Lenovo ThinkPad T14 (AMD) Gen 1

This article covers the installation and configuration of Arch Linux on a Lenovo Thinkpad T14 (AMD) Gen 1 laptop. Everything seems to work pretty much out the box with linux≥5.9.0.

Hardware	PCI/USB ID	Working?
GPU		Yes
Wireless		Yes
Bluetooth	`8087:0029`	Yes
Webcam	`04f2:b6d0`	Yes
TrackPoint		Yes
Touchpad		Yes
Fingerprint reader	`06cb:00bd`	Yes
Smartcard reader	`058f:9540`	Untested
Mobile broadband		Yes

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 with some recent firmware and software updates.

Use fwupd to install the latest firmware for "Synaptics Prometheus Fingerprint Reader". The relevant firmwares are Prometheus Fingerprint Reader and Prometheus Fingerprint Reader Configuration.
fprintd ≥ 1.90.1 and libfprint ≥ 1.90.1 are required. Alternatively, use the latest Git master through and .

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 BIOS.

Backlight

Backlight works correctly by manipulating the values, between 0-255, inside 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)

Wireless

The onboard wireless card is Intel AX200 and it may have microcode issues when used as-is. A possible fix for WiFi disconnects is turning on antenna agreggation on by creating a modprobe configuration:

Reboot afterwards. Look in Network configuration/Wireless#iwlwifi for details.

Platform Profiles

Starting with kernel version 5.18, ACPI platform profiles work correctly on AMD ThinkPads and can be managed manually via at or automatically via . 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
		Yes	Toggles the Fn lock
`Fn+F1`	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	`XF86AudioLowerVolume`
	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
`Fn+F6`	Yes	Yes
`Fn+F7`	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
`Fn+F11`	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes
	Yes
	Yes
`Fn+Tab`	Yes
	Yes		`Alt_L`
			Toggles the PrivacyGuard feature
	Yes
	Yes
`Fn+b`	Yes
	Yes		`XF86FnRightShift`
		Yes	Controls the keyboard backlight
	Yes
	Yes
	Yes

The key is visible to xev and similar tools
The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function

gollark: Basically, the problem is that for any query with multiple results it tries to find every single possible result.

gollark: You can have a usable one in less than 100 lines of python.

gollark: You could look at simple lisp interpreters.

gollark: Anyway, logger reimplementation opinions?

gollark: ++magic reload_ext irc_link