Solved: installing Linux on HP Omen Laptops

[WojciechGdela]

Hi! This is not a question, but rather a hint how to install Linux (namely Ubuntu) on HP Omen Laptops, because I've seen on this forum that many people have problems with that. I had too, and was about to give up, when I finally stumbled upon this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/17ay6mr/hp_omen_16_transcend_fails_to_boot_any_live_...

Read it for details, but basically you neet to boot using "noapic" kernel parameter when installing/booting Linux. You'll be able to install Linux, but your touchpad and internal speakers won't work and your laptop will be unable to wakeup from sleep. But this is a solve'able problem - Qiang Wang provided patches for DSDT tables and for kernel, that will fix those problems, see https://github.com/j0hnwang/OMEN-Transcend-16-ACPI-fix. In my case, the `dsdt.aml` from this repo didn't work, probably because of tiny differences in BIOS, but it was fairly easy to download DSDT tables from my laptop, decompile them, apply this change to `dsdt.dsl`, recompile and obtain my own `dsdt.aml` to be used when booting. On https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/DSDT there are some details how to do that.

I hope that at some point HP will incorporate this patches to the BIOS, so that users that want Linux on their OMEN laptops do not have to go through all this themselves.

[ccellist]

This is ABSOLUTELY the way! I've been looking for the missing piece of the puzzle, and this post very succinctly pieced it all together for me.

This is assuming of course that you have Grub2 running properly. If you're attempting this in NixOS like I did, you will need to install with either "noapic" or "pci=nobar", reboot with the same kernel parameters, then switch from systemd-boot to grub2 (search the web for "NixOS bootloader" to see their instruction page on how to do this). Then all you need to do if you have this problem is to follow the steps at the Arch Linux DSDT page, tweak your DSDT table, recompile, and save to your /boot directory. Be sure to add "acpi /boot/dsdt.aml" to the line ABOVE the linux kernel line or it won't find it. 

Summary of the steps:

1. Install linux using "noapic" or "pci=nobar" as kernel parameters. 

2. Boot linux with either "noapic" or "pci=nobar" (be sure to have keyboard and mouse handy)

3. Update to latest kernels

4. install coreboot-tools.x64 (or at least that's what it's called in nixland)

5. Dump your DSDT file with 

cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/DSDT > dsdt.dat

6. Decompile with "iasl -d dsdt.dat"

7. Edit your file with the changes listed at https://github.com/j0hnwang/OMEN-Transcend-16-ACPI-fix/commit/2e4feda9529c09133f5f7e9623ec11226db581...

8. Recompile the file with "iasl -tc dsdt.dsl"

9. Copy the resulting dsdt.aml file to /boot as sudo.

10. Reboot

11. Modify grub entry on the fly with "acpi /boot/dsdt.aml" above the "linux" line.

12. Profit.

13. Use John's patch to get your speakers working (haven't tried yet, but that's next).

As a final note, I would actually avoid using the already compiled aml file over at https://github.com/j0hnwang/OMEN-Transcend-16-ACPI-fix for a couple of reasons. First, that aml is compiled for his laptop, and your DSDT table will be different. Using his aml file caused my grub to hang because it could no longer find my hard drives. Capture your DSDT table from /sys/firmware/DSDT like the Arch page says, edit it, and recompile. 

[WAWood]

HP provides no support to Linux whatsoever -- so expecting them to update their BIOS code is a waste of time.

[harb1nger]

You sure about that? Because Canonical seems to disagree. In fact, they list HP as one of their partners in certifying hardware for Ubuntu. To the tune of 327 desktops and laptops....
https://ubuntu.com/certified/why-certify

https://ubuntu.com/certified?q=&limit=20&vendor=HP

What am I missing?

[WAWood]

This board does not provide Linux support as we support only consumers.  I think what you are reading is about HP's commercial activities, and in the Workstation area, as well.

[ccellist]

Would that it were true. Just to make sure, I searched for "Omen" on that page and, sure enough, nothing. Maybe this will change some day, but who knows. Truth is, Linux on most consumer laptops has always been an "at your own risk" affair. It's thanks to the community and forums like this one that we are able to run Linux as well as we can in the first place.

More than a BIOS update, I wish they'd allow this board to be made CoreBoot-compatible. If it was then this laptop would be 100 times better than anything out there by System76, Slimbook, or Tuxedo for the cost, both in terms of size, weight, hardware specs, and gaming support. As it is, this laptop is an expensive paperweight with regard to Linux support without extensive end user work (see above).