Lenovo ThinkPad S440
About ThinkPad S440
The Lenovo Thinkpad S440 was sold with optional touchscreen and optional ATI graphic card in addition to a standard intel graphic card. This entry is based on a non-touch model with the standard intel graphic card only.
Lenovo stopped selling the Lenovo ThinkPad S440 model [1]
BIOS
The Lenovo Thinkpad S440 has BIOS settings you probably want to adapt when deploying Linux on it. Download the user manual (Third Edition, published Jan. 2015) and have it at hand to understand the settings and their various option values. In the manual, go to Using the ThinkPad Setup program where a table of BIOS options can be found. BIOS settings which might be required for a successful install and can be found in the table below:
Menu item | Submenu item | Selection | Explainations |
---|---|---|---|
Intel Smart Connect | Disabled | This function is not documented in the manual! Intel Smart Connect periodically fetches mail, social network messages and runs cloud synchronization while the computer is in standby. There are reports that this function leads to unwanted wake-up from power-safe modes. | |
USB | USB UEFI BIOS Support | Enabled (default) | Keep on "Enable" if you plan to install Gentoo from USB stick. |
Virtualization | Intel(R) Virtualization Technology | Disabled (default) | Enable this if you want to run virual machines. |
Virtualization | Intel VT-d Feature | Disabled (default) | Enable this if you want to run virual machines (and utilize I/O virtualization). |
Anti-Theft | Intel AT Module Activation | Disabled | Intel® Anti-Theft Service will be terminated by the end of January 2015. |
Anti-Theft | Computrace | Disabled | Computrace is an optional monitoring service from Absolute Software. |
Secure Boot | Secure Boot | Disabled (default) | Required to boot "unauthorized operating systems" (a.k.a. Linux) |
UEFI/Legacy Boot | UEFI Only | Use this setting to make 100% sure UEFI is used to avoid future confusion. | |
UEFI/Legacy Boot | CSM Support | No | Prevents booting from MBR-partitioned disks because its successor, the GUID Partition Table (GPT) should be used. If you have trouble booting the installation medium temporarily set this to Yes. |
Boot Mode | Diagnostics | Verbose boot process. |
Leaving Microsoft Windows Installed
Lenovo's ThinkPad S440 comes with M$ Windows (8.1 or 7) pre-installed. I recommend to keep M$ Windows installed because
- firmware or BIOS updates usually require M$ Windows (on their download site they offer Linux based tools too, so there is hope)
- it comes in handy for troubleshooting sometimes
- no M$ Windows install medium comes with the laptop. Therefore, reinstalling Windows is tiresome.
Lenovo's official download website for ThinkPad S440 is here.
If Gentoo was installed in dual-boot configuration with M$ the partition table should look similar(!) to this. Comments (marked by #) were added manually by me.
root #
parted -l
Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZ7TE128 (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 128GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: gpt Disk Flags: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags # Label 1 1049kB 1050MB 1049MB ntfs hidden, diag # WINRE_DRV 2 1050MB 1322MB 273MB fat32 EFI system partition boot, esp # SYSTEM_DRV 3 1322MB 1456MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres 4 1456MB 33.8GB 32.4GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata # Windows8_OS 6 33.8GB 46.9GB 13.1GB ext4 # Linux Mint 7 46.9GB 107GB 60.3GB ext4 # Gentoo 5 107GB 128GB 20.8GB ntfs hidden, diag # Lenovo_Recovery
Don't swipe the Microsoft reserved partition!
Hardware Support Status
ACPI - Power Management
Function | Works? | Note |
Suspend to RAM | Yes | see Suspend_and_hibernate |
Suspend to disk (hibernate) | Untested | |
Display backlight control | Yes | see ACPI/ThinkPad-special-buttons#Backlight_control |
Keyboard backlight control | Yes | Fn + Space |
ACPI - Sound Management
If the special keys are not working, the following modifications, based on ACPI and ACPI/ThinkPad-special-buttons, are suggested:
event=button/mute
action=/etc/acpi/actions/FnF1-mute.sh
event=button/volumedown
action=/etc/acpi/actions/FnF2-volumedown.sh
event=button/volumeup
action=/etc/acpi/actions/FnF3-volumeup.sh
#!/bin/sh
amixer -q set Master toggle
#!/bin/sh
amixer -q set Master 3dB-
#!/bin/sh
amixer -q set Master 3dB+
root #
chmod +x /etc/acpi/actions/FnF1-mute.sh /etc/acpi/actions/FnF2-volumedown.sh /etc/acpi/actions/FnF3-volumeup.sh
root #
/etc/init.d/acpid restart
Hardware List
root #
lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller [8086:0a04] (rev 0b) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a16] (rev 0b) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: i915 00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 0b) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel 00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB xHCI HC [8086:9c31] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd 00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HECI #0 [8086:9c3a] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:9c10] (rev e4) Kernel driver in use: pcieport 00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:9c12] (rev e4) Kernel driver in use: pcieport 00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:9c14] (rev e4) Kernel driver in use: pcieport 00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:9c16] (rev e4) Kernel driver in use: pcieport 00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB EHCI #1 [8086:9c26] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 8 Series LPC Controller [8086:9c43] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich Kernel modules: lpc_ich 00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] [8086:9c03] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: ahci 00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SMBus Controller [8086:9c22] (rev 04) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] 03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 10) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: r8169 04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 [8086:08b2] (rev 83) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 [8086:4270] Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi Kernel modules: iwlwifi 05:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5227 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5227] (rev 01) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:501c] Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci Kernel modules: rtsx_pci
root #
lsusb
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 004: ID 138a:0011 Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS5011 Fingerprint Reader Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:5720 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Configuration details
Compiler flags
Main article: Safe CFLAGS
CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
*/* GRUB_PLATFORMS: efi-64
*/* INPUT_DEVICES: libinput evdev synaptics
*/* VIDEO_CARDS: -* intel i965
*/* CPU_FLAGS_X86: aes avx avx2 fma3 mmx mmxext popcnt sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Kernel Configuration
Wireless LAN
In case you followed Wifi, it is sufficient to enable MVM Firmare support only. MVM supports Intel 7260 (which is built into this model) and 3160 devices, while DVM Firmware support supports all other Intel devices.
Device Drivers --->
[*] Network device support --->
[*] Wireless LAN --->
<M> Intel Wireless WiFi Next Gen AGN - Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N (iwlwifi)
< > Intel Wireless WiFi DVM Firmware support
<M> Intel Wireless WiFi MVM Firmware support
MMC/SD Card Reader
In order to use the MMC/SD card reader (the slot is on the left hand side of the notebook) you need to enable the respective drivers in the kernel config.
Device Drivers --->
<*> MMC/SD/SDIO card support --->
<*> MMC block device driver
<M> Realtek PCI-E SD/MMC Card Interface Driver
Required packages
Sound
It may be that sound does not work out of the box. This is caused by the order in which the kernel modules are loaded and the fact that there is a HDMI and PCH sound card in the laptop.
First, test if the PCH sound card is functional. Get a list of all PCM devices
root linux #
aplay -L
null Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture) default:CARD=PCH HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog Default Audio Device sysdefault:CARD=PCH HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog Default Audio Device front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog Front speakers surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 HDA Intel PCH, ID 510f Analog 7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0 HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0 HDMI Audio Output hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=1 HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 1 HDMI Audio Output
Next, test sound output (you should hear noise):
root #
aplay -Ddefault:CARD=PCH /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
Finally follow the advice given in ALSA#HTML5_does_not_play_in_firefox_browser and
...
# change load order sound cards
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="snd-hda-intel.index=1,0"
...
Reconfigure and reinstall grub and reboot to make the change effective.