Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 7) - ArchWiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_Th...

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen

7)
Tip: A great resource for thinkpads is https://www.thinkwiki.org Related articles
/wiki/ThinkWiki
Lenovo ThinkPad
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 7th generation is an ultrabook introduced in early X1 Carbon
2019. It features a 14" screen, 8th-gen Intel Core processors and integrated Intel UHD Lenovo ThinkPad
X1 Carbon (Gen 2)
620 graphics.
Lenovo ThinkPad
X1 Carbon (Gen 3)
To ensure you have this version, install the package dmidecode (https://www.
Lenovo ThinkPad
archlinux.org/packages/?name=dmidecode) and run: X1 Carbon (Gen 4)
Lenovo ThinkPad
# sudo dmidecode -s system-version X1 Carbon (Gen 5)
ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th
Lenovo ThinkPad
X1 Carbon (Gen 6)
Lenovo ThinkPad
X1 Yoga (Gen 3)
Contents Lenovo ThinkPad
X1 Yoga (Gen 4)
Hardware
BIOS
Updates
Automatic (Linux Vendor Firmware Service)
Manual (fwupdmgr)
Sleep/Suspend
S3 Suspend Bug with Bluetooth Devices
BIOS configurations

Power management/Throttling issues

throttled
Touchpad TLP fix

Audio
Volume controls
Persistent fix
Microphone

Disabling red LED in ThinkPad logo

Additional resources

Hardware
Additional hardware information from lsusb and lspci can be found bellow when using the linux (http

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s://www.archlinux.org/pac Device Working Modules

kages/?name=linux) kernel Intel graphics Yes i915, (intel_agp)
5.2.7: Wireless network Yes iwlmvm
Native Ethernet with included
dongle (https://www3.lenov
o.com/us/en/accessories-and
-monitors/cables-and-adapt Yes ?
ers/adapters/CABLE-BO-TP-O
neLink%2B-to-RJ45-Adapter/
p/4X90K06975)
Mobile broadband Fibocom Yes¹ ?
Audio Yes snd_hda_intel
snd_sof,
Microphone No⁴
snd_sof_intel_hda
psmouse,
Touchpad Yes rmi_smbus,
i2c_i801
psmouse,
TrackPoint Yes rmi_smbus,
i2c_i801
Camera Yes uvcvideo
Fingerprint reader Yes² ?
Power management Yes³ ?
Bluetooth Yes btusb
Keyboard backlight Yes thinkpad_acpi
Function/Multimedia keys Yes ?

1. The Fibocom LTE module has Linux support once switched to USB mode; see [1] (ht
tps://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/How-To-Configure-X1-C
arbon-Gen-7-on-Debian-FingerPrint-4G-Modem/td-p/4550327) and [2] (http
s://github.com/abrasive/xmm7360)
2. An official driver and a reverse engineered driver are in the works [3] (https://gitla
b.freedesktop.org/libfprint/libfprint/issues/181) (06cb:00bd).
3. S3 suspend requires changes to BIOS settings, see section on #Sleep/Suspend.
4. The internal microphone doesn't work on versions of the linux (https://www.arch
linux.org/packages/?name=linux) kernel before 5.3. On version 5.3 and newer
the SOF firmware can be enabled, see Talk#Microphone.

lsusb [Expand]
lspci [Expand]

BIOS
The most convenient way to install Arch Linux is by disabling "Secure Boot"
Security -> Secure Boot - Set to "Disabled" . However it is possible to self-sign your kernel and
boot with it enabled. For further information have a look at the Secure Boot article.

In case your efivars are not properly set it is most likely due to you not being booted into UEFI. Should the
problem persist be sure to consult the UEFI#UEFI variables section.

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Updates

Automatic (Linux Vendor Firmware Service)

In August of 2018 Lenovo has joined (https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-lenovo-to-th
e-lvfs/) the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) (https://fwupd.org/) project, which enables firmware updates
from within the OS. BIOS updates (and possibly other firmware such as the Thunderbolt controller) can be queried
for and installed through fwupd.

Manual (fwupdmgr)
Lenovo may in the future provide cabinet files that can be directly installed with fwupdmgr. Check for Linux .cab
files from the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 7) driver website (https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/product
s/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-x1-carbon-7th-gen-type-20qd-20qe/downloads).

1. Make sure the AC adapter is firmly connected to the target computer.

2. Launch Terminal.
3. Move to the directory where the cabinet file was placed.
4. Run fwupdmgr install xxxxxxxx.cab to schedule firmware update.
5. Restart the system.
6. The computer will be restarted and the UEFI BIOS will be updated.

Sleep/Suspend
The BIOS has two "Sleep State" options, Windows and Linux, which you can find in at
Config -> Power -> Sleep State . The Linux option is the traditional S3 power state where all hardware
components are turned off except for the RAM, and it should work normally. The Windows option is a newer
software-based "modern standby" which works on Linux (despite the name). One possible benefit to the Windows
sleep state is faster wake up time, and one possible drawback is increased power usage.

S3 Suspend Bug with Bluetooth Devices

Occasionally your Thinkpad will wake up immediately after suspending with certain bluetooth devices added. To
prevent this, remove the devices or disable bluetooth before suspending.

BIOS configurations
Config -> Thunderbolt BIOS Assist Mode - Set to "Enabled" . When disabled, on
Linux, power usage appears to be significantly higher because of a substantial number of
CPU wakeups during s2idle.

Power management/Throttling issues

Due to wrong configured power management registers the CPU may consume a lot less power than under windows
and the thermal throttling occurs at 80°C (97°C when using Windows, see T480s throttling bug (https://www.reddi

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t.com/r/thinkpad/comments/870u0a/t480s_linux_throttling_bug/)).

Lenovo has confirmed the issue, explained the cause (https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/X1

C6-T480s-low-cTDP-and-trip-temperature-in-Linux/m-p/4534535/highlight/true#M13642) and has published
updates for the embedded controller and the BIOS (https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/X1
C6-T480s-low-cTDP-and-trip-temperature-in-Linux/m-p/4535310/highlight/true#M13653) to LVFS (how to
install see #BIOS Updates).

throttled
Note: As of the BIOS/EC version 1.23 (N2HET40W/N2HHT27W) it has not been fixed

throttled (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=throttled) replaces lenovo-

throttling-fix-git (https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lenovo-throttling-fix-g
it/)AUR[broken link: package not found] used previously. Install throttled (https://www.archlinux.org/
packages/?name=throttled), then run

sudo systemctl enable --now lenovo_fix.service

Touchpad TLP fix

The touchpad works fine out of the box, except that TLP does not detect that the Synaptics Touchpad is indeed an
input device, so it does not exclude it from the USB_AUTOSUSPEND feature. You can tell that this is the issue if the
touchpad works for just a moment after waking up from suspend, and then stops working again.

The fix is to add the touchpad to the USB_BLACKLIST in TLP's config:

USB_BLACKLIST="06cb:00bd" <=========== use lsusb to get the correct UUID

Audio
As there are physically four loudspeakers, you need to configure to 4.0 audio output. When using PulseAudio there
are various configuration utilities.

Volume controls
In order for volume controls to work correctly you must edit
/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common by adding the
following above [Element PCM] :

[Element Master]
switch = mute
volume = ignore

A PulseAudio restart is required for this change to take affect. Make sure to increase the "Master" channel volume to

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100% for the top-firing speakers to work (using amixer or alsamixer, found in alsa-utils (https://www.ar
chlinux.org/packages/?name=alsa-utils)).

Persistent fix
Upgrading or reinstalling pulseaudio (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=pulseaud
io) will overwrite this file, and PulseAudio doesn't appear to offer another way (https://www.freedesktop.org/w
iki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/PulseAudioStoleMyVolumes/) to make this configuration change.
To prevent pacman from overwriting the file, add the following line under [options] in /etc/pacman.conf
:

NoUpgrade = usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common

Microphone
On kernel up to 5.2, the internal microphones are detected but no audio is captured. Unfortunately even on the 5.3
kernels, the microphones still don't work out of the box.

You might be able to get the microphones working by following the instructions in this docx file (https://forums.leno
vo.com/lnv/attachments/lnv/lx02_en/3061/1/sof-driver-guide.docx) from the Lenovo Forums. Also check out this
post (https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=249900) from the Arch Forums.

Disabling red LED in ThinkPad logo

To disable the red LED in the ThinkPad logo on the cover:

1. Enable writing to the embedded controller registers by adding the kernel parameter
ec_sys.write_support=1 . If you use UEFI boot, you can add this parameter in
/boot/efi/loader/entries/arch.conf under "options".

2. Then, you can disable directly the LED with this command:

# echo -n -e "\x0a" | sudo dd of="/sys/kernel/debug/ec/ec0/io" bs=1 seek=12 count=1 conv=notrunc

2> /dev/null

To disable the LED at startup, you can create a systemd service:

1. Create a sh script (/root/disable_led.sh for instance) and put this :

#!/bin/bash
echo -n -e "\x0a" | dd of="/sys/kernel/debug/ec/ec0/io" bs=1 seek=12 count=1 conv=notrunc 2> /dev
/null

2. Create a new service unit file in {{ic|/etc/systemd/system} called "led.service", and insert the following:

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Description=Disable ThinkPad logo LED

[Service]
ExecStart=/root/disable_led.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Start and enable this service:

# systemctl start led.service

# systemctl enable led.service

Additional resources
ThinkWiki X1 Carbon 7th Gen page (https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X1
_Carbon_(7th_Gen))
Dell XPS 13 9370 quirks (https://gist.github.com/greigdp/bb70fbc331a0aaf447c
2d38eacb85b8f): Some pointers on getting Watt usage down to ~2W, Intel video
powersaving features might be interesting, see also the Intel graphics page for
interesting power-saving options.
Intel Blog: Best practice to debug Linux* suspend/hibernate issues (https://01.o
rg/blogs/rzhang/2015/best-practice-debug-linux-suspend/hibernate-issues),
including the pm-graph (https://github.com/01org/pm-graph) tool to analyze power
usage during suspend
How to fix volume control (ALSA problem) (https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewto
pic.php?t=91453) This is where the volume fix came from originally.
Windows System Power States (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win3
2/power/system-power-states)
System Power Management Sleep States at kernel.org (https://www.kernel.org/
doc/Documentation/power/states.txt)

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/index.php?title=Lenovo_ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_(Gen_7)&oldid=591654"

This page was last edited on 13 December 2019, at 03:03.

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later unless otherwise
noted.

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