TeraByte Unlimited

Hi,

I received a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro over the holidays and am just now having some time to start working with it.

I just unboxed it this weekend, so I am updating it (it has Windows 11 Home out-of-the-box), and I think I will upgrade it to Windows 11 Pro. The machine currently has a single 1TB SSD, and I am probably going to install a 2nd 4TB SSD at some point.

I haven't installed BIU yet, or even taken a close look at the BIOS, etc., so I was wondering if anyone has worked with this laptop and BIU?

Thanks,
Jim

Hi,

There are couple of things that I am finding about the Lenovo that are a little worrisome:

• Appears to not work with Wake-on-Lan
  When

the laptop is used with an external (HDMI) monitor, it only shows output on the laptop display until it gets past the POST/BOOT into Windows

The problem that is preventing the WOL from working is that Lenovo doesn't provide a setting in BIOS to allow WOL. From testing using a WOL sniffr, I can see that I am able to send the WOL packet to the Lenovo, and I've made the changes in the connector settings, but there just isn't any setting in the BIOS.


Re. the problem with the laptop not displaying the POST/BOOT output on the HDMI monitor, I am not sure what to do about that? I am also worried about trying to install BIU, because I am worried that the since the laptop isn't outputting anything before it gets to Windows, it may not output the BIU output either?

Has anyone tried BIU with this particular laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro, purchased from Costco.com in 2024)? If so, can you post about whether it will display the BIU output?

Thanks,
Jim

Hi,

I just tried booting to a USB stick that I had BIU on, and it was able to boot to the BIU on the stick but the BIU output was only output to the laptop display. I didn't take it past the initial BIU output because, as I said above, I think that I actually installed BIU, the same would happen (no BIU output to the HDMI monitor) and I'd have to do everything that I want to do with BIU on the laptop display+keyboard.

Jim

Doesn't the system have a key to hit to determine if to use external monitor vs built-in monitory?

Hi,

The F7 key is supposed to select between the laptop vs. external monitor "on some models", but I tried that when I was testing and it didn't do anything on the Legion 5i Pro.

From googling, it seems like the functionality of the F buttons change sometimes between different years. This is my 1st Lenovo machine.

Have you all run across anyone trying to use, say, BIU with a Lenovo Legion 5i?

If it isn't sending the non-Windows output to to the HDMI monitor (as I believe is happening), then if I installed BIU, it sounds like the only way I could use BIU is that I would have to use the physical laptop display and keyboard, doesn't it?

Please advise.

Jim

The key usually has a picture of a laptop type screen and an external screen. BIU is going to output to whatever screen the system is sending its output. For an example, see https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/pubs ... _mode.html

Hi,

Yes, the F7 key looks like the picture you sent, but pressing the F7 button doesn't any visible effect. When the button is pressed, there is no "list of display modes" shown.

Jim

Hi,

I think I have some info but not good...

So it looks like there is a "Lenovo FN and Function" driver, but there isn't one for the "Legion 5i Pro" which is what I have (the one I found was for Windows 11, but for "Pro 5", not "Pro 5i").

So I figured out how to download that driver and installed it.

But it isn't actually a driver... what it does is when the F7 button is pressed, it pops up a small window that lets you select the same thing that "Display Settings" shows, e.g., "Extend", "Duplicate", "Only 1" and "Only 2".

I tried (and have been trying) "Only 2" and/or "Duplicate", which I think is the HDMI monitor, but then when I reboot Windows, the laptop is behaving exactly the same... the output is going only to the laptop until it gets to starting Windows.

I want to try to install BIU but I wanted to run what I said earlier by you, to make sure I don't get into a situation where I end up booting to a black screen and then get stuck there ....

So I am thinking i can install BIU, then set it to say a 5 second timeout when it boots, and if I do that when I have the laptop not open in the vertical stand, Windows should boot all right, but take maybe 5 seconds longer than normal, but that should be the only ramification.

I want to do it because I want to make an image of the whole drive at some point (I would open up the laptop and do the image with the laptop display and keyboard).

Does that sound ok/correct?

FYI I ran partinfo and will paste the output below. I wanted to confirm that if I just boot to the BIU USB stick it, when I install it, the BIU installer will figure out where to install itself on the SSD, so can you confirm that?

Thanks,
Jim

PARTINFO for Lenovo:


PARTINFW 1.15
Copyright (c) 1996-2008,2013 TeraByte, Inc. All rights reserved.

Run date: 02/17/2025 2:55

======================================================================
MBR Partition Information (HD0 - 0x4426D1B9)
(CHS: 1023/254/63) (WCHS: 124519/255/63)
+====+====+=============+====+=============+============+============+
| 0: | 0 | 0 0 2 | ee | 614 254 63 | 1 | 4294967295 |
| 1: | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2: | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3: | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 | 0 | 0 |
+====+====+=============+====+=============+============+============+

===============================================================================
GPT Found (HD0) {0068DFAF-5864-48A6-8A70-FF6EB0725A47}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revision: 10000 Hdr Size: 92 Max Entries: 128 PE Size: 128 PE LBA: 2
Primary LBA: 1 Backup LBA: 2000409263
FAvail LBA: 34 LAvail LBA: 2000409230
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Num Name Attr Start End GUID Type GUID
----- ----------------------- ---------------- --------------- --------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
0 EFI system partition 0 2048 534527 {C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B} {523568A0-DBFD-4CB4-AF2F-145F9B39B2B2}
1 Microsoft reserved part 0 534528 567295 {E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE} {0FF5B43D-7107-4C32-AD30-31F3FA584E6D}
2 Basic data partition 0 567296 618186751 {EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7} {C551F8C2-8FCC-4D26-B09C-AB038175F049}
3 Basic data partition 0 618186752 1996310527 {EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7} {D4CA1A07-8642-4E83-A5D3-D451693AE29B}
4 Basic data partition 8000000000000001 1996312576 2000408575 {DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC} {51461CE3-0966-4B43-A830-E9FAF4175376}
===============================================================================
BOOT SECTOR INFORMATION
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File System ID: 0xB LBA: 2048 Total Sectors: 532480
Jump: EB 58 90 (EB 58 90)
OEM Name: MSDOS5.0 (MSDOS5.0)
Bytes Per Sec: 512 (512)
Sec Per Clust: 8 (8)
Res Sectors: 7166 (7166)
Num FATs: 2 (2)
Root Dir Ents: 0 (0)
Sectors: 0 (0)
Media: 0xF8 (0xF8)
Secs Per FAT: 0 (0)
Sec Per Track: 63 (63)
Heads: 255 (255)
Hidden Secs: 2048 (2048)
Huge Sectors: 532480 (532480)
Huge Secs Per FAT: 513 (513)
Flags: 0x0 (0x0)
Version: 0 (0)
Root Dir Clust: 2 (2)
FS Info Sec: 1 (1)
FS Bkup Sec: 6 (6)
Reserved: 0 0 0 0 0 0
Drive Num: 0x80 (0x80)
Res: 0x0 (0x0)
Boot Sig: 0x29 (0x29)
Vol ID: 0x740485D3 (0x740485D3)
Volume Label: NO NAME (NO NAME )
FS Type: FAT32 (FAT32 )
Boot Flag: 0xAA55 (0xAA55)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File System ID: 0x7 LBA: 567296 Total Sectors: 617619456 ID: 0x2
Jump: EB 52 90
OEM Name: NTFS
Bytes Per Sec: 512
Sec Per Clust: 8
Res Sectors: 0
Zero 1: 0x0
Zero 2: 0x0
NA 1: 0x0
Media: 0xF8
Zero 3: 0x0
Sec Per Track: 63
Heads: 255
Hidden Secs: 567296
NA 2: 0x0
NA 3: 0x800080
Total Sectors: 0x024D01FFF
MFT LCN: 0x0C0000
MFT Mirr LCN: 0x02
Clust Per FRS: 0xF6
Clust Per IBlock: 0x1
Volume SN: 0x6AD00504D004D869
Checksum: 0x0
Boot Flag: 0xAA55
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File System ID: 0x7 LBA: 618186752 Total Sectors: 1378123776 ID: 0x3
Jump: EB 52 90
OEM Name: NTFS
Bytes Per Sec: 512
Sec Per Clust: 8
Res Sectors: 0
Zero 1: 0x0
Zero 2: 0x0
NA 1: 0x0
Media: 0xF8
Zero 3: 0x0
Sec Per Track: 63
Heads: 255
Hidden Secs: 618186752
NA 2: 0x0
NA 3: 0x800080
Total Sectors: 0x052247FFF
MFT LCN: 0x0C0000
MFT Mirr LCN: 0x02
Clust Per FRS: 0xF6
Clust Per IBlock: 0x1
Volume SN: 0xACDABB88DABB4D78
Checksum: 0x0
Boot Flag: 0xAA55
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File System ID: 0x7 LBA: 1996312576 Total Sectors: 4096000 ID: 0x4
Jump: EB 52 90
OEM Name: NTFS
Bytes Per Sec: 512
Sec Per Clust: 8
Res Sectors: 0
Zero 1: 0x0
Zero 2: 0x0
NA 1: 0x0
Media: 0xF8
Zero 3: 0x0
Sec Per Track: 63
Heads: 255
Hidden Secs: 1996312576
NA 2: 0x0
NA 3: 0x800080
Total Sectors: 0x03E7FFF
MFT LCN: 0x029AAA
MFT Mirr LCN: 0x02
Clust Per FRS: 0xF6
Clust Per IBlock: 0x1
Volume SN: 0x96AE0588AE0561DB
Checksum: 0x0
Boot Flag: 0xAA55
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A

There is usually an option in the BIOS controlling if the default function keys need Fn pressed to do the alternate command. Have you tried Fn-F7 or changing the default? Depending on what the BIOS is defaulting to it might need the Fn key.

You could also look for a BIOS option for default video out (internal/external, for example).

> There is usually an option in the BIOS controlling if the default function keys need Fn pressed to do the alternate command. Have you tried Fn-F7 or > changing the default? Depending on what the BIOS is defaulting to it might need the Fn key.


This laptop actually has a "lock-FN" key that, if I activate it, then when I press any Fx key, it automatically presses the FN key, so yes, I've trie both FN-F7 and just F7 and neither do anything.


> You could also look for a BIOS option for default video out (internal/external, for example).

I actually spent a lot of time looking that the BIOS, including a "secret BIOS" where you press FN-R and FN-N, or something like that, then a bunch of additional parameters appear in the BIOS, but nothing for the display.

Can you let me know about the other thing I asked about if I just boot to the BIU 2.02 USB stick, will it install on the Lenovo AND, will I be able to see BIU display when I use the physical laptop display and keyboard? And also if I set like a 5 second timeout in BIU, then the laptop should boot normally except for an additional 5 seconds?

As I said, my greatest fear is bricking the laptop and/or ending up with a black screen that is frozen.

Thanks,
Jim