Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 2

Remarks

  • Ethernet did not work out of the box, there was PCI issues. This was solved by following the guide here: PCI troubleshooting | Qubes OS
  • Microphone works, have not tested out webcam yet
  • Did not have to modify any bios settings, except disable secure boot

Discrete GPU Issues

Discrete GPU works out of the box, with latest kernels installed.

However it is not stable by any means. I crash 1-2 times a day with following error message.

GPU lockup - switching to software fbcon

Sometimes the screen goes black and I get back into the login screen after a few seconds. Other times the screen freezes completely and I have to do a hard reboot.

I think this can be fixed by installing Nvidia proprietary drivers. But I read in a recent post that Nvidia drivers are no longer supported. The community guide itself is 2 years old. If someone could give me more insight into this, that would be great.

Attachments

---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'notebook'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  'unknown'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  LENOVO
model: |
  20QVCTO1WW
bios: |
  N2OET55W (1.42 )
cpu: |
  Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9880H CPU @ 2.30GHz
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:3e20] (rev 0d)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] [8086:3e9b] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
  NVIDIA Corporation TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] [10de:1f91] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (7) I219-LM (rev 10)
  Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)
memory: |
  65144
scsi: |

usb: |
  2
versions:

- works:
    'FIXME:yes|no|partial'
  qubes: |
    R4.1
  xen: |
    4.14.4
  kernel: |
    5.16.13-2
  remark: |
    FIXME
  credit: |
    FIXAUTHOR
  link: |
    FIXLINK

---
1 Like

Hardware class is about to begin, pay attention…

No dev will be able to use Nvidia “proprietary drivers” as Nvidia will not release that code. You have to use Nvidia cards that have Linux support. But some of the newer Nvidia cards don’t have this option,this is seen in there newer. cards.
Nvidia cards still work, you have to use older ones. If you can’t then you have to use “cpu” intergraded video on the chip. But some cpu’s do not have this ability which takes you back to using a gxp card.

You have to do your research. Qubes can at times be very hardware specific…
It doesn’t matter if you have this laptop,desktop or server. It depends on the chipsets.

1.) Look at cpu & hosted chip set…
Example…
Cpu…1234 v2 (Sandy bridge)
Chip set…x602

Here you will find out the cpu/chip set pairing. From here you will know if the CPU has intergrade video ( if not then you know you need a gxp card…pcie) and most importantly BIOS features ( if qubes will even run at it’s FULLEST potential).

2.) Once you find out if the cpu does/doesn’t have the ability of intergrade video. Then now your quest is WHICH gpx card you can go after. Here you have to again “research” which card has Linux support. Then Linux drivers.

3.) Hard drives/SSD’s
Since qubes uese Zen and isolation. Read/write cycles are EXTREMELY important and speed of drive. Outside of this fact is RAID cards as not all Hard drives/SSD’s will work on said Raid cards. Again you have to research these.

4.) Memory…DDR 3 & DDR. 4
This is determined by cpu & MOBO. You can’t get around this…
Bottom line… the faster and more you can have the better… PERIOD

5.) Pcie bifurcation v 3.0
This is only seen in newer (workstations & servers) . It is used greatly for nvme drives. But you need to have 2 CPU’s and these pcie slots are rated at 75w each. So psu is going to be at least 1000w plus…
Does qubes is support this. As of 4.1…YES

And lastly

6.) Proprietary laptops,Desktops
You must first understand something. These manufacturers main goal are…
A…money
B…control over “their” said hardware

Now workstations & servers are your best bet …Why
These systems are designed for virtualization along with the hardware to go.

Yes I understand people want cute laptops for mobility. But what are you going to do when, yes when it “overheats”, “breaks down”. Most of you do not have the technical understanding let alone the tools to take apart your laptop. Which now you have to send in and low and behold. The manufacturer fix your laptop BUT wiped it clean and just installed the latest drivers.
(Now qubes will not work). Unfortunately this happens a lot, when you have to send in your laptop for repair.

Same goes for Desktops,Workstation,Servers…BUT you can at least get inside and repair and upgrade. IF you have the tools and know how…

Boys and girls you need to do your RESEARCH… white papers, Intel, Intel ark, 3rd party hardware you want…

Once you understand this…
Qubes is a very happy place to be.

@syspacket thank you for your HCL, I will process it in a moment. Feel free to post a description of your GPU lockup - switching to software fbcon to the User Support section, maybe this can be fixed with the help of the community.

@B_ryr I get that you are excited about your new machine and that for you having a server rack at home is a cool thing, but promoting this as general advice is just confused and in addition only very loosely on-topic to this thread, which should be about the Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 2 only.

1 Like

Thank you @syspacket for your HCL report, which is online now.

1 Like

@Sven
No sir it’s about teaching them how to research hardware.

Update on the discrete GPU lockup issue:

There was a separate thread created here.

The solution that worked for me is the following:

  1. Switch to discrete graphics only in the bios
  2. Append the following kernel parameter nouveau.noaccel=1 to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/sysconfig/grub. Run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/grub.cfg to update grub

Number 2 is suggested in Nouveau - ArchWiki and Common kernel problems - Fedora Project Wiki to avoid lockups

After 24 hours of testing, system seems stable! I will post updates if I encounter future issues with this hardware.