edit
Yeah that worked. Button is so tiny I had to use like a tooth pick to press it. Which is why I missed it -_-
BUt hey I got it working. But now there's a bigger issue at hand. The wireless doesn't work (which is pretty common) and the touch pad doesn't work. which is a big pain. I found this https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=204355
A bit down gives you configuration files to edit. However, since I'm running Kali LInux, it's a bit different than ARCH. (Correct me if I'm wrong). For now, I'm defeated, since the Yoga 900 doesn't have an ethernet port and my wlan card seems to be damaged / broken for some unexpected reason.
This is a first for me. So recompiling the kernel seems a bit daunting at first, but I'm sure it's just a few command behind the terminal.
How big a pain in the ass is this? No touchpad support. 2 usb ports. So 1 has to be for wifi, the other for mouse. Any thing else will require a hub and lets freaking hope that's picked up.
No wonder people don't pick up LINUX and just run with it... and this is coming from a guy with 5 years IT experience.
Do you guys have any help coming my way? Any tips? I would be forever grateful.
Ok bottom line, I am not sure if I can help you.
I am trying to find some decent pictures of the thing online so that I can see the buttons clearly, but I am only getting stylized pictures.
All of my lenovo laptops have a small button on the side. Almost like one of those really hard to press reset buttons.
I have to shut the computer all the way off and then press that button. The laptop will automatically boot up straight into the bios.
Edit
Yes this is indeed how you do it. YOU HAVE TO READ THE MANUAL. Gosh dang it. : P
https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/yoga_900-13isk_ug_en_201509.pdf
Scroll down to page number 15 in the PDF or page number 11 in the book, and take note of button 3
button 3 is the novo button.
You gotta shut your computer all the way down and press that button. That should do the trick.
As for your USB flash drive and UEFI and all that jazz, make sure secure boot is disabled and that you are using the USB2 port.
Hope that helps : )
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Yeah that worked. Button is so tiny I had to use like a tooth pick to press it. Which is why I missed it -_-
BUt hey I got it working. But now there's a bigger issue at hand. The wireless doesn't work (which is pretty common) and the touch pad doesn't work. which is a big pain. I found this https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=204355
A bit down gives you configuration files to edit. However, since I'm running Kali LInux, it's a bit different than ARCH. (Correct me if I'm wrong). For now, I'm defeated, since the Yoga 900 doesn't have an ethernet port and my wlan card seems to be damaged / broken for some unexpected reason.
This is a first for me. So recompiling the kernel seems a bit daunting at first, but I'm sure it's just a few command behind the terminal.
How big a pain in the ass is this? No touchpad support. 2 usb ports. So 1 has to be for wifi, the other for mouse. Any thing else will require a hub and lets freaking hope that's picked up.
No wonder people don't pick up LINUX and just run with it... and this is coming from a guy with 5 years IT experience.
Do you guys have any help coming my way? Any tips? I would be forever grateful.
Well you are using Kali which is really only a tool. You are only supposed to use that for finding and then exploiting or fixing security issues. So hardware support is going to suffer. If you want an actual linux distro to install, then go try ubuntu or opensuse, or what ever.
However if you still need kali, there is hope.
Kali Linux, Rolling Edition Released – 2016.1
Switch from Kali 2 to the rolling release and then update. HOPEFULLY that will save you from having to do a kernel update.
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Reason why I'm using Kali is because my udemy courses require it. For now it is just using a VM for the course and sticking with Ubuntu until I know my p's and q's around a Linux environment / bash and all that. I will give that rolling release a shot, thank you.
Oh Im too slow. I see your edit
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Oh and btw. When you do the update, reboot.
Then go to a terminal and type
uname -r
You want to see kernel 4.4.x. If you do not see that, I will try and help you download and install a newer kernel.
just an fyi, when I did a uname -r I got a 3.19.0.25-generic.
I have grub setup with ubuntu installed on another primary partition.
Same problem... no trackpad support. No wlan support.
Man... this sucks.
First I removed RFKILL, which didn't work after a reboot.
Then I used this guide here and followed it to a tee. Was able to complete the directions without a problem, however it made no difference.
Here's what I did...http://askubuntu.com/questions/706009/new-to-linux-need-to-find-and-install-my-wireless-driver-ac-8260
I suspect your device simply needs firmware. Verify:
sudo modprobe iwlwifi
dmesg | grep iwl
There should be a message that the needed firmware is not found. If so, please download this file to your desktop: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/_media/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi-8000-ucode-25.30.13.0.tgz as well as this: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/_media/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi-8000-ucode-15.227938.0.tgz Right-click each and select 'Extract Here.' Now, back to the terminal:
cd ~/Desktop/iwlwifi-8000-ucode-25.30.13.0
sudo cp iwlwifi* /lib/firmware
cd ~/Desktop/iwlwifi-8000-ucode-15.227938.0
sudo cp iwlwifi* /lib/firmware
Reboot and your wireless should be working. If not, post diagnostics:
sudo modprobe iwlwifi
dmesg | grep iwl
Based on your diagnostics, I suggest that you update the driver iwlwifi. Download this package to your desktop: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/2015/11/15/backports-20151115.tar.gz Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now, back to the terminal:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
cd ~/Desktop/backports-20151115
make defconfig-iwlwifi
make
sudo make install
Reboot and tell us if there is any improvement.
You have compiled the driver for your current kernel version only. When Update Manager installs a later linux-image, after the required reboot, you must recompile:
cd ~/Desktop/backports-20151115
make clean
make defconfig-iwlwifi
make
sudo make install
Please retain the file and these instructions for that time.
I'm not completely without hope, as I can use the G502 proteus core on the machine and there's several usb wifi adapters that I'm sure will work... but this is not a fix. I don't want to have to use all my usb ports for just basic stuff like this because of hardware incompatibility.
I still have a week or two to return it to best buy and find another laptop. What do you think?
Alright. Don't panic just yet.
I was already expecting anything with a kernel that was not 4.4 or higher to fail.
Go download manjaro linux to a flash drive and boot.
If your cursor does not work, do the uname -r thing again and report back.
If it does work, then hot damn we can probably get kali linux working too.
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Thanks! I will try this as soon as I get home and let you know the results.
Okay... well. I downloaded the KDE 64 bit version of Manjaro and used universal pen drive installer to create a boot image on my flash drive, which is fat32. I formatted the drive before hand.
When I boot to the USB it makes me type 'start' to start it. I type start and it starts loading but it brings up that it's missing essential files. It eventually just goes to a black screen with a blinking white cursor in the top left corner of my screen.
So... do you have any info on why Manjaro isn't playing nice here?
I'll give XFCE a try... :((( I'm very disheartened right now.
Yeah. Universal pen drive installer sucks.
Try rufus, or image USB.
Its possible that you got a bad download. But try one of those programs first.
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So I used Rufus and it seemed to work better, because at least I saw the Manjaro splash screen and it started, however right at the beginning it said 'wrong version 3', you may experience problems. I forgot what it was and I didn't write it down, and the text is so damn small because the resolution is so high on this laptop that I couldn't take a picture of it.
So now I'm thinking that maybe it is the download, so I'm trying XFCE manjaro 64 bit and going to use RUFUS again and will write down the error and let you know (if it occurs).
cool cool.
If you get in, make sure you figure out what kernel version it is.
I'm out and about right now and will try some other stuff when I get home. Do you know any other Linux distributions that have the newer kernel?
Yeah, you can try the opensuse tumbelweed live ISO.
https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Tumbleweed_installation
scroll down a little bit to where it says rescue CDs and choose the live gnome CD.
This is very very important. You HAVE to use image USB to burn the ISO to a flash drive.
Rufus is superior IMO, but it does not have the necessary bits of code that will make opensuse work.
The problem with opensuse is that they do not have a standard kernel. Opensuse has modified it. So opensuse might actually work for you better than if we were to put a new kernel on kali.
Manjaro does this too, but not neaqrly as much so my hope was that it was going to be a truer test so to speak.
However the plus side is that I know for a fact that it has the latest kernel. And its my all time favorite distro, so we will be working on my home turf so to speak.
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Thank you so much for your help. I am really committed to getting linux to run on this machine. There's always just getting a USB hub and a compatible wlan card. I definitely think this thread is important for anyone picking up new hardware and trying to get linux working.
From your experience, is it typically as troublesome for new users to get it working ?
No.
Most laptop companies stick with pretty common OEM parts, so linux support is generally pretty good. Even apple products will work with linux fairly well.
The funny part about your problem is that it seems to already be fixed. The research I have done shows that the latest kernel SHOULD work for your laptop.The issue is that the various distros do not use this kernel because it has not been vetted by kali linux yet (or debian...or what ever). Its stable, but debian just does what ever they want to do...soooooo meh?
This is why arch linux (and by extension manjaro) gained so much popularity. Its because arch linux is a rolling release that is committed to having the very latest and greatest software. So ideally you would never run into this problem you are having.
More distros are starting to adopt a rolling release model with up to date software. Personally I think opensuse tumbleweed is the best rolling release because they do a lot more structured testing and I generally find it to be much more stable and professional than arch. But what ever you get the point.
And no problem. IDK why, but I like playing around with the linux kernel a lot, so to me this is kind of fun, and I am helping someone out. So win win.
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