13th of December 2009 11:27 PM Categorised under Technical No Comments
Lenovo Y430 and Intel VT Technology
Just not too long ago, I had an assignment whereby I needed to virtualize some OSes on my laptop. Despite the fact that my Lenovo Y430 was well equipped with the technology to run Intel VT (it’s a P8600 Processor), things didn’t go as smooth sailing as I wish they would be.
What could be wrong? I’d thought it was just a simple switch I needed to flick in BIOS just like on my mum’s HP Computer. It wasn’t as simple as that. Lenovo has decided that IdeaPads don’t need VT since they’re for entertainment and not work purposes, hence they left the setting out in BIOS. How smart of them.
So I was paying for something, but I couldn’t use it to the maximum extent of the processor’s power because Lenovo said so. I’m not giving up there, and certainly some people aren’t too.
Too bad for them, I found a thread on a forum where someone gave relatively vague instructions as to how to enable VT on the Y430. It wasn’t a simple process, but it was all worth it, and thankfully, I understand Chinese – the original thread was written in Chinese.
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I’ll write a quick guide here on how to do it, in English. Here’s the original source: http://bbs.pcpop.com/090603/5442969.html (via http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-and-U-series-Laptops/Y430-and-Intel-VT-Technology/td-p/181901)
I don’t know if they’d work across all BIOS versions, I was using the latest at this time of posting. This is the “2009-06-15 BIOS Update”. You can get the BIOS update at Lenovo’s Support Site.
I will not provide support for this technique of enabling VT. Do it at your own risk! I don’t think Lenovo encourages this either.
Items that you’ll need to perform this task: A Thumbdrive that you are willing to format.
Downloads that you’ll need to make to perform this task:
First and foremost, install the formatting toolkit by HP.
Next, extract the MS-DOS Boot Files somewhere.
Place the thumbdrive into your computer. Launch the formatting toolkit.
Note that this will format your thumbdrive.
Select your thumbdrive, then select the option that let’s you choose the source files to format to. Locate the boot file folder and select it, then let your computer format the thumbdrive.
Once done, copy syncmos.exe into the thumbdrive.
Now boot your computer and have it load the USB Drive, this is done by hitting F12 repeatedly and selecting boot from USB.
It’ll load the MS-DOS prompt.
Type:
"SYMCMOS -LBIOS.TXT"
Now press the power button on your computer and turn it off, then boot it up into Windows now.
In your thumbdrive, there will be a file called BIOS.txt. Open it in notepad.
Search for REG-0369 and change the value from [0000] to [0001].
Make sure the file is still in your thumbdrive after editing it. Restart your computer and load the USB drive to go back into MS-DOS.
Now type:
SYMCMOS -ubios.TXT
Turn off your computer now and boot it up again.
Congratulations! VT should be enabled.