AMD Thinkpad L14 Gen 3 Ryzen 7 PRO 5875U

User Support HCL Reports
1

Qubes release 4.1.1 (R4.1)

Brand: LENOVO
Model: 21C5CTO1WW
BIOS: R1YET39W (1.16 )

Xen: 4.14.5
Kernel: 6.1.5-1

RAM: 64302 Mb

CPU:
AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5875U with Radeon Graphics
Chipset:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Renoir Root Complex [1022:1630]
VGA:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device [1002:15e7] (rev d1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

Net:
Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0e)
MEDIATEK Corp. Device 0616

SCSI:

HVM: Active
I/O MMU: Active
HAP/SLAT: Yes
TPM: Device not found
Remapping: yes

Had to do some troubleshooting, but it is an awesome laptop and really fast with Qubes compared to my old one. Despite the lack of GUI acceleration, I can even play Youtube videos in 4K smoothly (old machine could not even do 720P smoothly.). I increased RAM to the max of 64 GB.

Installed R4.1.1 stable. For the installer to work I had to add: dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpu_pin
Installation then completed without issues. When installation was done I also needed to add nomodeset to kernel parameters. Due Dom0 being limited to 1 vCPU, it is a little slow.
Then I updated Dom0 and rebooted. Now it is able to boot without commandline parameters and there is graphical boot, but it is very slow.

After that, I applied clocksource=tsc tsc=unstable hpetbroadcast=0 and performance is very smooth.
(Apparently clocksource=tsc is default now and no longer necessary.)
I did not try this from the beginning, so maybe it can already be used during installation instead of the other commandline parameters.

Ethernet:
Works out of the box

WiFi:
AMD RZ616(Apparently a rebranded MediaTek MT7922).
Works after upgrading to kernel-latest(currently 6.0.12-1) and setting that as the kernel for sys-net.

Keyboard special function keys are working:
Mute speakers, increase volume, decrease volme, mute mic, decrease brightness, increase brightness, external display button.

Trackpoint and touchpad:
Working

Suspend:
Working now.
Was not working at all with default Bios setting (Windows + Linux). After setting it to Linux S3, it wakes up from suspend but screen stays black. After upgrading to kernel-latest, mouse cursor appears but still unable to login. I read on github that Xen 4.14.5-15(currently in current-testing) fixed suspend on at least one AMD model as a side effect of another fix. I enabled current-testing repo(which also updated kernel-latest to 6.1.5-1). I can confirm that these updates indeed fix suspend :smiley:

sys-usb:
Working

HDMI out:
Working

Display out over USB-C:
Working (with usb-controllers assigned to sys-usb)
Note that this was tested with a USB-C to HDMI adapter, my external display does not support USB-C input.
(Display over USB-C to USB-C may also be undesirable due to increased attack surface).

Built-in camera and microphone:
Working.
Camera is assigned to sys-usb by default, so you need to assign it to the correct VM. Once sys-usb memory is increased to 1024 MB, it works fine.

Built-in audio:
Working

Fans:
Very little noise. There is a noticable spin-up noise though, but it is not loud enough to be annoying. Fans never reach high speed so far (note that this is probably due to lack of Turbo boost, see minor issues.)

Windows VM with QWT imported from Qubes on old laptop:
Working

AMD TSME (Transparent SME) Memory Encryption enabled it BIOS does not cause any issues.

Minor issues:

  • C̶P̶U̶ f̶r̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶y̶ i̶s̶ s̶t̶u̶c̶k̶ a̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶ d̶e̶f̶a̶u̶l̶t̶ 2̶0̶0̶0̶ M̶H̶z̶, b̶u̶t̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ i̶s̶ a̶p̶p̶a̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ t̶h̶e̶ c̶a̶s̶e̶ f̶o̶r̶ a̶l̶l̶ r̶e̶c̶e̶n̶t̶ I̶n̶t̶e̶l̶ a̶n̶d̶ A̶M̶D̶ C̶P̶U̶’s̶. B̶u̶t̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ t̶u̶r̶b̶o̶ b̶o̶o̶s̶t̶, p̶e̶r̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ i̶s̶ f̶a̶s̶t̶ a̶n̶d̶ 4̶K̶ y̶o̶u̶t̶u̶b̶e̶ v̶i̶d̶e̶o̶s̶ p̶l̶a̶y̶ s̶m̶o̶o̶t̶h̶, s̶o̶ n̶o̶t̶ a̶ b̶i̶g̶ d̶e̶a̶l̶. Apparently turboboost does work, but CPU frequency does not go lower than 1600MHz during idle: AMD CPU Frequency Scaling Broken · Issue #8008 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub
  • The WiFi pci is delaying startup, but other than that works fine. Still investigating:
    WiFi PCI issues on Thinkpad L14 AMD Gen 3
    I switched to an Intel AX200 which does not have that issue. Still hoping for a fix for the original WiFi card though.

I’m hoping this laptop may end up in the community recommended list in the future. A laptop with 8 core CPU and a max of 64 GB RAM without mayor issues would be great there.
Suspend was fixed by a newer Xen package and WiFi by a newer kernel, so those will work out of the box once a new ISO is released with those versions.
Afaik the remaining blocking issues to end up on the recommended list will then be:

  • Sleep mode needs to be set to Linux S3 in bios. (Is that a blocker for the recommended list?)
  • Installer/booting does not work without commandline parameters. However a future Qubes ISO may set those by default or maybe it will be unnecessary in a future Qubes version (4.2?) to due better hardware support.
    A bios update might fix this as well: Lenovo also fixed the need for TSC related parameters in other Thinkpad models (Ryzen 4000 CPU Performance Issues (Lockups) · Issue #6055 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub)

Qubes-HCL-LENOVO-21C5CTO1WW-20230114-152748.yml (851 Bytes)

6 Likes
2

Thanks for the report. Which laptop were you previously using?

4

Hi, could you please suspend more times before doing a reboot, for example, 20 times, to see if suspend and resume is actually working flawlessly? My laptop will eventually fail to resume, if I suspend it for enough times. Thanks.

5

I forgot to add that built-in audio, trackpoint and touchpad, Windows VM are all working fine as well.

An Elitebook with i5 2520M and 16GB ram. So it is also a huge upgrade, but the performance difference with Qubes is also huge.

I have tried suspend 20 times, works everytime and automatically reconnects WiFi as well. Now using it after the 20th time, everything seems to be working fine.

1 Like
6

Thank you for doing that! I’ll find out what is preventing my laptop from being stable.

1 Like
7

Did you notice a significant decrease in boot time from pressing the power button to getting to the luks decryption password screen? I’m considering upgrading since it takes a long time for my laptop to get to the luks decryption password screen.

8

I think this might be your issue.

9

My old machine was about 15 seconds from Grub to Luks password screen, my new one just a few seconds with WiFi disabled in bios. But with it enabled, quite a bit longer due to PCI issues, see the thread linked by @enmus.
When Grub appears, you can press ‘E’ to edit the boot command, you can then remove quiet from the kernel parameters and press CTRL+X to boot. Then you can check for strange messages or other things delaying boot.

10

Thank you @Scumbag for your HCL report, which is online now!

Sorry for the delay!

1 Like
11

Updated post to reflect turboboost is actually working and that Intel AX200 does not suffer from the PCI issue.

Thanks Sven!
Is the fact that it is necessary to set the Sleep mode in BIOS to ‘Linux S3’ a blocking issue to end up on the Community Recommended computers list?

12

Interesting question. I don’t think it should. It’s not a workaround but a configuration, which we could easily call out in the comments. What is a blocking issue is that we have only one HCL report for this machine. We would need one more community member with an identical machine to confirm that all other criteria are met.

1 Like
13

4 posts were split to a new topic: Freeze during installation AMD Thinkpad L14 Gen 3

14

Now, installing on the L14 works out-of-the-box on Qubes 4.2.0!

2 Likes
15

I did a clean install of 4.2.0, and for me it works out-of-the-box as well! No more need for vcpu, nomodeset or tsc parameters (or any parameters). Before, during and after installation everything works fine without any workarounds.


---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'Notebook'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  '2.0'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  LENOVO
model: |
  21C5CTO1WW
bios: |
  R1YET53W (1.30 )
cpu: |
  AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5875U with Radeon Graphics
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Renoir/Cezanne Root Complex [1022:1630]
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Barcelo [1002:15e7] (rev d1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 0e)
  Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 [8086:2723] (rev 1a)
memory: |
  64302
scsi: |

usb: |
  2
certified:
  'no'
versions:
  - works:
      yes
    qubes: |
      R4.2.0
    xen: |
      4.17.3
    kernel: |
      6.1.75-1

Qubes-HCL-LENOVO-21C5CTO1WW-20240315-202414.yml (936 Bytes)

2 Likes
16

Installation

  • No problems with latest installation.
  • Default kernel was used.
  • No additional options or kernel parameters necessary

Basic Input

  • Keyboard - works
  • External USB mouse - works (connected though sys-usb)
  • External USB keyboard - works (connected though sys-usb)
  • Touch-pad - works
  • Touch-pad supports “tap as click” and scrolling with 2 fingers works - 2 finger scrolling works, tap as click untested
  • Display brightness change shortcuts - works
  • Sound volume shortcuts - works
  • Keyboard led and keyboard brightness change shortcuts - n/a; no backlight
  • Output of xinput --list from terminal of dom0 - bash: xinput: command not found
  • Check if keyboard and/or touchpad is PS/2 connected (how to check ) - keyboard and touchpad work when sys-usb is powered off

Internet and bluetooth

  • Ethernet cable connection - works out of the box or actions were required? - works out of the box
  • Ethernet cable connection - speed - 50MB/s download (limited by internet subscription, did not benchmark on local network)
  • Wifi connection - works out of the box or actions were required? - works out of the box
  • Wifi connection - speed, is reliable over the time? - seems reliable over time; 28MB/s download, limited by WiFi5/AC router.
  • Bluetooth - works out of the box or actions were required? - untested
  • Bluetooth - shows devices, connection process works, sound output or copying works. - untested

Suspend

  • Suspend/Resume works - works out of the box or actions were required? - works, set sleep mode to Linux S3 in bios.
  • Does resume breaks WiFi, if it does, how to recover it? - with default fedora-39-xfce template reloading kernel module is necessary, however this seems a template issue instead of a hardware compabitility issue, with fedora-39 template resume does NOT break WiFi.
  • Does resume breaks Bluetooth, if it does, how to recover it? - untested

Video [increase VCPU to the qube before test]

  • Fullscreen and windowed video playback of youtube - 720p/1080p/2K/4K in Firefox. Does it drop frames? - can play 4K without dropping frames when the youtube viewport is small, however the bigger you make the viewport the more frames it starts to drop. 4K fullscreen on a 4K monitor drops quite a lot of frames. I think I read somewhere this was a problem inherent to Qubes.
  • Video file playback of file using mpv/mplayer/smplayer - untested
  • Multiple displays configuration works (using available DP/Thunderbolt, HDMI or other video ports) - 4K external monitor over HDMI works fine. USB-C untested.

Audio

  • Speakers (sound playback) (was sys-audio used?) - works fine, sys-audio not used.
  • Head-phones via 3.5" jack - works, automatically turns off speakers
  • Head-phones via USB-C - untested
  • Sound output via HDMI - untested, my external monitor does not have built-in speakers.
  • Audio-optical (S/PDIF) output - n/a

Fans

  • Fans are silent on idle - Silent on idle, even under high load not much noise.
  • Are fans noisier than on Windows/Linux?. If they are, was thankfan or similar software tried? - untested

Other

  • Have you tried running Windows 10 HVM qubes? - Yes, works fine, including connecting USB block devices and audio inside Windows qube.
  • Does CPU boost seem to be working properly? - Yes

Specs:

  • ThinkPad L14 Gen 3 (AMD) spec sheet
  • Display native resolution: 1920x1080
  • Maximum possible RAM memory - 64GB (2x 32GB, both slots not soldered).
  • CPU score: 16088
  • 5 USB buses (lsusb output below):
    1. QEMU tablet
    2. Bluetooth, left USB-A, left USB-C (not the one for charging)
    3. unknown
    4. camera, right USB-A, left USB-C for charging and data
    5. unknown
  • 2 controllers for USB ports, so can use 2 USB qubes:
    07:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Renoir/Cezanne USB3.1
    (Number 2 from above list
    07:00.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Renoir/Cezanne USB3.1
    Number 4 from above list
  • Internal TPM - 2.0, is enabled but not in use, as not yet supported for AMD on Qubes.

Outputs

lsusb run in sys-usb with 07:00.4 with nothing plugged in

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0627:0001 Adomax Technology Co., Ltd QEMU Tablet
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 174f:1812 Syntek Integrated Camera
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

lsusb run in sys-usb-2 with 07:00.3 with nothing plugged in

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0627:0001 Adomax Technology Co., Ltd QEMU Tablet
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0029 Intel Corp. AX200 Bluetooth
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
3 Likes
17

Nice extended report. To me looks like a laptop for Qubes OS that can be on recommended list.

2 Likes
18

Yes, I’m hoping for that. And now we got 2 positive reports for this laptop. It will be good to have an AMD laptop on the recommended list for once, and there need to be more laptops with the possibility of 64GB ram on the list.

1 Like
19

With the 1.32 BIOS/UEFI update TSC synchronization is finally fixed. Qubes 4.1 can now boot and works properly without any special boot parameters.
Though Qubes 4.2 was already working fine without special boot parameters and 4.1 is now EOL, but I though it could still be interesting to share.

1 Like