 

How has your GPU not poo'd itself yet? That model had rampant GPU failures

ok, so when i got it i didn't know about the gpu thing, but i did some research and found that i could disable it. when i disabled it, it was still working which made things very easy. 

look:

i did the steps that only require macOS shown here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/force-2011-macbook-pro-8-2-with-failed-amd-gpu-to-always-use-intel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

and i removed the resistor as shown here:

https://realmacmods.com/macbook-2011-radeon-gpu-disable/

 

now, the machine only works on the intel gpu, and the amd card isn't even detected by the OS anymore, because i removed the resistor.

however i did not do the soldering stuff to get the backlight control and sleep working properly, which is annoying, but i can live without those things. 

 

one thing that definetly won't work anymore is Bootcamp. Windows craps out when it tries to install gpu drivers for the intel gpu. on the plus side, Linux works great even after these modifications.

 

EDIT: doing this isn't recommend though, because if for some reason the NVRAM resets itself and your software fix is gone, it will not output to a display ever again unless you somehow get the amd card powered up again (so fix the resistor that you removed) and then doing the software fix again. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

7 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

-snip-

I've had lots of customers come into the repair shop with these damn things, I was not aware of this mod! I'm definitely going to offer this as a hotfix for them from now on. Thanks for the links!

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

34 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I've had lots of customers come into the repair shop with these damn things, I was not aware of this mod! I'm definitely going to offer this as a hotfix for them from now on. Thanks for the links!

no worries  

 

remember though, it's not recommended and could brick at any moment if the NVRAM gets reset. but i've been running mine like this for at least a month and it's been fine. it's only crashed once because of a software update, but a macOS reinstall fixed that. 

 

it'll definetly work well enough to recover data, or for someone who doesn't need the machine to be 100% stable. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

20 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

no worries  

 

remember though, it's not recommended and could brick at any moment if the NVRAM gets reset. but i've been running mine like this for at least a month and it's been fine. it's only crashed once because of a software update, but a macOS reinstall fixed that. 

 

it'll definetly work well enough to recover data, or for someone who doesn't need the machine to be 100% stable. 

Apparently setting an EFI password will prevent the nvram issue

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Apparently setting an EFI password will prevent the nvram issue

sure, but there is a problem with that. if the machien somehow has issues again you can't modify the nvram to apply the fix anymore. so... there's that. 

 

and i was just warning you for the potential danger of the fix not working, because i wouldn't want to provide warranty service on this kind of "repair"... 

[iamdarkyoshi]

4 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

sure, but there is a problem with that. if the machien somehow has issues again you can't modify the nvram to apply the fix anymore. so... there's that. 

 

and i was just warning you for the potential danger of the fix not working, because i wouldn't want to provide warranty service on this kind of "repair"... 

Yeah it'd be something cheap just to get them up and running again until they can afford to waste money on another macbook lol

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

8 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Yeah it'd be something cheap just to get them up and running again until they can afford to waste money on another macbook lol

well we have our disagreements wether macbooks are a waste of money, but anyway, you'll have to explain all of that stuff to customers too...

[micahfocht]

I've got one of these myself, and I got the bios modded and did wifi, ram, battery, and os upgrades (MacOS on internal ssd, Windows 10 on ssd in ultrabay adapter, USB with ubuntu on it.)  My trackpad is looking a little worse for wear though.  Where did you get the vinyl for yours?  I was thinking about just getting a dbrand skin for a larger trackpad and cutting it down.  I also saw some options on amazon for just bulk vinyl skin.  Just wondering what you went with for that.  I'm also curious as to whether you had finished the speaker mod, as I find mine a bit lacking.

[iamdarkyoshi]

11 hours ago, micahf said:

I've got one of these myself, and I got the bios modded and did wifi, ram, battery, and os upgrades (MacOS on internal ssd, Windows 10 on ssd in ultrabay adapter, USB with ubuntu on it.)  My trackpad is looking a little worse for wear though.  Where did you get the vinyl for yours?  I was thinking about just getting a dbrand skin for a larger trackpad and cutting it down.  I also saw some options on amazon for just bulk vinyl skin.  Just wondering what you went with for that.  I'm also curious as to whether you had finished the speaker mod, as I find mine a bit lacking.

Speaker mod is a bit on hold. Macbook non pro speakers are actually too LARGE for the T430.

 

And yes, the trackpad skin is just cheap bulk vinyl wrap.

[ArmedSonicWarfare]

Neat shit. 
T430's are, without doubt, one of the most solid and reliable laptops out there on the cheap. 
I've got an eGPU with a GTX 960 docked in, along with 16GB of ram @1600mhz. Not the most desirable machine for gaming, but not that bad either. 

When did you buy yours? It looks to be in solid shape considering it's a 7-year-old laptop.

[Ross Siggers]

Just seen this thread bumped, very cool. I especially like the idea for the speakers.

I have an X230t myself, unfortunately being the tablet version with the rotating touchscreen, FHD mods aren't available for me

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 hours ago, ArmedSonicWarfare said:

Neat shit. 
T430's are, without doubt, one of the most solid and reliable laptops out there on the cheap. 
I've got an eGPU with a GTX 960 docked in, along with 16GB of ram @1600mhz. Not the most desirable machine for gaming, but not that bad either. 

When did you buy yours? It looks to be in solid shape considering it's a 7-year-old laptop.

I got mine probably about a year ago, along with like 9 other ones for 40$ each.

 

Anyway. I'm moving into a new place, so mods are kinda halted for now.

 

1 hour ago, Ross Siggers said:

Just seen this thread bumped, very cool. I especially like the idea for the speakers.

I have an X230t myself, unfortunately being the tablet version with the rotating touchscreen, FHD mods aren't available for me

Those at least came with an IPS screen, did they not?

[Ross Siggers]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

At least came with an IPS screen, did they not?

They did indeed, the idea of a tablet pc without one doesn't bear thinking about. In glorious 1366x768 no less! 

 

I kid, it's actually not bad. And it spends 90% of its life in a dock anyway  

[RayovacWorkhorse]

That's a nice T430! Had one myself for about a year, bought it in pretty much new condition for £120, I have since added 16GB Corsair 1600MHz RAM, i7 3612QM, 1600x900 display, 9 cell + slice battery and a couple of SSDs. I was thinking of also making a portable expresscard GPU box so I can use it to game on the go. Couple of docks around the house too so I can hook it up to my setups. I love how solid the T430 is, very nice laptop with so much customisation. 

[Cysero]

Wow! A very enjoyable read and a couple of new things about the T430's upgradeability that I hadn't seen on previous YouTube videos. One of my family had one as a work laptop and up until this machine the employer had always given the laptop away to the employee for a small fee. I was looking forward to having a ThinkPad project but this particular machine got recalled for use elsewhere.

 

Keep going with the laptop mods