Trouble with Lenovo X200 Tablet

[pake...@openmailbox.org]

Hello Qubies,

I have been trying to get Qubes running on a Lenovo X200 Tablet.

Looking at the HCL for X201 I used the 3.9.2-2 kernel which allowed me
to install R2-RC1 onto a USB key.

First boot of this and it locked up after I told it to set up standard
AppVMs.

Tried it a few times and it locked up at the same point.

Decided to try installing on a HD got a new SSD noticed R2-RC2 was
available and tried this and got the same problem.

Tried to install without setting up default AppVMs which worked.

Now I get to the disk encryption unlock. Which just shows 'Q' logo, a
(not obvious)text input box, and progress bar (not obvious it needs a pw
here).

After entering pw get progress through a 12 line 'render error message'
report and then the pointer appears on this report.

The system can then lock from this point forwards. Most often at this
time, always here if previously I had managed to get logged in the
previous boot. Some times the 'render error message' quickly disappears
and login screen quickly appears and I can login (sometimes it freezes
before I can login)- I had most success logging into xfce - managed to
create an AppVM and get wifi working and get firefox connecting. This
was very unusual.

Most times it froze much earlier and now furthest I can get is login
then as the VM Manager window begins to appear it freezes

Must have tried 50+ times to see if I could figure out if there is any
consistency to when the system locks and if I could find a way around
the problem.

BIOS has enabled
core multi processing
Intel virtulization technology
Intel VT-d
Intel active management control (AMT)
Intel TXT

[pake...@openmailbox.org]

So is this unusual?
Something that there is likely to be a solution to?
Anything I can do?

I need to install a new operating system on the Thinkpad as the version
of Linux Mint I have been using is no longer supported - I am very keen
to get something else set up ASAP.

I want to increase security/privacy and Qubes looks great for this.

Should I give up on Qubes for now and maybe try again with a later
version?
Or maybe try again with a different laptop?

[cprise]

Hi,

Try looking at /var/log/messages to see if you can spot the problem. At
least it might tell you what happens right before the lockup.

I think the answer may ultimately lie somewhere between Fedora and
Ubuntu on the compatibility question: Fedora, because that's what Qubes
2 is based on; Ubuntu because they have the most extensive database of
certified hardware (by far) of the desktop distros, so I would tend to
look to their HCL for an indication on whether there is hope for running
a /current/ Linux on a particular model of computer. Unfortunately, X200
is not in the Ubuntu HCL even though the X201 is. There's also no
mention of Linux compatibility (good or bad) on the X200's ThinkWiki.org
page.

If I were to investigate further, I would first burn a copy of Fedora 20
x64 KDE or Xfce to disc. Then update the X200 BIOS to the latest version
(if it isn't already), then reset BIOS settings to default, and then I
would disable AMT. Finally, install Fedora to see if the lockup problem
originates there.

You could go even further and configure Fedora with Xen (Qubes load Xen
along with Linux kernel at boot time, and its Xen that provides VM
features)...
http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Fedora_Host_Installation

[pake...@openmailbox.org]

I've since noticed others appeared to have reported very similar
problems with different laptops.

I tried updating the bios, which didn't change anything.

Then turned off AMT in the bios - which solved the problem :) thanks
cprise for this suggestion (turning it back on recreates the issue) I
think it could be worth adding this information to the wiki / HCL.

Also I'm guessing what the bios calls 'INTEL virtulization technology'
is VT-x? Also maybe useful to clarify in the wiki somewhere?

I've been using qubes for the past few months as my main OS fairly
happily. Almost entirely using the GUI.

Recently had some time to play about and notice that although the bios
shows VT-d as enabled using a dom0 terminal and entering

qubes-hcl-report dom0

shows that -
VT-x: Active
VT-d: Not Active

anyone got any ideas what is going on?

[Zrubi]

On 10/22/14 02:39, pake...@openmailbox.org wrote:
> I've since noticed others appeared to have reported very similar
> problems with different laptops.
>
> I tried updating the bios, which didn't change anything.
>
> Then turned off AMT in the bios - which solved the problem :) thanks
> cprise for this suggestion (turning it back on recreates the issue) I
> think it could be worth adding this information to the wiki / HCL.

There should be a 'read more' link to the report's thread. However I
can't even found the HCL report about this device.

So please send us the full results of the hcl script (the .txt file)
replying to this thread then all the useful info will be included in the

HCL.



> Also I'm guessing what the bios calls 'INTEL virtulization technology'
> is VT-x? Also maybe useful to clarify in the wiki somewhere?

The settings in BIOS is really device specific. To be able to clarify
this we at least have to know every VT related BIOS options - and it's
result as well.

> Recently had some time to play about and notice that although the bios
> shows VT-d as enabled using a dom0 terminal and entering
>
> qubes-hcl-report dom0
>
> shows that -
> VT-x: Active
> VT-d: Not Active

Yo can double check these results by issuing this command in a dom0
terminal:

xl info |grep virt_caps
xl dmesg |grep -i "HVM: \(VMX\|SVM\)"
xl dmesg |grep -i "I/O virtualisation"


If you still see that no VT-d is active, but it should be according to
your BIOS settings: means that your BIOS (and/or your device) is buggy.


--
Zrubi

[cprise]

Glad it worked for ya.

Your system might not support VT-d, or there may be a reporting anomaly.
I am reminded of 'karc rack's thread about VT-x; His system has a Core 2
Duo processor as yours probably does.

One thing you should do is use the Intel ARK site to look up the
features of your specific CPU and Chipset; They must both support VT-d
for the feature to be available.

[pake...@openmailbox.org]

[Thierry Laurion]

Intel ark site doesn't speak about vtd even though the chipset and motherboard supports it.

Possible workaround for dmar errors here.
Cannot test for the moment.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=538163

[Tim W]

That is very odd that ARK does not speak of it.  I have not seen that.  What is the exact processor and chip set?  Sorry I just want to see for myself and also see if I can find more definitive info for you.

Another thing Lenovo has had issues with  is the changes in the firmware( BIOS/UEFI) do not take and require a few procedures to do this "hard reset"  Have not idea how far back that works but I have posted about it before and it has shown in a number of cases to get VT-d working in cases where it should but for some reason is not.  This is specific to Lenovo.  

[Pudding4Brains]

Isn't the X200 based on the GM45 chipset - I read somewhere it's supposed to be Intel GM45/ICH9-ME ?

When looking into this the other day for T400 I noticed that there was no mention of vt-d in the CPU specs on ARK (which makes sense), but it is listed for the GM45:

http://ark.intel.com/products/35134/Intel-82GM45-Graphics-and-Memory-Controller-Hub

Cheers

[Thierry Laurion]

Exactly. It's supposed to work.