Lenovo ThinkPad T14 (AMD) Gen 1

Hardware
PCI/USB ID
Working?
GPU
Yes
Wi-Fi
Yes
Bluetooth
8087:0029
Yes
Webcam
04f2:b6d0
Yes
TrackPoint
Yes
Touchpad
Yes
Fingerprint reader
06cb:00bd
Yes
Smartcard reader
058f:9540
Yes
Mobile broadband
Yes
This article covers the installation and configuration of Arch Linux on a Lenovo Thinkpad T14 (AMD) Gen 1 laptop.
For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see
Laptop
.
Firmware
Secure boot
As of January 2021 deleting
Secure Boot
keys and installing your own keys (for example by using
KeyTool
) will brick the device. This is a problem that is similar to one which
has been reported on some other Lenovo laptops
and is likely due to a faulty firmware. If the device is stuck in a boot loop after replacing the Secure Boot keys, the only way to repair it is by replacing the mainboard of the device. Hopefully, the issue will get fixed with a firmware update in the future.
Battery issues
In an ongoing
Lenovo forums thread
, there has been a discussion regarding battery drain issues in suspend/powered-off states. Presumably, laptops with AMD Renoir CPUs and relevant hardware are affected. As of now, BIOS firmware version 1.29 is suggested for use, as version 1.30 introduced significant battery drain; the battery loses up to 50% in 2-3 days while the laptop is in suspend mode.
There is also a suggestion that kernel updates could fix this behavior and that Lenovo and Canonical are working on it.
Keyboard
As of BIOS 1.35, keyboard event processing does not work correctly and can cause
input problems
with shortcuts involving the function key. Moreover, typing fast can lead to scrambled or missing keys which is caused by
polling issues
with the firmware.
Trackpad
As of BIOS 1.35, disabling the trackpad has no effect in Linux. In the graphical BIOS and in Windows, this function works as intended.
Since kernel 5.18, there are some issue with the track pad after resume (left button not working anymore). A workaround is to set parameter
synaptics_intertouch=0
to the module psmouse.
In a
Lenovo forums thread
, there has been a discussion regarding touchpad issue with Synaptics firmware PR3584089. Downgrading the version to PR2909640 solves this.
Time stamp counter
As of BIOS 1.35, the
time stamp counter (TSC) can be unusable
on a cold boot, as indicated by the following log output:
$ dmesg | grep -i tsc
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[    0.000000] tsc: Detected 1696.748 MHz processor
[    0.160394] clocksource: tsc-early: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x18752743c99, max_idle_ns: 440795215663 ns
[    0.367627] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc-early
[    1.393773] tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 1699.720 MHz
[    1.393785] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x18801ecedab, max_idle_ns: 440795234673 ns
[    1.394099] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
[    2.167096] clocksource: timekeeping watchdog on CPU3: Marking clocksource 'tsc' as unstable because the skew is too large:
[    2.167106] clocksource:                       'tsc' cs_nsec: 506681426 cs_now: 78dfa3a69 cs_last: 75aa51b22 mask: ffffffffffffffff
[    2.167109] clocksource:                       'tsc' is current clocksource.
[    2.167119] tsc: Marking TSC unstable due to clocksource watchdog
[    2.167132] TSC found unstable after boot, most likely due to broken BIOS. Use 'tsc=unstable'.
[    2.167653] clocksource: Checking clocksource tsc synchronization from CPU 13 to CPUs 0,2,8-9,11-12,14-15.
Renesas USB controller
As of BIOS 1.35, toggling the state of USB devices in the BIOS can cause the
Renesas controller to fail
. This will prevent the webcam from being initialized.
Docking stations
As of BIOS 1.35,
video output is unrealiable
on both USB3 and mechanical docking stations.
Webcam
Image quality
can be improved by updating the webcam firmware. Unfortunately, webcam firmware updates are not shipped via LVFS. Some cameras firmwares can be possibly updated in Linux
following steps
.
Fingerprint sensor
The fingerprint sensor works: use
fwupd
to install the latest firmware for "Synaptics Prometheus Fingerprint Reader".
fprint
has more details on how to setup the fingerprint, for
PAM
-based authentication for example.
If the fingerprint reader is not detected by
fwupd
but is detected by
lsusb
, you will need to reset the fingerprint reader in the UEFI.
Backlight
Backlight works correctly by manipulating the values, between 0-255, inside
/sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/brightness
or using a backlight managing utility.
Suspend
S3 suspend works when setting
Config > Power > Sleep
to
Linux
in the BIOS.
Hibernation
As of kernel 5.15.2, the system occasionally has issues with resuming from hibernate, resulting in missing or distorted video output.
Mobile broadband
Tested, works with
xmm7360-pci
(see
Xmm7360-pci
):
$ lspci | grep XMM
05:00.0 Wireless controller [0d40]: Intel Corporation XMM7360 LTE Advanced Modem (rev 01)
Smartcard reader
Install
ccid
,
opensc
and
pcsc-tools
packages and
start
pcscd.service
.
then you can use the
pcsc_scan
command to read the card informations.
For more information check out
Smartcards
.
Wireless
The onboard wireless card is Intel AX200 and it may have microcode issues when used as-is. A possible fix for Wi-Fi disconnects is turning on
iwlwifi
antenna aggregation on by creating a
modprobe
configuration:
/etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8
Reboot afterwards. Look in
Network configuration/Wireless#iwlwifi
for details.
Microphone-LED
The LED of the microphone remains always on. As a workaround install the package
alsa-utils
and the LED should remain always off after a reboot.
The microphone toggle itself should work anyway reliable.
Platform Profiles
Starting with kernel version 5.18, ACPI platform profiles work correctly on AMD ThinkPads and can be managed manually via
sysfs(5)
at
/sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile*
or automatically via
tlp
. The following table shows power and thermal limits for the available profiles. The balanced profile is active by default.
Mode
STAPM (W)
PPT-FAST (W)
PPT-SLOW (W)
THM-CORE (°C)
STT_APU (°C)
FAN (rpm)
low-power
11
11
11
70
45
3300
balanced
20
20
15
86
45
4400
performance
25
25
23
96
53
5000
Function keys
Key
Visible?
1
Marked?
2
Effect
Fn
Yes
No
XF86WakeUp
Fn+Esc
No
Yes
Toggles the Fn lock
Fn+F1
Yes
Yes
XF86AudioMute
Fn+F2
Yes
Yes
XF86AudioLowerVolume
Fn+F3
Yes
Yes
XF86AudioRaiseVolume
Fn+F4
Yes
Yes
XF86AudioMicMute
Fn+F5
Yes
Yes
XF86MonBrightnessDown
Fn+F6
Yes
Yes
XF86MonBrightnessUp
Fn+F7
Yes
Yes
XF86Display
Fn+F8
Yes
Yes
XF86WLAN
Fn+F9
Yes
Yes
XF86NotificationCenter
Fn+F10
Yes
Yes
XF86PickupPhone
Fn+F11
Yes
Yes
XF86HangupPhone
Fn+F12
Yes
Yes
XF86Favorites
Fn+End
Yes
No
Insert
Fn+4
Yes
No
XF86Sleep
Fn+Tab
Yes
No
XF86FullScreen
Fn+s
Yes
No
Alt_L
Alt_L+Sys_Req
Fn+d
No
No
Toggles the PrivacyGuard feature
Fn+k
Yes
No
Scroll_Lock
Fn+p
Yes
No
Pause
Fn+b
Yes
No
Pause
Fn+Right Shift
Yes
No
XF86FnRightShift
Fn+Space
No
Yes
Controls the keyboard backlight
Fn+Print
Yes
No
XF86SelectiveScreenshot
Fn+Left Arrow
Yes
No
Home
Fn+Right Arrow
Yes
No
End
The key is visible to
xev
and similar tools
The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function
See also
Product Specifications Reference (PSREF)
Hardware maintenance manual
User guide
https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/202006-27980