[SOLVED] Lenovo P52

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sydbat
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[SOLVED] Lenovo P52

Post by sydbat »

I read through this thread - viewtopic.php?t=360866 - and have a similar used laptop I just bought (slightly different Nvidia Quadro p1000 and 16gb ram). In that thread the OP was worried about installing Mint 20.2/3, but everything seemed to go well for them. I will be installing Mint 21.

The person in the other topic made a note edit in their original post about having to update the BIOS before installing Mint. My first question is - do I have to go through the horrible process as stated in the read me for Windows to update the BIOS (https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n2cuj35w.txt), or the quite easy and simple fwupdmgr after I install Mint (https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n2cul35w.txt)? The current BIOS is several generations old (version 1.24 from 2019) and the new one is version 1.47 from July 2022. My second question is - do I even need to update the BIOS before installing? Anyone else, other than the person in the linked topic, who has this laptop needed to do this?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

EDIT - Solved - After flawless install of Mint Mate 21, ran fwupdmgr and now have current BIOS and other firmware. Laptop purring along.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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zcot
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Re: Lenovo P52

Post by zcot »

I don't have direct experience with this model or similar.

But looking at the previous thread and you mention Mint 21, I would say you should be good with that, it includes a 5.15 kernel, which I think you shouldn't have a problem with kernel version anyway. But of course you will be just testing Mint 21 anyway, at first, booting the live session. ;)

I personally would want to attempt the Linux bios update procedure. Checking the version history and changelog I would definitely want to do that, there are numerous security updates, as well as potential affecting performance updates. I will mention, as you read through that guide, they call for some commands and say su, but you will need to run the command as sudo su, that will switch you to the root user to run the other fw commands as the root user, and while you are that root user don't be playing around :wink: do the deed and type exit when you are done.
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Re: Lenovo P52

Post by sydbat »

Thanks @zcot. This is my first laptop. My main boxes are desktops I have built over the last 20ish years. Exclusively Linux. But, as I say, this will be my first laptop and it seems there are some differences in how the architecture works with an OS. So I am being a bit more cautious than I would be building my own.

I think you are right about things just working (because they always do), and the 5.15 kernel should ensure smoothness (I run 5.14 on my gaming box). And I agree that the instruction for the BIOS update for Linux are good, and that sudo su is needed. And I promise not to use the Avada Kedavra command... :wink:
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Re: Lenovo P52

Post by sydbat »

Also, do you think it is possible to do the bios update while running the live usb? Everything seems to work just fine in the live session so far.

EDIT - apparently not. Because the fwupdmgr updates need a location to put their files in order to update (in the boot folder), using a live session to update firmware/bios is not possible. At least according to the error message I got. So I am just installing Mint 21 and we'll see what happens!
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