[Bug 1734147] Re: Ubuntu 17.10 corrupting BIOS - many LENOVO laptops models

[Steve Langasek]

On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 08:57:08PM -0000, Alexis Rico wrote:
> @Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre Yes, I have two issues:

> 1) BIOS Doesn't work fine. Same problem as @bruno USB Boot doesn't work,
> DVD boot doesn't work and saving bios settings are lost of exit and
> save. No white screen just the changes don't persist across reboots.

> 2) The hard drive failed leaving system non-bootable.

> Today I've also tried installing the OS on a new drive and a different
> computer, booting through PXE to a Ubuntu Live CD and trying to insert a
> new entry for the new os through efibootmgr.

> So far I've learnt that efibootmgr is unable to create a new entry as it
> errors No such File. And deleting the old EFI entries seems to work but
> when rebooting to bios the old EFI entries are still there.

All of this appears to point to a firmware implementation that does not
conform to the EFI standard.  If Ubuntu is doing something "wrong" here, it
is very difficult to discern what it is.

In the past, we have seen problems with the Linux kernel filling up the
firmware's available nvram space and as a result causing boot problems. 
This could be another instance of that problem, but that doesn't seem to fit
with the idea of efibootmgr successfully allowing boot entries to be
deleted.

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to grub2 in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1734147

Title:
  Ubuntu 17.10 corrupting BIOS - many LENOVO laptops models

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Hi all,

  Basically on Lenovo Y50-70 after installing Ubuntu 17.10, many users
  reported a corrupted BIOS.

  It's not possible to save new settings in BIOS anymore and after
  rebooting, the system starts with the old settings.

  Moreover (and most important) USB booting is not possible anymore
  since USB is not recognized. It's very serious, since our machines do
  not have a CDROM.

  Lenovo forums at the moment are full of topics regading this issue.

  For example:

  https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Y50-70-BIOS-Can-t
  -Save-Settings-or-boot-with-USB/m-p/3849142

  https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Y50-70-BIOS-Can-t
  -Save-Settings-Or-Exit/m-p/3601285

  https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/y50-70-BIOS-can-t
  -save-settings-and-I-can-t-boot-system/m-p/3865727

  Thank you!!

  #### UPDATE (27/11/2017) ####

  LENOVO machines affected so far:

  Lenovo Y50-70
  Lenovo G40-30
  Lenovo U31-70
  Lenovo G50-70
  Lenovo Z50-70
  Lenovo Yoga Thinkpad (20C0)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/1734147/+subscriptions