Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

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aproposnix

Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

Hi all,

UPDATE: Do Not Buy This Computer If You Only Plan To Run Linux. You have been warned.

I've been using Linux for years without much issue, just minor things that could be resolved through searching. Unfortunately, I've bought a notebook (yesterday) that simply isn't working well with Linux. Again, I've been using Linux for years (since 1998) -- this is the first laptop I ever bought that I have had so many issues with.

I really need help get this thing to work right :(

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Model: Ideapad U430p (NO touch screen)
RAM: 8gb
Processor: Intel i5
GPU: Switchable - Nvidia Geforce + Intel
Standard OS: Win8 (completely removed)
Installed OS: Dual booting Ubuntu 13.04 and Mint 15 (I'm focusing on Mint as I want to move away from Canonical - on step at a time)

Rambling on UEFI and secure boot: What an unholy mess!!!! It was utterly confusing for me... In the past I just plugged in my Linux disk, partitioned away and then booted into bliss.. In the past I kept the Windows partition just in case but this time around I simply had to remove it. Weird things would happen, it would occasionally just boot into Windows after turning on the computer. Yeah, I turned on Legacy boot... but it still happened. This is not good for new users. </rant>

Immediate issues needing attention:
1. [Partially SOLVED] Wifi is not working - This is truly a first for me. I'll admit, in the past when I saw people complaining about the wireless not working I immediately thought they must be doing something wrong. Now I understand, it not necessarily their fault.

PARTIAL SOLUTION: Install a newer Kernel from version 3.11.1.x. I've tried this in the latest Xubuntu 13.10 beta and the wifi works perfectly. If you want to stick with Mint, Until the next release, you'll have to use one of the new Ubuntu mainline kernels.

Wifi sucks on this notebook. You will experience drops. I'm collecting info and then I'll file a bug report for this.

2. [SOLVED]When I boot into Mint (or Ubuntu, I've tried both) the screen is completely dimmed so I have to turn up the backlight each time

Solution: This one was simple, I had to do the same thing in my last laptop. I believe it's because of the Intel Graphics card. Go into the grub file (/etc/default/grub) and edit the following line as root -
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux"
then run 'sudo update-grub'

Now the backlight is on when booting.


3. I occasionally get a ticking sound out of the HDD (or maybe its the 8gb ssd that it supposedly has). It really sounds like a clock when it happens, tick, tick, tick. I suppose it's the HDD spinning down?

Other things that I will need to sort out after the above:
4. Switching between graphics cards (bumblebee is what I think I'll need).
5. [SOLVED] Closing the lid doesn't make the laptop go to sleep. Solution: it seems to work with the 3.11x kernels.
6. Lost sound after waking up from sleep mode

Anyway, if you could devote a little time to helping me resolve these issues, I would be very grateful.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 10 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
aster9000

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aster9000 »

Hi,

I have the same ultrabook.

Try using the new kernel, 3.11.1. It has a new module for the new Intel wifi card. Now It connect wifi but disconnect after a while

And for the nvidia you must use 310* or above version.

About the login screen I still have the same issue.

I hope this will be useful for you.

Tell me if you fix other issues
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

aster9000 wrote:Hi,

I have the same ultrabook.

Try using the new kernel, 3.11.1. It has a new module for the new Intel wifi card. Now It connect wifi but disconnect after a while

And for the nvidia you must use 310* or above version.

About the login screen I still have the same issue.

I hope this will be useful for you.

Tell me if you fix other issues
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. With regards to the kernel, Is there a back-port available for Mint or Ubuntu? Where can I find it?

EDIT: Does anyone know the actual module name for this card?
Huinen

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by Huinen »

Hi!

I bought the same ultrabook recently.

The Wireless Card name is intel 7620-N.
In xubuntu 13.10 beta works without problems with iwlwifi module. Almost everything works nicely on this distro except for bumblebee (even with the 3.19 nvidia drivers).
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

Thanks for feedback thus far. I've updated the original post to reflect the fact that Wifi is working from Kernel 3.11.1x.

Now my next task is to fix the darn screen brightness issue at login.

Total bummer to hear that Bumble Bee is not working with this laptop. I was really hoping to have switchable grpahics. I'll continue searching for a solution.
UPDATE: Maybe the 3.12 kernel will help? http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ0ODM
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roblm
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Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by roblm »

To set the desired brightness level at login you can try using xbacklight. Install through the Synaptic Package Manager.

Go to Menu > Preferences > Startup Applications. Click on "Add". In the new window under "Name" you can put "Brightness".
In the "Command" window put: xbacklight -set 80

Click save. Reboot and test the setting. If still too bright then edit the value by decreasing it by 5 or 10.
If too dark then increase the value. The range is 5 to 100.
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

Resolved the backlight issue (added to the origianl post)

Solution: This one was simple, I had to do the same thing in my last laptop. I believe it's because of the Intel Graphics card. Go into the grub file (/etc/default/grub) and edit the following line as root -
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux"
then run 'sudo update-grub'

Now the backlight is on when booting.
Last edited by aproposnix on Sat Sep 28, 2013 3:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
rual93

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by rual93 »

[Removed]
Last edited by rual93 on Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

rual93 wrote:Hi!
I check this thread everyday because I've just bought this laptop... and I have two questions...:

1: How did you manage to install ubuntu in this laptop (I thought there was a problem with UEFI or sth like that)
2: Is it possible to have a dual boot of Ubuntu/Mint and Windows 8?...

I have to say that I do NOT like Windows but I really need it because I'm studing computer science and in my university they want us to work with some programs that only exist for windows and that don't work in a proper way with a virtual machine...

Thank you very much in advance and sorry for my english (I'm from Spain)...

(I'm fed up with windows... I really need your help)
Hola

1. Go into bios (F2 on boot) OR if you are in windows you'll have to go into the settings and select 'advanced settings' and pick the option to boot to UEFI. It's very confusing. There are quite a few tutorials on how to do it.

Once you have made your way into the bios, turn on the legacy support. Once done, you should be able to boot from usb by selecting F12 on boot. Then install as you wish.

2. If you really prefer using Linux over Ubuntu and don't mind the fact that you will not be able to use the Nvidia GPU (yup you heard right) then just blast the whole partion and install Linux on the whole thing. Then run a VM with Windows for your school programs. This is what I did. Just do a backup of the entire disk first.
rual93

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by rual93 »

[Removed]
Last edited by rual93 on Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
rual93

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by rual93 »

[Removed]
Last edited by rual93 on Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

Sadly though, your going to find that the wifi connection randomly drops. I've read somwhere the same is true for Windows (can't test it though as I blasted Win8).

Have a look through your syslog... you'll notice a LOT of activity on the wifi.

I have to say, I cannot recommend this laptop for Linux users.
mortemdei

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by mortemdei »

I have the same laptop and also can't make the nvidia card work. Has anyone found a solution to this problem?
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

mortemdei wrote:I have the same laptop and also can't make the nvidia card work. Has anyone found a solution to this problem?
Nope. No solution for it as far as I could find.Linux can't even recognize it.
mortemdei

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by mortemdei »

Update: At least the live cd of ubuntu 12.04 seems to recognise the nvidea card. I'll see if I can install it and test it.
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

mortemdei wrote:Update: At least the live cd of ubuntu 12.04 seems to recognise the nvidea card. I'll see if I can install it and test it.
Hi, any update on that? Were you able to access the nvidia card?
mortemdei

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by mortemdei »

I can't install 12.04 because it doesn't detect my current installation (13.10) nor does it let me resize the partition, which means I would have to delete everything and start again, and I can't do that right now on this machine.
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

Yet another update:

I installed the latest 3.12 [url=http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-rc3-saucy/]mainline kernels[/url] (rc3 as of writing) from Ubuntu. Things I have noticed:
1. The sound doesn't seem to die after waking from sleep (yay!)
2. The wifi seems far more stable - I've been running wifi for most of today without drops. UPDATE: I'm getting drops, just not noticing them so much because it actually seems to recover, unlike before.

I've also installed the latest X drivers using the swat ppa. I've not noticed too much yet... however I'll need to see if there are any improvements to multi-monitor support for Virtualbox (kept freezing the system) when I get back to the office on Monday.

Still not able to access the GT 730m Nvidia card though it's visible in lspci:
09:00.0 3D controller [0302]: NVIDIA Corporation GK208M [GeForce GT 730M] [10de:1290] (rev a1)

If anyone else is working to get this laptop running properly, I would appreciate any additional input.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention one oddity since installing the new kernel, the CPU scaling app no longer shows all of the frequencies. I now only have 'performance' and 'powersave' to choose from. Any ideas? Not a big deal from me at the moment but something is obviously wrong.
mortemdei

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by mortemdei »

Regarding wifi. I'm running ubuntu 13.10 and I've notice the following: sometimes I start the pc and it drops a few minutes afterwards, then I just reboot and it works perfectly without droping the whole day. I'm running kernel 3.11.

I also tried manjaros live cd and it does detect the card, but can't start it with bumblebee. No luck there. Has anyone tried the latest 319.60 drivers?
aproposnix

Re: Lenovo Ideapad U430p issues

Post by aproposnix »

mortemdei wrote:Regarding wifi. I'm running ubuntu 13.10 and I've notice the following: sometimes I start the pc and it drops a few minutes afterwards, then I just reboot and it works perfectly without droping the whole day. I'm running kernel 3.11.

I also tried manjaros live cd and it does detect the card, but can't start it with bumblebee. No luck there. Has anyone tried the latest 319.60 drivers?
That wasn't my experience with the 3.11 kernel unfortunately.

I *highly* recommend anyone using this laptop to try the 3.12 kernel. The Wifi reception is better (getting an extra bar now) and no need to reboot anymore.
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