I am trying to upgrade the BIOS in an inherited IBM iSeries Thinkpad laptop, vintage 1998. My purpose in doing this is to make the machine compatible with the installation of Windows 2000. I downloaded the correct BIOS upgrade program for this machine and tried to use it. However, when I started the program, I received a message to the effect that it encountered a "VPD Checksum error," whatever that is, and the program quit.

Anyone know what's going on here and how to correct? Also, how can one determine what revision level the BIOS is currently at?
THanks.

Can you explain what in the updated BIOS flash will make your laptop compatible with Win2k?

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

You need to download the BIOS update again - it got corrupted in the downloading of it.

Rule #1 Good computers don't go down.
Rule #2 There is no such thing as a good computer.

Rick Mcnabb: "Can you explain what in the updated BIOS flash will make your laptop compatible with Win2k?"

Rick, I am quoting here from the W2K Pro for IBM Thinkpad Notebooks Setup and Technical Guide, which says, "Before you upgrade your system to W2K, it is strongly recommended that you update your Thinkpad system's BIOS. If you do not update the BIOS before installing W2K, you will encounter problems with the setup utility, and W2K will not operate properly on computers with an outdated BIOS."
BTW, I already ran into a problem. I tried installing W2K anyway, and received a message to the effect that the Install program could not find 'GLOBALROOT\DEVICE\CDROM0\i386\NT5INF.CAT' and suspended the install program. There was also a reference to Service Pack 3, but my install CD INCLUDES Service Pack 3 and has been used successfully on other machines [not laptops].
Does this answer your question?
Regards,
Howard

I used an "i" series laptop previouly, yours should be around pentium 3 700MHz with 128MB ram ? W2k performs better with 256Mb ram.

To check the bios version either go directly into the bios at the IBM logo screen when you press the power on button (one of the function key, if I remember correctly should be F12 or F1, it should be on the screen)

OR you can download those freeware to check the motherboard bios version, like sisoft sandra, cpu-z, pc wizard 2004 etc. (cpu-z is the easiest)

I have updated the bios on the "i" series laptop before without any problems. You might want to download the bios again, just make sure you download the correct version for your model.