Lenovo P52 bricked by selecting BIOS thunderbolt support for Linux as suggested in the BIOS help

[rvsjimbo]

Hi All,

I think I may have a similar, if not identical problem to you all.

I have the P52, and like you I was trying to dual boot with Linux. We found that a major issue was having hybrid graphics selected. Anyway, we obviously fiddled with a few other BIOS settings whilst in setup, and now it no-longer boots.

What I have found though, is if you remove the battery, and power it only through the power adapter, that you can get the prompt asking you to hit enter to interrupt normal startup. If you do this, you are presented with a menu, and a countdown bar of 15 seconds. Hit enter again to stop the countdown.

The options in the menu are:

   ESC to resume normal startup (does not work)

   F1 to enter the BIOS Setup Utility

         This tries to work and says "Entering Setup..." twice before the screen goes blank again.

   F9 to show Regulatory Information (it does exactly what it says - nothing helpful)

   F10 to diagnose hardware - simply blanks the screen

   F11 to recover your system - again, simply blanks the screen

   F12 to choose a temporary startup device

        This is similar to F1, in that it tries to work. It says Entering Boot Menu, it then allows you to select a boot device and I see a few flashes of the LED on my USB flash drive but then nothing. BUT, you can also hit TAB instead of selecting a boot drive. This takes you to an App Menu, with:

      Setup - blanks the screen

      Diagnostic Splash Screen - does actually display some info about the system, including my BIOS version - N2CET27W (1.10 )

      Lenovo Diagnostics - blanks the screen

      Regulatory Information - displays useless information.

So, I'm not sure if this is at all helpful, but I just thought I would share what I have found so far.

Other than that I have downloaded a copy of the service manual from here:

   https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/tp_p52_hmm_en.pdf

There are a couple of interesting bits in here:

   1) Mention of an "emergency reset hole" into which you poke a straightened paper clip. Unfortunately I have been unable to find the hole.

   2) Instructions for replacement of a button cell battery - probably similar to a CR2032, but unfortunately this one has wires and a plug attached. Anyway, my thought is to unplug this, wait about fifteen minutes, then have a bash at powering up again.

Anyway, I hopefully we can keep the conversation going - I need hope. My boss will not be amused when he finds I have bricked my new work laptop!!

Cheers!

Paul.

Mod's edit: 3rd party link replaced by one on official site

[ErnstM]

Dear fellow P52 Linux fans, 

great to hear a bricked P52 can be made to react in some way. I have removed the battery, disconnected the BIOS battery, waited for 15 minutes, reconnected the BIOS battery and booted with power from the line only, but this did not help in my case.

In the end, I have returned the P52 and bought a P51 (I'm not into playing, so the less advanced graphics device does not bother me too much; the somewhat lower pricing allowed for some enhancements in the peripherals). Under Manjaro Linux, which installed like a charm, all features I have checked until now (e.g., both trackpad and touchpad, which failed on the P52 I've had for a day ...) work like a charm, albeit with a BIOS set to discrete graphics, only (meaning the battery will be emptied in about 3 hrs - I have ordered a second one to extend my off-line capacity to 6 hrs, which is fine with me). This is not the solution I would have preferred, but sadly enough, Lenovo does not seem to care much about Linux (a major mistake in my personal view), the keyboard is superior to those found in the majority of other notebooks, and I need a reliable work horse.

Best wishes!

[jetownsend]

Thanks for that PDF.

I also:

- tried removing both the regular battery and the coin-cell, no boot

- pushed the mystery switch under the drive cover, no boot

[jetownsend]

I am in the queue for a replacement unit as I purchased mine less than 30 days ago.  However, it took almost two days to go from "trouble report" to "Salesforce number", it had to be approved by someone's manager(s).

[pkraskov]

Let me join this thread as well. Initially I found this topic where exactly same issue is being discussed. My message is #29 in that topic I should have added it here since I have P52 brick right now.

[emilvissing]

I'm in the exact same situation with my P72. Blank screen after enabling BIOS thunderbolt support. 

Now waiting for a replacement. 

[jetownsend]

Lenovo engineering has mine and hasn't fixed it (yet), another two weeks before my replacement even ships.

[jetownsend]

Still no luck from engineering, "[they] are checking to see if the security (TPM) chip is corrupted, all other attempts to revive have failed so far."

Order detail for my replacement?

Ordered: September 25

Expected to shIp: October 24

[jetownsend]

Lenovo says they shipped mine today, have a UPS tracking number, we'll see how this goes.

[gwilson19]

We dealt with the same issue on the X1 Yoga 3rd gen (and other models) a few months ago.

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Thinkpad-X1-Yoga-3rd-Gen-Stuck-at-Black-Scree...

I was lucky in that my machine did not exhibit the hanging behavior.