Linux installation on HP EliteBook 735 G5 impossible (?)

[mkpl]

Hello,

I was hoping someone with more HP expertise may know a solution, or at least have some ideas. The issue is as follows:

I bought a HP EliteBook 735 G5 with Ryzen and Vega graphics. It (CPU/GPU) is supposedly supported by the linux kernel.

The notebook came with Win10 preinstalled, which isn't that bad. However, I work mostly with Linux servers and web applications/development/clusters operating under Linux. Having a Linux machine at the ready is a big help. And so I thought I would boot up a liveCD of some distro and see how the drivers are handled and if it is at all possible to use AMD with Linux nowadays.

The thing is: no distro has booted up. Either the screen goes blank (pure black, no reponse for CTRL-ALT-DELETE) or it shows a kernel panic.

This happens while booting either a liveCD or a setup application. The furthest I can get is the boot menu (either GRUB or UEFI systemd boot I think it's called). After making any choice the kernel crashes and either I only see a black screen or sometimes (can't really predict which power cycle) I see kernel panic.

I have tried:

- Disabling secure boot

- UEFI boot

- CSM boot

- Disabling Fast Boot

- Disabling all onboard devices

And launching distros:

- Ubuntu

- Kubuntu

- Arch

- Manjaro

- Fedora

I have found some indications that IOMMU might be the culprit on Ryzen-Linux builds, however I don't seem to be able to change anything about it in Setup Menu.

Has anyone tried and succeeded? I have the latest firmware update (7/29?).

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @mkpl

I own and/or use 4 different Elitebooks [EBs for short]. Unfortunately, I don't have EB 745 G5 but it from what I checked it in HP system it should use standard fom the Elitebooks BIOS/UEFI and it should be like those I have/use. I am primary Linux user, as well - Tux greetings 😄

Latest Ubunti/Kubuntu 18 and 16 can only be booted in G5 EBs in UEFI mode, not in legacy mode.

Do you use latest versions (LTS) ?

May be you haven't correctly written the USB pendrives ? How about redownloading them and re-writing them to the USB pendrive ?

Follow these tutorials >> https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#0

or

>> https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#0

Hope this helps.

Let me know how it goes. Looking forward to your reply.

**** I would appreciate if you click the White Thumb-up+ for encouragement and kudos ****
**** Please mark this post as an accepted solution if it helps ****

[mkpl]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I will try these exact settings in the evening (away from home right now) and report.

I have tried creating the media with Rufus (never let me down before, but you never know) and good old dd. I see Ubuntu now even recommends it.

And yes, I am now using 18.04LTS on the previous notebook, so that's the version I tried. I also checked 16.04 just in case, the result was the same.

Could you show me your secure boot settings as well since you seem to have a working set?

I fear I will have to wait for a firmware update with better AMD controls, which may come tommorrow or never at all. Which would be a shame.

[ECIT]

Perhaps this might be of interest to you:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/BIOS-request-for-15-db0996na-AM...

Also worth looking at:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1772081

Although you may have already searched for and found these links.

Hope this helps.

ECIT

[mkpl]

Hello again,

As a follow-up: I have created a new USB Ubuntu installation, reconfigured BIOS again, tried everything again.

Sorry about picture quality, I don't have a capture card.

As you can see: The settings seem fine, the USB boots, but the kernel itself freezes at the start.

@ECIT - The HP link you provided seems to confirm my need to wait for a firmware update with my fingers crossed 😕

[mkpl · Accepted solution]

For anyone facing this issue:

Downgrading firmware to:

01.00.04 Rev.A 13.6 MB Jun 8, 2018

allowed me to boot it successfully. Curious, as nothing in changelogs suggests anything related to my issues.

However, I have live system running.

Will report on compatibility and boot after installation.

[IT_WinSec]

While in the "Advanced" tab, in the Secure boot configuration, I can see that you have configured it with both Legacy Support and Secure Boot disabled.

Makes sure you do not edit other changes (leave them as now, as shown in the pictures above) but do change the Secure boot configuration only  :

> Make them : Legacy Support ENABLED and Secure boot DISABLED.

Save the changes and restart the computer.

Try booting Ubuntu then.

[mkpl]

Well, sure, but why?

You said yourself Legacy Boot is not the way to go as UEFI boots Linux on EBs?

However, everything works just fine. Second day of using Kubuntu 18.04, the only things not working compared to Win10 are fingerprint reader and TPM encryption (using password-based LUKS as an alternative).

I will mark downgrading firmware as a solution for anyone looking for help later.

Thanks for responding, guys.

Have a nice day.

[ECIT]

A couple of things to think about:

Modern Ubuntu distros are fully capable of booting with UEFI and Secureboot - you should not need to use Legacy and SB off.

Although downgrading the BIOS to an earlier revision allows you to achieve what you are looking for - its not what I would consider a solution. A solution would be HP to release a bug fix for the regression in a newer revision of the BIOS.

All thing said though I'm glad you have a working system.

ECIT

[--Jacek--]

Hi Mkpl, thanks for this report, it saved me hours of wasted time!

While at it --- do you have any good or bad experiences in getting this laptop to working condition?  (I have 755 G5, so any pointers would be appreciated).