Can't install on a recent laptop (black screen and crash)

[nsl_94]

Hello

I'm trying to install MX-Linux as the second operating system on my laptop.
My laptop is a new Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7 IML, with an Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 155H CPU and an Intel(R) Arc(TM) Graphics card, released in September 2024.

I've tried both versions (MX-23.6.1_x64 KDE (with the 6.1 kernel and ahs repos enabled) and MX-23.6_x64 “ahs”) but the results are the same.


I see the first screen, choose language, keyboard and Time zone in the menu, return to the first menu then I select the first entry to start the boot process.
The screen turns black and everything stops. The laptop seems to crash, and I have to shut down the computer.

I've also tried selecting nomodeset but the result is always the same. Black screen and crash.

I was able to install Linux Mint, but I really like MX-Linux and I would prefer it instead.

Can someone give me some other settings I could try to help me with the installation?

Thank you very much
Nuno

[Eadwine Rose]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info from the menu, use copy for forum button, no edits.

You can do this from the LiveUSB :)

[j2mcgreg]

Have you disabled Secure Boot, BitLocker and Fast Start Up (aka Quick Start)?

[m_pav]

I have the same G7 series laptop series here I'm setting up for a customer, but I only purchase and sell the AMD powered units.
Here's the kicker, new machine needs hardware support in the software you're running, so it is necessary to use the AHS enabled ISO, like KDE or MX Xfce with AHS, the regular Xfce will not cut it, at least not without some additional support being baked in which is possible only when you have a fully featured Live USB created with our Live USB Creator, and available space on the USB drive.

I have provided a pic of the G7 running from my regular Xfce MX23.6 Live SSD-USB which I upgraded whilst running live on another machine by enabling the AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) repos, performing a full dist-upgrade then used our remastering tools to bake it all in. The QSI will not show AHS when such a method is used, but it is running a near full AHS equivalent. I say near full equivalent because it's still running the stock Debian kernel which I know to be sufficient for most AMD powered units. It is possible to upgrade the kernel in the Live USB, but that's a story for another time.

Provided you have fully completed the steps below, you should get a fully functioning Live Desktop with an AHS, or an AHS equivalent Live USB, such as mine is.
Required preparatory steps when coming from Windows;
1) Disable Windows Fast Startup and reboot at least once. Control panel > type power in the search box > select Change what the power buttons do > remove checkmark from the Fast Startup, save changes and reboot at least once to free up that horrendous feature.
2) Access the BIOS and disable any type of fast startup you find, and follow through with disabling Secure boot, reboot 2 x to ensure absolute adherence to the new rules YOU set.

Tap the Enter key or the F12 key at boot to enable the alternative boot device, select your USB device and let it rip, you will arrive at a fully functioning Live Desktop, except with your intel processor, the AI elements will be barely functional, if at all. Picture attached of the G7 AMD Laptop running MX Live

Proof of a working Live MX on a brand new AMD powered Lenovo G7


Screenshot to make the desktop contents clear. Note, the QSI does not contain the AHS label and it's using the stock Debian kernel, though the Liquorix kernel is available on my Live USB

[m_pav]

Have you disabled Secure Boot, BitLocker and Fast Start Up (aka Quick Start)?

Hint, bitlocker is not enabled when the first user account is created as a local account, but the key element is to NEVER make an internet connection until after you have a local user account. For Lenovo preloaded Win11, at the initial account provisioning step, press Shift + F10 to open a command window into which you type the following in order.

Code: Select all

cd oobe
bypassnro

Reboots will be in order but what you're looking for is some underlined text with the words "I don't have internet" Click that, the machine will reboot and the dirty scoundrels will again try to trick users into an online account, instead click the line that says "continue with a limited account" and get a real account that YOU control. Bitlocker will not touch your drive in such an instance, but you will be hammered by endless "It's all here with a Microsoft account" advertisement, which you can greatly reduce with the aid of 3 third party tools.

[m_pav]

Addendum to my last response, Bitlocker will not be applied, but the C: icon will get a nasty yellow triangle with an exclamation ! bang, this can put people off but there's no need to be concerned, you can still encrypt whatever you desire in the junker OS. That being said, for dual-booters who need files from their windows partition, bitlocker is a nuisance.

[Stevo]

Can we get the result of "inxi -Fxxza" on the Linux Mint install or Live session? That'll let us see the QSI on it if the MX-AHS Live USB can't get to a GUI.

[nsl_94]

Have you disabled Secure Boot, BitLocker and Fast Start Up (aka Quick Start)?

Yes, all of them were disabled when I first set up my windows installation (I always turn them off).

[j2mcgreg]

As @Stevo requested above. Open a terminal in Mint and run

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxza

.
Copy / paste the results here in code tags like this: [code]your output goes here[/code]

[nsl_94]

Hello Stevo.

Here is the result of "inxi -Fxxza" on my laptop, on Linux Mint 22.2:

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.14.0-29-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.14.0-29-generic
    root=UUID=50e10e1b-3b79-48b0-a5c5-7ec36410e47d ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.4.1 tools:
    avail: cinnamon-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22.2 Zara base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 21MS v: ThinkBook 16 G7 IML
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: ThinkBook 16 G7 IML
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0T76530 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: LENOVO_MT_21MS_BU_idea_FM_ThinkBook
    16 G7 IML uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: P3CN52WW
    date: 07/18/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 69.5 Wh (95.3%) condition: 72.9/71.0 Wh (102.6%)
    volts: 16.9 min: 15.4 model: SMP L22M4PE1 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    status: not charging cycles: 30
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP
    arch: Meteor Lake level: v3 note: check built: 2023+ process: Intel 4 (7nm)
    family: 6 model-id: 0xAA (170) stepping: 4 microcode: 0x24
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 16 mt: 6 tpc: 2 st: 10 threads: 22 smt: enabled
    cache: L1: 1.6 MiB desc: d-10x32 KiB, 6x48 KiB; i-16x64 KiB L2: 18 MiB
    desc: 9x2 MiB L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1006 high: 4142 min/max: 400/4500:4800:3800:2500
    scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 400 2: 400
    3: 1970 4: 4142 5: 1905 6: 4126 7: 2037 8: 400 9: 400 10: 400 11: 1553
    12: 400 13: 400 14: 400 15: 400 16: 400 17: 400 18: 400 19: 400 20: 400
    21: 400 22: 400 bogomips: 131788
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB:
    conditional; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: BHI_DIS_S
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P [Intel Arc Graphics] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel alternate: xe arch: Gen-13 process: Intel 4 (7nm+)
    built: 2023+ ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:7d55 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Bison Integrated RGB Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-6:2 chip-ID: 5986:2169
    class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1200 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x317mm (20.00x12.48")
    s-diag: 599mm (23.57")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x0b76 built: 2022 res: 1920x1200
    hz: 60 dpi: 141 gamma: 1.2 size: 345x215mm (13.58x8.46") diag: 407mm (16")
    ratio: 16:10 modes: 1920x1200
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
    inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa
    v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa
    Intel Arc Graphics (MTL) device-ID: 8086:7d55 memory: 14.97 GiB
    unified: yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P HD Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-mtl
    alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_mtl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:7e28 class-ID: 0401
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.0-29-generic status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:7e40 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel port: N/A
    bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:550b class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX211 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0033
    class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.3
    lmp-v: 12 sub-v: 3a27 hci-v: 12 rev: 3a27 class-ID: 7c010c
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object
    transfer, audio, telephony
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.88 GiB used: 42.32 GiB (4.4%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:3 vendor: SK Hynix model: HFS512GEJ4X112N
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 51040C31 temp: 44.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: A-Data model: SX8200PNP
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 32B3T8EB temp: 33.9 C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 64 GiB size: 62.69 GiB (97.96%) used: 42.27 GiB (67.4%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 510.2 MiB size: 509.2 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 52.9 MiB (10.4%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:4
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.8 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.67 GiB used: 1.69 GiB (5.5%)
  Processes: 421 Power: uptime: 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume
    image: 12.23 GiB services: csd-power, power-profiles-daemon, thermald,
    upowerd Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: 2007 pm: dpkg pkgs: 1995 libs: 1024 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 12 Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.21
    running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.34

Is there anything else you need?

Thank you again.

Nuno