How to install Ubuntu 11.10 on a Lenovo (U)EFI system (tested on S205, B570)

[Pay87]

The information in this thread has been moved to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...LAN/Power/BIOS

A thread for discussion of the wiki page only can be found here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...0#post12062090

Thread closed.



Contents:
1. ..Introduction
2. ..Installation
3. ..Tweaks and Fixes
3.1 ...Fix "Fn brightness keys"
3.2 ...Fix battery drain
3.3 ...Update BIOS without windows

1. Introduction:
Lenovo's EFI implantation seems to be not perfect on some newer Lenovo notebooks. After successfully installing Ubuntu the notebook is not able to load the bootloader by default. It seems to be a problem with GPT partition tables and non windows bootloaders.
It took me a hole day to figure out, how to get Ubuntu still working.

So lets start getting Ubuntu on your Lenovo!

UPDATE: evil_hog found out how to install Ubuntu with GPT partition table! Here now the updated guide.
(tested on S205, B570)

2. Installation

Installation - Step 1 - Booting up a Live CD of your favorite Ubuntu:
Simply boot from your Live CD or a USB Stick.
I prefer the USB Stick because everything will go faster.

Installation - Step 2 (optional) - Fixing WLAN temporary for the live session:
Once the system is loaded I was trying to fix my WLAN connection because Ubuntu was not able to start it by default.
Be sure that your hardware switch (if any) is activated.

The following commands will make it possible that your wlan adapter will work temporary on your live session, but since we have no acer wlan adapter the connection can get unstable, especially on N networks.

We will fix the wlan adapter after the installation, this workaround is still useful if you want to access a wifi network over a live session quickly.

Open a terminal and type in the following:

sudo modprobe acer_wmi
#Be sure your WLAN is activated by the hardware keys
sudo modprobe -r acer_wmi

Your WLAN adapter should now be ready to connect

Installation - Step 3 - Installing Ubuntu with GPT partition table
Launch the Ubuntu installer.
You can let the installer load updates during the installation if you are connected to the internet.

When it comes to the partition you have to use the "manual mode" so that you can select the partition layout. Don't use any predefined partition layouts.

The first partition has to be the EFI partition, it will be formatted as fat16 afterwards.
I gave the EFI partition 50 MB.

Then I created a ext4 partition for "/" and a swap partition.

That's all! No need to downgrade grub anymore..

Installation - Step 4 - Lets permanently fix the WLAN
After we booted into our installed Ubuntu system, it is time to fix the WLAN the right way.

There are restricted drivers available for most of our wlan adapters.
So we can install them with the restricted driver installer.

Check after a reboot if you are able to connect.
If you still cannot connect you might have to blacklist some modules.

lsmod | grep "b43\|ssb\|bcma\|wl"

Your output should be something like this:

wl                   2568210  0 
lib80211               14991  2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl

If b43, ssb, bcma is loaded you have to blacklist them in:

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

I also had to blacklist acer_wmi in order to get network-manager working.

After editing the file, save it and reboot.
You should finally see the wireless networks.

When you come to the point that you still cannot connect, try wicd as network manager:

sudo apt-get install wicd && sudo apt-get remove network-manager*

After a reboot you should see the wicd icon in the panel and the available wireless networks.

Enjoy Ubuntu on your Lenovo!

3. Tweaks and Fixes

3.1 Fix "Fn brightness keys"
After successfully installing Ubuntu you might come to the point that your "Fn brightness keys" are not working.
I found a simple solution using "xbacklight" for it.

Be sure xbacklight is installed:

sudo apt-get install xbacklight

Now you can start a terminal window and type in:

xbacklight - 20

Your screen should dim by 20%.

If you want to make it brighter again just type:

xbacklight + 20

This way you can easily change your brightness through the terminal.
If you want to use your hardware "Fn" keys simply set the xbacklight commands as hotkeys in the keyboard settings.

3.2 Fix battery drain (tested on Intel Sandy Bridge systems like B570)
When you switch from Windows based systems you might detect a faster battery drain on your Linux system.
The problem is that some kernel parameters are disabled by default which put the VGA into a energy saving mode.
Some people had random system freezes with this great Sandy Bridge feature enabled, however there are a lot of people like me who don't have problems at all. I will recommend you the tweaks which fixed the main battery drain for me.

You have to add the following boot parameters to the grub2 configuration section GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT located here /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

1.) Activates the RC6 mode of the Intel GPU

i915.i915_enable_rc6=1

2.) Activates PCIe Active State Power Management

pcie_aspm=force

Don't forget to:

sudo update-grub

TLP:

If you don't use the "laptop-mode-tools" package or other energy scripts, you can also have a look on TLP.
TLP will extend the energy modes on your laptop and power save features.

There is a PPA available for TLP:
https://launchpad.net/~linrunner/+archive/tlp/+packages
(external repos can damage the system - be aware)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update

Now you can install TLP and some usefull tools:

smartmontools (main) - show SMART data with tlp-stat.
ethtool (main) - allows to disable Wake On LAN
powertop (main) - helps monitoring power consumption

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends tlp smartmontools ethtool powertop

3.3 Update BIOS without windows
There was a new BIOS available for my Lenovo B570 and I wanted to update it. Lenovo only provides the WinFlash tool to do the updates directly in Windows, but I found a workaround to do it with a bootable USB Stick.

Step 1: Download your BIOS on the Lenovo Consumer site.

Step 2: Open the *.exe file with your archive manager and extract the containing *.zip file.
In my case inside the 44CN43WW.exe update file, was the 44CN43WW.zip.
Extract now the content of the *.zip to a folder e.g. "lenovo-bios".

Step 3: Now build yourself a bootable USB stick with FreeDos. I used the image of the Ultimate BootCD as source for my USB Stick because FreeDos is already built in.
Copy the extracted "lenovo-bios" folder to the usb stick.
Now boot into FreeDos.

Step 4: cd into your "lenovo-"bios" folder.
Before running the update be sure that your battery is full or better you are on A/C.

To start the update we need to run Pflash.exe with the BIOS filename, which is the *.rom file.
E.g.: Pflash.exe 44CN43WW.ROM

Step 5: After flashing the image do a reboot. If the tool is not able to reboot your Lenovo you might have to hold the power button for 10sek. to shut it down manually. Do this only when the flashing process finished succesfully!

Step 6: Go into the bios and load the default settings, to clear the CMOS. Save and Reboot.

Sources:
WLAN Fix: http://fakkelbrigade.eu/chris/blog/2...o-ideapad-s12/
TLP (German): http://thinkpad-wiki.org/TLP_-_Linux_Stromsparen

[nitroguy]

Thank you kindly for this wonderful guide! I am having troubles with my new S205, perhaps you can help me. I followed your instructions (and many others i have pieced together to the same effect) but they all have a similar error.

once I edit the partitions, get it all set up, and run the installer it begins copying files. it says 'Almost finished copying files' and then does one of two things. A) crashes the installer, leaving behind a blank desktop with buttons that are unreactive, or B) gives 'Errno 5' that talks about my install CD being scratched (not possible given my USB stick). yes, I've run the check disk option at liveCD boot, and it says my install disk is just fine.

do you have any advice for me? I want to love Ubuntu, but am having a hard time doing so with an unbootable computer.

additional details:

I previously had a working install of Ubuntu 11.10 on this very computer. no idea how I did it, but booting from mg USB stick, replaced widows and it just worked. I attemped to reinstall ubuntu to fix some wireless woes, but ended up in this predicament. so I know it is possible, I just don't know the magic combo.

I can successfully install windows to the computer, as I have done it, twice. both times in an effort to replicate the magical time that it worked, but to no avail.

any help is not only appreciated, but will earn you my gratitude for life.

thanks.

[Pay87]

Thank you kindly for this wonderful guide! I am having troubles with my new S205, perhaps you can help me. I followed your instructions (and many others i have pieced together to the same effect) but they all have a similar error.

once I edit the partitions, get it all set up, and run the installer it begins copying files. it says 'Almost finished copying files' and then does one of two things. A) crashes the installer, leaving behind a blank desktop with buttons that are unreactive, or B) gives 'Errno 5' that talks about my install CD being scratched (not possible given my USB stick). yes, I've run the check disk option at liveCD boot, and it says my install disk is just fine.

do you have any advice for me? I want to love Ubuntu, but am having a hard time doing so with an unbootable computer.

additional details:

I previously had a working install of Ubuntu 11.10 on this very computer. no idea how I did it, but booting from mg USB stick, replaced widows and it just worked. I attemped to reinstall ubuntu to fix some wireless woes, but ended up in this predicament. so I know it is possible, I just don't know the magic combo.

I can successfully install windows to the computer, as I have done it, twice. both times in an effort to replicate the magical time that it worked, but to no avail.

any help is not only appreciated, but will earn you my gratitude for life.

thanks.

How did you create the "LiveStick" ?
I prefer UnetBootin. Also did you try reloading the iso from the server?
Btw can you checksum your downloaded file?

[nitroguy]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!

I created my "liveStick" using my other Ubuntu laptop and the "Startup Disk Creator" utility. I downloaded the iso fresh off the ubuntu.com website - it doesn't even ask me to "Update this Installer" when I run the installer from the Live Desktop. (as it sometimes does when I don't use the latest iso, or when I used Windows to create my USB stick).

I do apologize, you'll have to break it down a bit for me, how do I do a checksum? I'm eager to learn, but don't quite know all the ins-and-outs of Ubuntu just yet.

Also, when Googling what Errno 5 is, it seems it is possibly related to a bad hard drive sector. I feel that is a bit hard to believe (it's a Brand New laptop, but I suppose anything's possible. I'll run a quick hard drive sector check (googling how to do that now...) and post back the results.

Thanks! I do hope to get to the bottom of this!

[Pay87]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!

I created my "liveStick" using my other Ubuntu laptop and the "Startup Disk Creator" utility. I downloaded the iso fresh off the ubuntu.com website - it doesn't even ask me to "Update this Installer" when I run the installer from the Live Desktop. (as it sometimes does when I don't use the latest iso, or when I used Windows to create my USB stick).

I do apologize, you'll have to break it down a bit for me, how do I do a checksum? I'm eager to learn, but don't quite know all the ins-and-outs of Ubuntu just yet.

Also, when Googling what Errno 5 is, it seems it is possibly related to a bad hard drive sector. I feel that is a bit hard to believe (it's a Brand New laptop, but I suppose anything's possible. I'll run a quick hard drive sector check (googling how to do that now...) and post back the results.

Thanks! I do hope to get to the bottom of this!

You could try to check your hdd for bad sectors (takes some hours) or maybe your usb stick has bad sectors.
If you have a optical drive, try burning the ISO to a CD and use this instead. At this point I don't really think this is Lenovo related.

Here is a link how to check the md5 checksum:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

[moteprime]

Hi Pay87
A bit off topic, but I'm curious. Are your wlan operating at full speed? There's a bunch of people that has a really hard time making it work.

[ivanmmj]

I followed this guide and it worked out great. I have kubuntu booting smoothly. I didn't even have to play around with the brightness controls as they worked out of the box. My question is this:
What type of issues would I have had if I had tried to boot with grub2?

Also, have you tried using Burg as a bootloader? It might be better with uefi than grub2, even though it's based off of grub2. I would love to get rid of the ugly grub screen. With grub2, you can at least run it at a higher res mode.

As a side note, I also got Chromium OS booting alongside Kubuntu (installed in the harddrive and booting from grub.) Unfortunately, there is currently a bug in it that causes it to not see the battery life and thus it only works while on AC power.

[ivanmmj]

Update: I installed Burg and I have it working fine. I haven't had any issues, yet. I've even themed it to match my current theme for plymouth, KDM, and KDE's Plasma (and icons).

[moteprime]

I am using Grub 2, in dual boot with win7. It works fine, and looks better during boot up and shutvdown.

[Pay87]

Thanks for the information. Since I had a lot of troubles with grub2, I explain how to use grub instead. Of course everyone can try after successfully installing the system to boot with grub2.

I added some energy tweaks in the tutorial, because I had terrible battery drain without it on my Lenovo.