[Bug 2096872] [NEW] Installation of 24.04.1 bricked Asus E200HA laptop

[Lloyd]

Public bug reported:

Installation of 24.04.1 LTS to Asus E200HA has bricked the laptop.
(Laptop will not POST or boot any OS from any media after installation).

Laptop specs: Intel Atom Cherry Trail, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC

This laptop had previously taken the following OSes without issue and
was in good working order: Windows 10, Windows 11, Debian 12 "Bookworm".

Booted from Ubuntu Desktop 24.04.1 USB media, allowed the installer to download updates from the Internet. The following options were ticked during the install:
* Download proprietary drivers/firmware
* Full disk encryption using LUKS + LVM

Installation completed successfully with no errors reported, I was asked
to remove the USB media and the device rebooted. Laptop booted to a
black screen and froze. Ctrl-Alt-Del is not recognized, one must hard
power off to reset. The BIOS setup is accessible by pressing F2
immediately after power on, with the following notes and limitations:

* The laptop can "see" the Ubuntu UEFI partition (Ubuntu, ubuntu, and an 'Android' boot option), including any USB media attached
* It cannot boot to any of them, including any attached USB media. Attempts to boot result in freezing at a black screen requiring a hard power-off
* The Asus BIOS flash utility is inaccessible (selecting EZ-Flash from within BIOS Setup results in a black screen as noted above)
* The EFI shell is inaccessible. Selecting EFI Shell boot option results in a black screen
* No boot logo is ever displayed, I don't believe the laptop will complete POST
* Disabling Secure Boot and/or restoring BIOS defaults has not helped

Theories:
* The Ubuntu installer has corrupted the efivars in such a way that the laptop is unable to boot
* The Ubuntu installer loaded some firmware which has corrupted the video initialization. However, the BIOS setup screen can be accessed with limited success as noted above.
* The Ubuntu installer has written to the eMMC in such a way that has triggered a UEFI bug. Unfortunately the eMMC is soldered to the board and I am unable to disconnect it.

** Affects: base-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2096872

Title:
  Installation of 24.04.1 bricked Asus E200HA laptop

Status in base-installer package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Installation of 24.04.1 LTS to Asus E200HA has bricked the laptop.
  (Laptop will not POST or boot any OS from any media after
  installation).

  Laptop specs: Intel Atom Cherry Trail, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC

  This laptop had previously taken the following OSes without issue and
  was in good working order: Windows 10, Windows 11, Debian 12
  "Bookworm".

  Booted from Ubuntu Desktop 24.04.1 USB media, allowed the installer to download updates from the Internet. The following options were ticked during the install:
  * Download proprietary drivers/firmware
  * Full disk encryption using LUKS + LVM

  Installation completed successfully with no errors reported, I was
  asked to remove the USB media and the device rebooted. Laptop booted
  to a black screen and froze. Ctrl-Alt-Del is not recognized, one must
  hard power off to reset. The BIOS setup is accessible by pressing F2
  immediately after power on, with the following notes and limitations:

  * The laptop can "see" the Ubuntu UEFI partition (Ubuntu, ubuntu, and an 'Android' boot option), including any USB media attached
  * It cannot boot to any of them, including any attached USB media. Attempts to boot result in freezing at a black screen requiring a hard power-off
  * The Asus BIOS flash utility is inaccessible (selecting EZ-Flash from within BIOS Setup results in a black screen as noted above)
  * The EFI shell is inaccessible. Selecting EFI Shell boot option results in a black screen
  * No boot logo is ever displayed, I don't believe the laptop will complete POST
  * Disabling Secure Boot and/or restoring BIOS defaults has not helped

  Theories:
  * The Ubuntu installer has corrupted the efivars in such a way that the laptop is unable to boot
  * The Ubuntu installer loaded some firmware which has corrupted the video initialization. However, the BIOS setup screen can be accessed with limited success as noted above.
  * The Ubuntu installer has written to the eMMC in such a way that has triggered a UEFI bug. Unfortunately the eMMC is soldered to the board and I am unable to disconnect it.

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