A Thinkpad w500 might be the most powerful laptop on which you can install libreboot and completely disable the Intel Management Engine. It is also a laptop, which, once Librebooted and you replace the wifi card becomes fully open source. While the w500 model is well-supported, Librebooting it is not easy. I will not discuss Libreboot in detail right now, there are plenty of guides for that online, rather, I will explain some potential pitfalls and workarounds when Librebooting a computer. Also, This is by no means a complete guide. Rather, this is a supplementary resource. Read as many other guides as you can(there are a few good youtube videos as well) in order to have the highest possibility of succeeding.
Note:
The stock wifi card inside the the w500 is not completely open source. If you want a truly libre experience I recommend swapping it with an open source wifi card. For example, a card from Atheros is open source and they’re not particularly expensive, but it can help get you a fully open source machine. Also, I would highly recommend getting an SSD replacement for the w500, as the stock hard drive is very slow and by getting a more modern SSD you can you can get a major increase in the computer’s performance. While an ssd might not be cheap, it is a very effective way to make your computer a lot faster.
Pitfall #1: forgetting your supplies:
Libre booting a computer might require a lot of physical space, so you should try to finish as quickly as possible. Make sure you have all you supplies with you. This includes: Dupont wires, the CH341A programmer, a small, 8 pin clip for the bios chip, a screw driver set, thermal paste(you might need to reapply it when taking off the cooling system, a computer (it might be a bit difficult to use a desktop, so I recommend using a laptop if you have one). The most important tool is of course patience (you will need a lot of it).
Pitfall #2: forgetting the screw arrangement:
This is the first problem you may run into. Like many old laptops , the w500 has a lot of screws. Many of them are different, so you will have to know where each one goes. I used a piece of paper for each of the surfaces/plates I unscrewed. You can imagine that a piece of a paper is the backplate and arrange the screws accordingly. You should make sure you have ample time, as the process may take around 5-6 hours. I also reccomend to place the screws vertically on the piece of paper, in order to prevent them from rolling around. This should go without saying, but make sure that your enviornment is very stable. You should close windows, and probably pray that an earthquake does not happen anywhere nearby. If the arrangement gets messed up, it will be very difficult to figure out what screw goes where.
Pitfall #3: using unconventional methods of librebooting.
If this is your first time librebooting, use the most common/conventional method you can find. I first tried using a Raspberry Pi, but that did not work, and I had to switch back to my CH341A Bios programmer.
Note:
The Libreboot mirror file system appears to have been changed recently, so it might not look like the file system shown in guides. You should still have no problem identifying the correct Libreboot Rom. Something you might notice is that there are a few ROMS for the w500. They are all different, so read carefully to ascertain what each ROM does exactly. Also, read your exact laptop specification to find out what kind of bios chip it has, and select the right ROM for the bios chip. Otherwise you risk bricking your chip.
Pitfall #4: Not connecting the programmer in the right order
Pay close attention to the order in which everything is connect in your guide/tutorial. Using the wrong order could brick your bios chip.
Pitfall #5: Using wires that are too long
If you studied electricity, you will likely remember the idea of voltage, resistance and current. This is very important here. Because the wires are very thin, and you don’t use very high voltage, current will not be able to pass through very long wires well, so you should try to shorten the connection between the bios chip and bios programmer as much as you can. Other wise your bios programmer won’t even recognize the chip.
Pitfall #6: Improper arrangement of DuPont wires.
This is very important. Make sure you correctly connected the wire between the bios programmer and clip. It very easy to screw this process up, so I recommend being very careful. Also, this error is not easy to diagnose, so make sure you get the connection right the first time.
Pitfall #7: forgetting cable arrangement
This is also important. Make sure you take many photos when removing the mother board from its backplate. if you improperly arrange the cables when reassembling the laptop, you might have to repeat the process of unscrewing and rescrewing the back plate and the motherboard many times. You should also remember how every cable connects, as could forget to reconnect an important system, like the wifi antenna or speakers. This is an issue that is also very difficult to diagnose once you reassembled the laptop.
Pitfall #8: Improperly disassembling the cooling system.
When reapplying thermal paste, it is important to learn about thermal paste patterns and to apply the thermal paste to every chip cooled by the cooling system (there is more than 1). It is also important to tightly screw the cooling system back on, as any gaps will make it less effective.
Conclusion
Even though Librebooting a computer is not simple, it not a very advanced project. In other words, you can do it. It is important to not give up despite set backs you will likely face. If this is your first time disassembling a computer, I recommend getting a laptop which requires little to no disassembly, a list of Librebootable laptops can be found on the Libreboot official website. Also, as I have mentioned above, use as many resources as you can find. It will make the process a lot less confusing.