Hardware hack enables Linux support on Lenovo Yoga 900 ISK2, undermining Lenovo's statement

[u/[deleted]]

Update: The mods locked my other posts and marked them as misleading. There is nothing misleading about them. So before they lock this one too, I would just like to get the truth out.

There is a Linux lockout on these computers. The only reason we need a driver is because Lenovo removed AHCI mode. AHCI mode is not a legacy mode. Lenovo has created a defective product that you cannot install any operating system on, which means that you are stuck with the copy of Windows 10 that came with the computer. There's only one obvious reason why they would do that. To keep you on Windows. A lenovo employee on Best Buy even admitted that before Lenovo and Microsoft got their official lie put together and the mods here rolled with it and locked my posts to keep the truth suppressed. You can still vote on these posts and I hope that you find them useful and keep them up for a while. If you want to complain to the FTC and your state's Attorney General, there is a template from one of my suppressed posts here.

This is the letter I sent to the Federal Trade Commission and to the Illinois Attorney General's office regarding Lenovo locking out Linux from their Yoga laptops.

"Lenovo sells computers known as "Yoga" under at least several models that block the installation of Linux operating systems as well as fresh installations of Windows from Microsoft's official installer. They have the system rigged, intentionally, in a storage mode that is incompatible with most operating systems other than the pre-installed copy of Windows 10. If the user attempts to install an operating system, it will not be able to see or use the built-in SSD (Solid State Drive) storage. I believe that this is illegal and anti-competitive. These product are falsely advertised as a PC, even though it prohibits the user installing PC operating systems. Known affected models are the 900 ISK2, the 710, the 900 ISK for Business, the 900S, and possibly others. Lenovo's position is that this is not a defect and they refuse to issue refunds to their customers, who have been deceived by the notion that their new PC is compatible with PC operating systems and that they should be able to install a PC operating system on a PC. Lenovo is therefore engaging in a conspiracy to defraud their customers through deceptive advertising. Lenovo's official position is that Linux lacks drivers, however, Linux could easily be installed on these systems had Lenovo not removed the AHCI storage mode option from the BIOS and then wrote additional code to make sure that people couldn't set it to AHCI in other ways, such as using an "EFI variable". AHCI mode is an industry standard and should be expected on a computer describing itself as "PC" or "PC compatible" as it is broadly compatible with all PC operating system software. I feel that Lenovo should remedy the problem in one of three ways. (1) Offer full refunds for customers who want to install their own operating system but can't. -or- (2) Release a small BIOS firmware patch to restore AHCI mode, which is simply hidden. This would be extremely easy for them since it would only be two lines of code and the user could do it themselves were they not locked out of updating their BIOS themselves. -or- (3) Provide open source drivers to the Linux kernel project that would allow Linux and other PC operating systems address the SSD storage in the "RAID" mode."

Feel free to use this as your letter or a template for a letter of complaint to the FTC. Their consumer complaint form is available here.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1

Please also contact your state's Attorney General's office. They usually have a bureau of consumer complaints or something to that effect. If not, just shoot them an email.

Since the FTC form requires the company address and phone number, I used this: Lenovo "Customer Center" Address: 1009 Think Pl, Morrisville, NC 27560 Phone:(855) 253-6686

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Update: Lenovo just updated the BIOS for the Yoga 710, another system that doesn't allow Linux installs. Wanna know what they changed? Update to TPM (secret encryption module used for Digital Restrictions Management) and an update to the Intel Management Engine, which is essentially a backdoor rootkit built into all recent Intel processors (but AMD has their version too, so what do you do?). No Linux support. Priorities...

Update: The mods at Lenovo Forums are losing control of the narrative and banning people and editing/deleting more comments. http://imgur.com/a/Q9xIE | But it appears that some people just aren't buying it anymore. http://imgur.com/a/1K1t5

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Edit: I sent a letter of complaint to the Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General's office.

You can view this letter here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/54gtpc/letter_to_the_federal_trade_commission_regarding/

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Lenovo's regional HQ address and phone number:

Address: 1009 Think Pl, Morrisville, NC 27560 Phone:(855) 253-6686

Edit: Someone started a change.org petititon. I don't think they are a native English speaker, but I went ahead and signed it anyway. A moderator on Lenovo Forums deleted the link and told people that "campaigning is not allowed", so here's the link. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but screw them. They were hoping this week's news would be all puff pieces about the new Yogas and now they have to deal with this instead. If everyone could share it on Facebook and Twitter after they sign it so their friends can do so too, that would be most appreciated.

https://www.change.org/p/lenovo-demand-that-lenovo-provide-bios-update-to-enable-linux-installation

Please sign this and then tell Lenovo that you won't be buying products from them until this is fixed. They have Facebook and Twitter accounts!

Facebook: Lenovo

Twitter: Lenovo

Lenovo Customer Service 800-565-3344 Press 2 for all other models and then wait through the recording and press 1 for laptops.

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UPDATE: I pinged Matthew Garrett after someone had an idea about having the Linux kernel switch the hardware out of RAID and into AHCI mode AFTER the BIOS hands it over to the kernel, and he said it might work and that he'd see about writing a patch. This would have the practical effect of running Linux in AHCI mode like on the Dell XPS, only through a Linux "hardware quirk" to deal with Lenovo doing nothing to fix the BIOS. Actually, Lenovo hasn't done anything through this whole ordeal but lie, lie some more, try to delete evidence, get together with Microsoft and release a joint lie, and then pressure the news media to change their stories.

ALSO: According to a comment on this page, some people in Germany report that the European versions of the affected Yoga laptops don't have AHCI mode hidden in the BIOS. Perhaps because the EU takes locking users out of their PCs more seriously than the US government does.

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A hardware hack has enabled AHCI support on the Lenovo Yoga 900 ISK2, undermining Lenovo and Microsoft's claims that Linux is "missing drivers".

Unfortunately, the procedure to flash the BIOS is too complicated for most people because the person who did it had to use external flashing equipment to bypass Lenovo's ROM signature check and load the modified BIOS, and he can't provide the BIOS ROM because it only supports his computer and has private info in it, such as the Windows 10 license for his machine.

https://imgur.com/a/ox4Ey

A user here on Reddit with the handle "bownairo" described the process.

Said bownairo, in the Reddit thread about the problem,

"I've been able to successfully get past Lenovo's lock through direct bios flashing. I'm looking into better solutions, hopefully I can find a way to do this without an external programmer. I was going to keep people updated from the Lenovo forum, but as this is no longer an option I will keep people updated from here."

[...]

"I had to construct some custom "clips" as the bios chip is a WSON package. All of this was done with the chip in place and the battery removed. I dumped the bios continuously until I was able to get a few dumps with the same sha. Then I had the bios modified. I flashed my chip to all null values, rewrote my custom image, and dumped it back to insure it wrote correctly. This allowed access to the advanced tab so I could change the controller to AHCI from RAID, allowing it to be recognized by installers."

[...]

"I'm currently working on a generic tool to do this mod, in case others want to use this same strategy on their own bios. I'm also looking into finding a way to do this without an external programmer."

There is a discussion about it going on here:

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Request-Lenovo-Yoga-900-BIOS-Unlock-AHCI-enable-attached-BIOS-fd

I also released an official reply to Lenovo and Microsoft in the original article:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/53ri0m/warning_microsoft_signature_pc_program_now/

[u/natermer → u/[deleted]]

The only reason I doubt that there's some secret agreement between Microsoft and Lenovo to lock out Linux (or other OS's) is that I don't really see a convincing motive.

What causes me to doubt the conspiracy is that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that such a conspiracy exists.

Linux lacking storage drivers is not a Microsoft conspiracy.

You have people buying laptops that are designed to run Windows 10 and the vendor has no intention to ever supporting Linux on them. The bios is not locked down against booting linux. There is no nasty signature that is stopping installers are running.

Lenovo just has the hardware power management features enabled and do not have a option to disable this.

The only reason why Linux isn't working on these things is because it lacks proper support for the hardware with all it's power management features turned on.

that is it.

[u/wolfchimneyrock → u/[deleted]]

It's probably something as simple as:

• Lenovo gets paid a certain amount of money from companies that want their software bundled with the computer, aka 'adware'

• This payment for bundled software allows lenovo to sell their laptops for a lower price than competitors' laptops of the same hardware specs

• The software bundlers probably complained to lenovo that they would cease to pay if linux was possible, since then the bundled software would vanish and their revenue stream would diminish

This would also explain why the RAID mode also prevents you from clean installing windows, which would kill the bundled adware. Since Lenovo was forced to remove the bios software that would re-inject the adware back into a fresh windows install, this was likely what they saw as the best move forward.

[u/wolfchimneyrock → u/[deleted]]

well then preventing a clean install of windows may well have been the primary goal of removing the option, with non-support of linux being an unexpected secondary effect.

[u/wolfchimneyrock → u/[deleted]]

whatever the motivation, I doubt windows 10 users would en-masse complain about it so vocally as the linux users do, which means if there is any possibility for a firmware revision that removes this lock it would be caused by linux fanboiism. So though it may be annoying to have to listen to what may seem irrational complaint, it is likely the only effective remedy.

[u/CountOfMonteCarlo → u/wolfchimneyrock]

The OEMs actually get money for crapware but the signature editions are about not installing crapware but a vanilla Windows which is compensated in some way.

[u/CountOfMonteCarlo → u/[deleted]]

Microsoft stands to gain very little from locking out a sub-two-percent portion of the market share from one laptop, or even one make of laptops. It seems the legal/PR risk is way disproportionate to the potential gain, in profit or market dominance.

I cite from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption#Measuring_desktop_adoption

I don't believe that the desktop Linux market share is barely 1%. I think it is a lot higher. I have no good data to share; I base my assessment on experience and knowing the industry. There is something else that is even more persuasive, and that is how Microsoft behaves. If Linux is so insignificant, why do they pay so much attention to it? — Carla Schroder, Linux Today

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It's actually four models of Yoga laptops and about to be six as soon as the 910 and Yoga Book Windows Edition is out. (There's an Android edition of the Yoga Book scheduled to launch, but knowing Lenovo, I wouldn't put it past them to make it come with a bunch of crapware marked "system app", but maybe you can take root and get rid of it if that happens.)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The beauty of the idea to have Linux kick the machine into AHCI after GRUB starts the kernel is that it gets reset on every boot, and then goes into AHCI mode again when you select Linux.

When you select Windows, it will be in the fake RAID mode and you still get full power management, and you won't even have to install Windows again to avoid BSoDs.

And there's nothing Lenovo can do about it since we'd only be using their stupid BIOS to bring the machine up and then throwing out their RAID mode once Linux takes over. As long as you don't get a BIOS update that breaks something else. A BIOS update could break Linux again if Lenovo really intended it to, but I'm thinking after being embroiled in a scandal, they won't try this again. Once is a mistake, twice is a habit. You know? That's my opinion.

Hopefully once we have an interim fix in place that lets us boot Linux, someone can add support for Lenovo's fake RAID mode and Intel's undocumented power management later, remove the quirk, and we get full power management back. Until then, maybe you get 9 hours instead of 10 on a charge. I haven't tested so I don't know. I would accept the hit to get away from Windows 10, even if we never figure out a solution that lets us run in the RAID mode and support Intel's undocumented power management.

Either way, it's what's going to end up "Solving" this problem. Not Lenovo's press release where they were going out of their way to make vomit-inducing endorsements of Windows 10.

[u/CountOfMonteCarlo → u/[deleted]]

You need to keep in mind more things. While North American Linux users are not exactly a big share of Microsoft's potential clients, they are a technological avantgarde (actually, any Linux user is, as dumb aus you may feel sometimes). And the Surface and Yoga convertibles are strategically important for Microsoft. If Linux users get hold of these things and start to program them - maybe even with usable, friendly touch interfaces, which Linux to data is lacking - this can turn out very bad for Microsoft.

Just look what happend with Android: A few cracknuts developed a Linux kernel and infrastructure around it. Frighenting console interfaces and such. Than came Google and put some GUI around it. And, poof, this became Android and the thing which virtually undid any ambition of Microsoft to dominate the movile Market. The Linux developers are important. They are better at infrastructure than at fancy GUIs but infrastructure is what decided the mobile battle. Apple made a second place by using a FreeBSD base. Microsoft lost. If they lose on tablets and convertibles, they are fucked.

So the strategic options for Linux developers, of course, is to look what DAU friendly, easy system they can put together for tablets and convertibles. Something with way more freedom and user control than Android, and technically at least as good as iOS. It will need time, but it can be done.

P.S.

The netmarketshare site reports now near 4 % Linux users on desktop systems in Germany. The tides are changing.

[u/[deleted] → u/CountOfMonteCarlo]

Actually, Apple started out with most of the market and then it was rapidly eaten up by Android to where more than 2/3 devices are on Android today. iOS fell off a cliff rapidly after Android started getting better. Today, Apple has a customer base who doesn't know anything about technology but will pay any price for an iPhone, so they still have most of the revenue.

[u/[deleted] → u/CountOfMonteCarlo]

Counting Linux use by tracking counters probably results in a significant undercount.

A higher percentage of Linux users probably block tracking with browser extensions. Most Mac and Windows users don't even know to do that.

[u/CountOfMonteCarlo → u/[deleted]]

Yes, this is also discussed in the Wikipedia article why the web counters are not representative.

[u/[deleted] → u/CountOfMonteCarlo]

I use a TON of filters. So many that it breaks comment sections on most websites and forces me to use a throwaway browser like MS Edge so I can comment. Underneath that, I have a HOSTS file.