HCL - Laptop - ASUS VivoBook Pro N752VX-GC164T (i7-6700HQ)

User Support HCL Reports
1 
---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'Notebook'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  '2.0'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
model: |
  N752VX
bios: |
  N752VX.303
cpu: |
  Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:1910] (rev 07)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 [8086:191b] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 [8086:095a] (rev 59)
  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 12)
memory: |
  23991
scsi: |
  SAMSUNG MZNLF128 Rev: 301Q
  DVDRAM GUE1N     Rev: AS00
  CT120BX500SSD1   Rev: R013
usb: |
  2
certified:
  'no'
versions:
  - works:
      'FIXME:yes|no|partial'
    qubes: |
      R4.2.1
    xen: |
      4.17.4
    kernel: |
      6.6.25-1
    remark: |
      FIXME
    credit: |
      FIXAUTHOR
    link: |
      FIXLINK

Remarks

  • Install works by default, except that I get a popup error message which says “Unable to reset PCI device 03:00:1” (Realtek ethernet).
  • Boot fails ~50% of the time (like with Debian and Ubuntu), I suspect that’s an intel-microcode bug.
  • Boot takes a long time, there is a 10 seconds black screen in between grub and luks pwd prompt.
  • The Realtek ethernet is blocking sys-net to start, I added “Realtek PCI smart card device” to sys-net. I don’t know if ethernet works but there is no error message anymore.
  • Intel wireless work fine.
  • Youtube videos are not playing smoothly (maybe 5 or 10 images per second)
  • The laptop internal keyboard is not a USB keyboard.
  • I have only tested very basic stuff, I am not familiar yet with the OS.

Attachments

HCL - ASUS VivoBook Pro N752VX-GC164T.yml (1.0 KB)

4 Likes
2

Update with Qubes 4.3.0
This laptop is not anymore compatible with Qubes.
The install runs fine but it will freeze at first boot.

The reason is the following : The laptop is not anymore compatible with the Linux kernel since around version 4.12.xxx. And since Qubes 4.3.0, dom0 is based on “Debian + Linux 4.12”.
For standard Linux distributions it can still boot with the grub “nolapic” option or in safe mode, but that is not relevant to Qubes because “nolapic” deactivates multi-processing, and so the laptop would not satisfy the minimum hardware requirements.

(Side note : With Windows 11, all is running fine, there is no sign of any hardware problem)

2 Likes
3

Update with Qubes 4.3.0

Correction of my previous post : I found a way to make the laptop hardware compatible again with recent Linux kernel versions and keeping the multi-cores advantage.

At first boot : Add temporarily the “nolapic” or “dis_ucode_ldr” to grub/systemd linux boot parameters.
Once booted : Either, add “dis_ucode_ldr” to your boot config or either, uninstall the 2 following Debian packages :
“intel-microcode” + “iucode-tool”

  • That works with Debian 13.4, Fedora 44, Ubuntu 26.04.
  • Not tested yet with Qubes 4.3.0

Remark : That will make your processor firmware very very outdated (year 2019 from the bios cpu firmware). Is it a security concern that dom0 is using an outdated CPU firmware ?

2 Likes
4

That depends on your threat model.

1 Like
5

It is strange to have such a regression in the linux kernel.

I know it is a long time now, and maybe you do not care now, but …

Do you see detail during first boot if you delete “quiet” and “rhgb”, but not put “nolapic” ? Or use a verbose boot option?
What happens at the freeze?

Can you tell us what different possibilities you tried for kernel command line?

nolapic is a very big “hammer” for hiding problems, but processor microcode is a strange one.

2 Likes
6

Let’s say that I have already spent so much time investigating into my bug, that I have now fully accepted to live with a 2019 intel-microcode version, moreover this is a end-of-life/outdated laptop (9 years old).

I have tried a lot of grub options found randomly on internet, but I didn’t took notes of the ones I tried, it is all about : apic, lapic, acpi, gpu, nomodeset, …

  • With Debian 13 default setup, the freeze happens very early in the boot process. After the grub boot selection, it directly freezes with a black screen.
  • With Debian 13 default setup + linux arguments “ro dis_ucode_ldr”, I get a boot freeze
  • With Debian 13 default setup + linux arguments “ro quiet dis_ucode_ldr”, it boots
  • With Debian 13 default setup + linux arguments “ro nosplash debug --verbose”, it freezes with :
Booting a command list

Loading Linux 6.12.85+deb13-amd64 ...
Loading inital ramdisk ...

                 EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path
                 EFI stub: Measured initrd data into PCR 9

Stuff I am sure about :

  • I get the same bug whatever I use grub or systemd-boot
  • It freezes before I get the opportunity to input my root “/” luks passphrase, the bug is into an early stage of the boot process
  • The bug is capricious, for example removing the “quiet” option can provoke the freeze.
1 Like
7

It is very strange.

The only thing I notice is the EFI “measured” message: it suggests that “Secure boot” is enabled in the EFI/BIOS settings. I think Qubes has not been compatible with this for some time.

Can it be that the CMOS battery is dead, and settings are getting lost? I think that would be obvious, because the clock would always be wrong.

2 Likes
8
  • I have removed the laptop battery a long time ago (capacity had reached 0kW.h), the computer is now like a desktop computer.
  • Clock is lost only when I unplug the laptop from electric current.
  • Bios settings are all saved even if I unplug the laptop from electric current.
  • I have never used/activated secure boot.
  • When I say Debian, I am NOT talking about dom0 Debian, I am talking about the Debian distrib. Because I was trying first to investigate my problem with a raw Debian distrib.
2 Likes