I recently acquired a used T14 gen 4 Thinkpad (perfect condition, everything works just fine), only to find out that a BIOS supervisor password is enabled. Is there something I can do to bypass / reset it? I am in the need of accessing the BIOS to switch to a Linux distro, since it's currently running Windows 11.

If someone has some sort of solution, please let me know.

Hi! I recently installed a battery in the internal slot of my T470 (because it has fewer charge cycles, the controller prefers using it over the external battery)

Thus, if the built-in battery drains to 0%, the laptop simply shuts down.

I'm currently running Arch + Hypr (if that matters). Has anyone encountered a similar issue, and if so, how did you solve it?

Hiya! I've had this old laptop that's been sitting around since college, and after a little bit of a hassle with the power cord, it's working really well! Now, it was running windows 8.1 on it, but that's just completely gone.

The specs are about 4 GB of ram, Intel Celeron N2930 @2.17 GHz, Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx @ 0.85 GHz, and about 450 GB of internal storage.

I'm running the latest version of Debian on it (which is 13 at the time of writing this) with Lxqt as the DE! I'm pretty happy with the installation.

So I was given a e495 thinkpad. Ryzen 5 3500U cpu with vega 8 graphics. I upgraded it to 32gb of ram and a 990 evo plus ssd running at gen3x4. All in all it plays games great, well old skool ones and youtube and browsing works fine. Yay for old stuff! Win11 pro is on it. Key is in bios.

I just ordered a T490 for college since they're cheap and I'm not doing anything crazy, no special programs required for my courses, just web browsing, word documents and reading visual novels.

I have seen post from years ago and not sure if anything has been fixed at all? Does suspending and waking the laptop work? Any problems with Intel CPUs?

Going to be trying out Void and Chimera Linux to see which one I like most.

Hi! The hinges on my E14 Gen 7 (21T0) are extremely stiff. Has anyone here actually opened or adjusted these hinges?

Is there any way to reduce the hinge tension, or do they need to be replaced?

If you have photos of the hinges removed from the laptop or know the FRU/part number, I’d really appreciate it.

I have a ThinkPad E16 Gen 3 Intel (21SR0033CA) with the stock WUXGA 1920x1200, 45% NTSC panel. It works fine, but I want the WQXGA 2560x1600, 120Hz, 100% sRGB, 400 nit matte panel. From an older thread here, Lenovo sells this as a factory option on the 21SR/21SS chassis, so the panel should be the same part family as what I need.

The panels I've found:

• Tianma TL160ADMP35, FRU 5D11Q44710
• CSOT MNG007DA8-1, FRU 5D11Q44709
• AUO B160QAN05.0, FRU 5D11Q44715

Those need a 40 pin, 4 lane eDP cable, FRU 5C11P26315.
My stock cable is the 30 pin one (FRU DC02C01AZ00).

My concern is the webcam. The old thread said the 40 pin cable only works with the IR (Windows Hello) camera. I checked mine on Linux:

• lsusb shows only one camera: Chicony Integrated Camera, ID 04f2:b83e
• v4l2-ctl --list-devices shows only video0, video1 and media0
• video1 lists no image formats, so it's a metadata node
• No IR stream anywhere

So I believe I have a standard 1080p RGB webcam, not IR.

My questions:

1. Has anyone done this swap on an Intel 21SR/21SS board with a standard (not IR) webcam? Did the screen and the webcam both work afterward?
2. Is there a 40 pin cable variant for non IR machines? If so, what's the FRU?
3. If not, do I also need the IR camera module? And is that a simple plug in, or does it need a different lid or bezel?
4. Any gotchas with the bezel tape, or BIOS or firmware issues on Intel boards?

Lenovo definitely sells this exact laptop with the upgraded screen, but there are a few questions in the way.....

Thanks everyone!

Hey guys!

I have been bitten by the ThinkPad bug and just love them!

I currently using a ThinkPad P1 Gen1 i7 with 64gb RAM, running Zorin18. Love the P1 but wanting a more mobile laptop. I do a lot of coding and circuit designing. Should I go to a ThinkPad Z13 over the P1?

Luego de probar Mint 22.3, Ubuntu 26.04, Vivobook Go14 con Tarjeta de red MediaTek MT7902 funciona perfecta con soporte nativo en Deepin 25.2.2.

Estable. Post reinicio, post suspensión. Tanto WiFi como Bluetooth.

Sin necesidad de compilar ni hacer códigos en terminal.

Gracias China(?).

So I wanted a modular laptop with a CD-drive, cheap but still functional.

And bought the Lenovo ThinkPad T430s. It's refurbished. And comes with an Intel Core i5-3320M and 8GB RAM and 240GB SSD.

I have a main desktop PC with way better hardware for video editing and gaming. So I won't do such a heavy task on the ThinkPad, However I want to have a second mobile device, sturdy and okay for tasks like browsing, streaming and super light gaming (like just Stardew Valley and some Visual Novels) comfortably.

So I plan a RAM upgrade to 16GB anyways and maybe another, bigger SSD.

But now I'm thinking about which Distro. I had Ubuntu as a teenager on my laptop back than for some years (dual boot with windows back then tho because I didn't want to miss out on gaming with my friends), half a year ago I put Mint (Cinnamon) on my bfs old laptop which is okay for watching some YouTube or DVDs in bed. But I dislike how Mint is so.. simple and boring me. I saw Fedora Workstation and some ArchLinux in YouTube videos which I think would be pretty cool with GNOME. But I just can't decide. ArchLinux and the amount of terminal work and especially the installation process still overwhelms me..

I use the Terminal on Mint a lot but sometimes I like a fall back to a graphical user interface (Bluetooth in Terminal was my boss fight I resigned from and went back to the graphical app). But using the terminal for installations, updates, organising files is easy for me.

Any recommendations on which Distro I should go with on the T430s also considering the specs?

I currently have a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 / R61i series. . The one I have is the Intel Centrino dual core at a scorching 1.50ghz each with Windows 7 basic and 2GB DDR2 RAM.

I have done a clean install of Windows 7 and it can't get out to connect to the internet, even though it connects to my router

Is there a lightweight distro I can get that could make this dinosaur useable? I can boot from usb.

I've been using Linux Mint (Cinnamon) on my Thinkpad T14s for around a year now, looking to possibly move to something new, any suggestions, mainly use for learning code, browsing, spreadsheets.

Hi everyone!

I have a ThinkPad L13 Gen 2 (i5-1135G7, 16g ram, 256gb SSD) and I'm in love with this machine.

The display is not sufficient for good photo editing tho (dci-p3, Adobe rgb, srgb, brightness). Anti-glare treatment makes things even worse, brightness is also pretty low.
I haven't run any test but results from notebookcheck confirm my impression.

Can I replace the screen? Which one should I get?

I'm looking for color accuracy and NITS (400 would be a good step, mine is \~240). FHD is just fine and I don't need high refresh rates.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: it was too wordy

Hi there, just got an E16 Gen 2 for a really good price. Installed Debian 13 GNOME and autocpu-freq and feels so smooth. One thing that I wanted to know is, is it possible to "improve" the low mic audio? I don't mind some more white noise as long as other people can hear my voice.

I want to alternative for autocad in linux. I know freecad but i dont know it make problem or not. Did i do dual boot?

hello everyone! im a pre-teen, and i want to buy thinkpad t14 gen 2 like a first thinkpad.

specs:

cpu: amd ryzen 7 pro 5850u.

ram: 16gb soldered, without so-dimm module.

ssd: 256 (maybe, this is not enough).

display: FHD (1920x1080) on-cell touch.

price: 39,000 RUB (around 415 usd).

camera: 720p with an IR camera.

config: 20XLS1LQ00.

sorry for my bad english. this is good laptop for use every day? thanks so much! i use arch, btw!