Problem flashing Middleton BIOS with data encryption
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:17 am
Hi,
My wife has a T61; last year I did a clean-install of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and gave her 4GB RAM to help speed up the laptop. Recently I decided to install a small SSD (128GB) to speed it up further. While doing some online research, I discovered that the BIOS needs to be flashed with the modified Middleton BIOS to activate SATA II. I found the link to the BIOS on the T61 Wiki, downloaded it and created a bootable CD from the ISO file. The instructions stated that the flash will only work via the CD on a 64-bit system.
When I attempted the flash, I got an error message that says that BitLocker is enabled and that it needs to be disabled before the flash will work. I was fairly certain that I did not enable BitLocker when I installed Win 10, but I checked anyway - it was not enabled. However, I found a Dell External Media Shield (version 8.4.1.6372) installed on the laptop. I found out from my wife that one of her clients (she is a business consultant) required her to install this app as protection for external media (i.e. USB sticks). I am assuming that this app is being identified as BitLocker by the BIOS installer.
Questions:
1. Does my theory make sense about the Dell app being the issue? If not, what else could be the problem?
2. If this is the case, is my only remedy to get the Dell app uninstalled and then flash the BIOS? In the Win 10 Apps section I can see the EMS app but the "Uninstall" link is greyed out. I assume this means that her client's system administrator needs to uninstall this, correct?
3. Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
My wife has a T61; last year I did a clean-install of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and gave her 4GB RAM to help speed up the laptop. Recently I decided to install a small SSD (128GB) to speed it up further. While doing some online research, I discovered that the BIOS needs to be flashed with the modified Middleton BIOS to activate SATA II. I found the link to the BIOS on the T61 Wiki, downloaded it and created a bootable CD from the ISO file. The instructions stated that the flash will only work via the CD on a 64-bit system.
When I attempted the flash, I got an error message that says that BitLocker is enabled and that it needs to be disabled before the flash will work. I was fairly certain that I did not enable BitLocker when I installed Win 10, but I checked anyway - it was not enabled. However, I found a Dell External Media Shield (version 8.4.1.6372) installed on the laptop. I found out from my wife that one of her clients (she is a business consultant) required her to install this app as protection for external media (i.e. USB sticks). I am assuming that this app is being identified as BitLocker by the BIOS installer.
Questions:
1. Does my theory make sense about the Dell app being the issue? If not, what else could be the problem?
2. If this is the case, is my only remedy to get the Dell app uninstalled and then flash the BIOS? In the Win 10 Apps section I can see the EMS app but the "Uninstall" link is greyed out. I assume this means that her client's system administrator needs to uninstall this, correct?
3. Any other suggestions?
Thanks!