SOLVED ThinkPad E14 Gen2 - HotFix for Fnkeys in Linux Mint

[vatosflokos]

Guys,
I haven't the slightest clue from scripts. Just a slight warning
But I am in need of great help!
I have a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad E14 Gen2, with Ryzen 7 processor. I installed -what else- Cinnamon and until now it works flawlessly.
But these Laptop has a major issue, making it almost incompatible to run LInux: the fn keys are not working and you have to manually suspend the system, in order to make them functional.
There's a shell script which solves all this. The script is on Github
https://github.com/MichalLebeda/ThinkpadE14FnKeysFix
and I would be grateful if some friend, with a lot of patience could guide so I can install it into my system!
I love my machine and I am trying my best to make the best of it
Eddie.

[SMG]

I have a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad E14 Gen2, with Ryzen 7 processor. I installed -what else- Cinnamon and until now it works flawlessly.

According to your other thread, your system is running in software rendering mode which means it is not running flawlessly.

Before you make any changes related to Fn keys, I suggest you first get the system running properly and then see if the issue still exists.

[vatosflokos]

Thank you for your reply.
The fnkeys problem unfortunately is universal.
There are now three workarounds.
A cron job which is posted here https://www.virtualconfusion.net/functi ... n-2-linux/
A shell script that works but generally it messes with your system https://github.com/masksshow/Thinkpad-E ... -Gen-2-FIX
A new shell script that writes an acpi image in your boot entry, which probably is the best but more difficult for my skill. Here https://github.com/MichalLebeda/ThinkpadE14FnKeysFix
I would be really REALLY grateful if you, as an expert could take a closer look to the above workarounds and could suggest, which of all is the less harmful for my system. Of course with Cinammon 5.8 installed.
I really thank you for your time on this and please, share any ideas you may have!
Stay safe and healthy,
Eddie

[vatosflokos]

Rendering problem was solved thanks to the update manager.
Minty saves the day once again!

[SMG]

Of course with Cinammon 5.8 installed.

That is a short-hand code for you to describe your system, but does not really tell us about your system. Please give us information about your install by entering this command in a terminal: inxi -Fxxxrz
Click </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply and then place your cursor between the code markers and paste the results of the command between the code markers [code]Results[/code]. This will let us know how Mint sees your hardware.

[vatosflokos]

Hey @smg
Thank you for answering me.
I am sending you my system info as per requested. I would be grateful for any help!

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.8.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 
           wm: muffin 4.8.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20T6000LGM v: ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 serial: <filter> 
           Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 20T6000LGM serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: R1AET34W (1.10 ) 
           date: 12/19/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 43.0 Wh condition: 45.0/45.0 Wh (100%) volts: 12.6/11.3 
           model: Celxpert 5B10X026 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Discharging cycles: 4 
CPU:       Topology: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 4700U with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Zen 
           rev: 1 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 31938 
           Speed: 1397 MHz min/max: 1400/2000 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1397 2: 1397 
           3: 1397 4: 1397 5: 1397 6: 1400 7: 1400 8: 1395 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Renoir vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.0 
           chip ID: 1002:1636 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: amdgpu,ati unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.38.0 5.8.0-48-generic LLVM 11.0.0) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.1 
           chip ID: 1002:1637 
           Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A 
           bus ID: 04:00.5 chip ID: 1022:15e2 
           Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 04:00.6 chip ID: 1022:15e3 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.0-48-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
           chip ID: 8086:2723 
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 9.71 GiB (1.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB1T0HBLR-000L7 size: 953.87 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
           lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: 5M2QEXF7 scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 36.42 GiB used: 9.70 GiB (26.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.73 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.5 C mobo: 0.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 40 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:      Processes: 278 Uptime: 11m Memory: 14.93 GiB used: 1.41 GiB (9.5%) Init: systemd v: 245 
           runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal 
           inxi: 3.0.38 

[bobo61]

Sorry to derail this thread slightly but I am considering getting this laptop, the intel version, does this issue affect this version as well or just the amd?

Also, I am buying this new without and OS installed as I want to install Linux Mint 20 is there a guide that I can follow or are there any specific things that need to be done rather than just plugging in the live usb and running through the Linux mint setup?

I have seen that on my pre sale config it says 'BIOS Absolute Enabled', again is this something that is ok or should be disabled somehow?

Many thanks.

[vatosflokos]

I don't know for sure, but this topic is not the appropriated place to find a solution.
You must either ask a question on the Lenovo forums or start your own topic.
Nevertheless Thinkpad's are wonderful machines and Linux Mint is the only distro (I must have tried around 30 different distros ) which is working flawlessly.
There are of course, a few things that do not work so well, when you first install it, but when you "run" the first update after a couple of minutes, everything works as expected.
Good luck!

[bobo61]

I don't know for sure, but this topic is not the appropriated place to find a solution.
You must either ask a question on the Lenovo forums or start your own topic.
Nevertheless Thinkpad's are wonderful machines and Linux Mint is the only distro (I must have tried around 30 different distros ) which is working flawlessly.
There are of course, a few things that do not work so well, when you first install it, but when you "run" the first update after a couple of minutes, everything works as expected.
Good luck!

Thanks that is a fair point, I will raise a new topic here as I dont want to cause a problem in this topic.

[SMG]

You have set up a very small amount of space for your Mint install.
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 36.42 GiB used: 9.70 GiB (26.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.73 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3

Normally, we recommend for LM20 to have one's root partition be 30-50GB in size when one has a separate home partition in addition to the root partition. Your install does not have a home partition, so if you plan to keep Mint that size, you are going to have to watch how full your root partition gets because that can affect system performance should you get above 75%.

I mention that because when making any system changes we recommend you take a Timeshift snapshot before making the change. That way if the change does not work out as you would like it to be, you can revert to the snapshot and return your system to how it was. A Timeshift snapshot is going to nearly double the amount of space used on your root partition if you use the Timeshift defaults which save images to your drive.

Timeshift can be run manually and saved to an external drive. Here is the method I use How to Use Timeshift to Backup and Restore Linux Mint 19 Systems from USB Drive.

I would be really REALLY grateful if you, as an expert could take a closer look to the above workarounds and could suggest, which of all is the less harmful for my system.

I am not a hardware expert nor do I currently own any Lenovo laptops, but if you take a snapshot before making changes, that gives you the option to undo any changes. I have commented below on my understanding of each of the three options.

A cron job which is posted here https://www.virtualconfusion.net/functi ... n-2-linux/

I have probably read the same Lenovo forum thread you have, but as I understand it, some people mention this no longer works? I do not know. I think some people mentioned they were having problems shutting down when using this? Not sure which distro was being used for that comment.

A shell script that works but generally it messes with your system https://github.com/masksshow/Thinkpad-E ... -Gen-2-FIX

I do not know what you mean by "messes with your system". As per this comment on the Lenovo forum Linux: Fn-keys not working - Thinkpad E14 AMD Gen 2 thread, you will have to do the items mentioned in the Note.

Keep in mind the info on the GitHub link indicates it has been tested on BIOS/UEFI versions 1.08 to 1.10. You have 1.10, so I do not know how or if any future updates will work with it.

A new shell script that writes an acpi image in your boot entry, which probably is the best but more difficult for my skill. Here https://github.com/MichalLebeda/ThinkpadE14FnKeysFix

This specifically mentions it will not survive an automatic grub update. Mint uses grub and grub is automatically updated each time you update your installed kernel and kernel updates come out every few weeks.

[vatosflokos]

Thank you for clarifying this! I am more sure now, as I have already set up the cron job and I find it to work like a charm
Regarding partitions yes, I did a huge mistake during my clean install a couple days ago that I have noticed, just today.
I tried to fix the thing a few minutes later, only to install today the cinnamon edge version.
Luckily everything is fine now.
Thank you very much because you gave so much time for my problems!

[SMG]

Thank you for clarifying this! I am more sure now, as I have already set up the cron job and I find it to work like a charm

Thanks for the feedback as that will help others with the same problem.

Please go to your first post in this thread and click the pencil icon to edit the title and remove "HELP!" and add [SOLVED].