Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 7)

HardwarePCI/USB IDWorking?
Video8086:3ea0Yes
Wireless8086:9df0Yes
Ethernet8086:15beYes
Mobile broadbandYes
Audio8086:9dc8Yes
Touchpad06cb:cd8bYes
TrackPoint06cb:cd8bYes
Camera13d3:56baYes
Fingerprint reader06cb:00bdYes
Bluetooth8087:0aaaYes
NFCNo

Firmware

The most convenient way to install Arch Linux is by disabling "Secure Boot" . However it is possible to self-sign your kernel and boot with it enabled. For further information have a look at the Secure Boot article.

In case your are not properly set it is most likely due to you not being booted into UEFI. Should the problem persist be sure to consult the UEFI#UEFI variables section.

Automatic (Linux Vendor Firmware Service)

In August of 2018 Lenovo has joined the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) project, which enables firmware updates from within the OS. BIOS updates (and possibly other firmware such as the Thunderbolt controller) can be queried for and installed through fwupd.

If your thunderbolt port is unstable after upgrading with fwupd, you can visit the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 7) driver website and upgrade the thunderbolt firmware manually.

Manual (fwupdmgr)

Lenovo may in the future provide cabinet files that can be directly installed with fwupdmgr. Check for Linux files from the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 7) driver website.

  1. Make sure the AC adapter is firmly connected to the target computer.
  2. Launch Terminal.
  3. Move to the directory where the cabinet file was placed.
  4. Run to schedule firmware update.
  5. Restart the system.
  6. The computer will be restarted and the UEFI BIOS will be updated.

Sleep/Suspend

The BIOS has two "Sleep State" options, Windows and Linux, which you can find in at Config -> Power -> Sleep State. The Linux option is the traditional S3 power state where all hardware components are turned off except for the RAM, and it should work normally. The Windows option is a newer software-based "modern standby" which works on Linux (despite the name). One possible benefit to the Windows sleep state is faster wake up time, and one possible drawback is increased power usage.

Mark Pearson, a Lenovo employee, recommends using the "Windows" sleep state option as it is better supported on modern Intel processors. The same is true for other modern Thinkpads except for AMD models (as of November 2020).

S3 Suspend Bug with Bluetooth Devices

Occasionally your Thinkpad will wake up immediately after suspending with certain bluetooth devices added. To prevent this, remove the devices or disable bluetooth before suspending.

BIOS configurations
  • Config -> Thunderbolt BIOS Assist Mode - Set to "Enabled". When disabled, on Linux, power usage appears to be significantly higher because of a substantial number of CPU wakeups during s2idle.

Firmware issues

The following issues can all be resolved by upgrading the firmware with fwupdmgr (see #BIOS Updates), but there may be alternative manual/temporary fixes.

Touchpad issues

Due to a bug in a touchpad firmware, the touchpad might not work with following logs in dmesg:

Freeze when suspending

There are reports of the system freezing after initiating a suspend or hibernate. A temporary fix is to add to your kernel parameters. see . This temporary fix is somehow disable the microphone, use this at your own risk

Power management/Throttling issues

A bug causes the CPU to consume less power than under Windows and throttle at 80°C instead of 97°.

Lenovo has confirmed the issue, explained the cause and published updates for the embedded controller and the BIOS to LVFS .

The alternative fix is to install , then start/enable .

Audio

This laptop requires and in order for the soundcard to work. See ALSA firmware.

If you are still having issues, add the following:

and append the following:

Afterwards, reboot.

Clicking/cracking noise when using headphones

If you are hearing clicking/cracking noises when using headphones, this command helped me. I have to run it after each restart.

# hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x1d SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x0

Clicking/cracking noise when using speakers

The newest alsa-ucm-conf is missing the speakers configuration. Downgrade it to 1.2.3-2.

# downgrade alsa-ucm-conf

Microphone

On version 5.3 and newer the SOF firmware can be enabled, see Talk#Microphone.

If you are having issues getting the microphone to be detected, see the troubleshooting section in #Audio.

Camera

Secondary IR

Some models of this laptop include a second infrared (IR) webcam (originally to be used with Windows Hello) which is uncovered by the privacy slider. v4l2-ctl --list-devices will show all available video devices. The IR emitter can be manipulated using chicony-ir-toggle.

Facial authentication can be archived using Howdy.

Function Keys

In the firmware configuration it is possible to swap the and keys.

Key Visible?1 Marked?2 Effect
Fn+EscNoYesToggles Fn lock
YesYes
YesYes
YesYesXF86AudioRaiseVolume
YesYes
YesYes
YesYes
YesYes
Fn+F8YesYesXF86WLAN
YesYes
YesYes
NoYesNo Effect
YesYes
  1. The key is visible to and similar tools.
  2. The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function.

Fingerprint sensor

An official Lenovo firmware with Linux support is available from fwupd. After installing fwupd, you can update the Synaptics Prometheus driver for the fingerprint sensor:

# fwupdmgr refresh
# fwupdmgr get-updates
   Prometheus Fingerprint Reader Device Update:
   New version:       10.01.3158804
   New features and enhancements:   Support Linux system
# fwupdmgr update

To use the fingerprint sensor, follow the instructions from Fprint.

If you had previously installed the testing version of this driver from lvfs-testing, there should be no issues updating to this driver version from the main repository.

Mobile broadband

The Fibocom LTE module has Linux support once switched to USB mode; see and

You can temporarily disable the red LED in the ThinkPad logo on the cover:

1. Enable writing to the embedded controller registers by adding the kernel parameter . If you use UEFI boot, you can add this parameter in /boot/efi/loader/entries/arch.conf under "options".

2. Disable the LED with this command: 

# echo -n -e "\x0a" | dd of="/sys/kernel/debug/ec/ec0/io" bs=1 seek=12 count=1 conv=notrunc 2> /dev/null

This would need to be run after each suspend/reboot to be permanent.

gollark: Like AMD EPYC ones.
gollark: No, server CPUs.
gollark: Specifically datacentre ones, I think the Xeon Platinum 8280 and such.
gollark: High-end Intel CPUs.
gollark: There are some very cool designs for those around.

See also
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