15519 Lenovo T420s with GPT - The FreeBSD Forums
The FreeBSD Forums  

Go Back   The FreeBSD Forums > Desktop Usage > Mobile Computing
Reload this Page Lenovo T420s with GPT
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Mobile Computing This forum discusses issues related to running FreeBSD on notebooks, laptops, and other mobile equipment.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 11th, 2011, 11:51
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default Lenovo T420s with GPT
Hi guys,

An older question I was meaning to ask again is if any of you are experiencing this behavior: Lenovo T420s with Intel 160GB SSD, cannot boot from it with GPT partitions (the laptop cannot detect any booting blocks on the hdd). I also tried with a normal WS Scorpio Black disk but got the same behavior. If I use normal labels, it works/boots but not with GPT.

In BIOS, I tried setting UEFI and Legacy boot but it made no difference.

Any other ideas ?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old September 11th, 2011, 17:03
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
UPDATE: Tried a BIOS upgrade and setting the HDD mode between AHCI and Legacy mode but got the same result.

LE: I think this thread would be more suited under the hardware section. Sorry for the mistake. @DD, is it possible to move it m8 ?
Last edited by DutchDaemon; September 11th, 2011 at 19:17. Reason: All laptop/notebook questions belong in 'Mobile Computing'.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 11th, 2011, 17:45
wblock@'s Avatar
wblock@ wblock@ is offline
Moderator
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Milky Way galaxy
Posts: 7,701
Thanks: 429
Thanked 1,757 Times in 1,456 Posts
Default
The PMBR part of a GPT should make booting possible. Unless it's possible to install without it. Check it by running a live CD and using fdisk(8) or equivalent. The PMBR shows as one big whole-disk partition with type 0xee.
Code:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 238 (0xee),(EFI GPT)
If it shows that, then the fault is with the T420. IBM did silly stuff with disk partitions back in the old days, and Lenovo may have carried on with that tradition. If it's looking for a special partition layout, well--there's just no pleasant way to say this--you may have to contact Lenovo tech support.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old September 11th, 2011, 17:47
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
If the latter is the case, irony is at it's peak here, considering I was working for the big blue up until 2 months ago.
Thx for the hint, will have a look at it.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old September 15th, 2011, 21:30
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
Finally got the new SSD I was waiting for (the old one broke down after 2 months - no idea how that happened) and I installed a 8.1 amd64 on it, but the disk is in my workstation (8 core i7 with 6GB Patriot RAM - building world to the latest 8-STABLE). I have a RooTonZFS and I confirm that the partition is of type 0xee.

Will post a bit later if it boots in my laptop.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old September 15th, 2011, 21:58
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
So .. it's official, Lenovo T420s cannot boot from GPT (crap).
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old September 15th, 2011, 23:10
wblock@'s Avatar
wblock@ wblock@ is offline
Moderator
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Milky Way galaxy
Posts: 7,701
Thanks: 429
Thanked 1,757 Times in 1,456 Posts
Default
What does gpart show say about the drive and partitions?
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old September 16th, 2011, 07:01
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
The normal stuff:
Code:
=>       34  312581741  ada0  GPT  (149G)
         34        128     1  freebsd-boot  (64K)
        162    2097152     2  freebsd-swap  (1.0G)
    2097314  310484461     3  freebsd-zfs  (148G)
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old September 16th, 2011, 09:44
chmiels chmiels is offline
Junior Member
  
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 19
Thanks: 0
Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Default
That's strange. I have L420 with Kingston's SSD, partitioned by myself and no problems occur with gptzfsboot. Partitions were created using gptfdisk (description found on Arch Linux wiki) and later using gpart.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old September 16th, 2011, 09:51
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
Well, mine doesn't want to boot from an SSD or normal platter disk.
Last edited by DutchDaemon; September 16th, 2011 at 14:51.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old September 16th, 2011, 14:38
wblock@'s Avatar
wblock@ wblock@ is offline
Moderator
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Milky Way galaxy
Posts: 7,701
Thanks: 429
Thanked 1,757 Times in 1,456 Posts
Default
Last idea: is the bootcode installed?
# gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old September 16th, 2011, 15:33
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
Yes it is and I have also manually re-written the bootcode again but with no success.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old September 17th, 2011, 12:41
tingo tingo is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Oslo, Norway
Posts: 825
Thanks: 133
Thanked 82 Times in 68 Posts
Default
It really seems like Lenovo borked this one:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=98078

Could this page help: http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/
(if all else fails)
__________________
Torfinn
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old September 17th, 2011, 19:58
da1 da1 is offline
Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Berlin,DE
Posts: 659
Thanks: 23
Thanked 48 Times in 44 Posts
Default
Either there's a problem with my laptop or with the entire T420s line. I will try talking to those windows-centric warranty guys but I highly doubt they will do anything not "next-next-next-finish" related.
Reply With Quote
Reply

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Thread Tools
Display Modes
Linear Mode Linear Mode

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
[Solved] Lenovo T420s (Nvidia Quatro 4200M) resolution problem da1 Mobile Computing 14 September 19th, 2011 00:11
Lenovo T420s cannot boot + several other problems da1 Mobile Computing 4 August 4th, 2011 05:57
[Solved] Thinkpad T420s Intel Centrino wireless adapter cduret Mobile Computing 4 June 1st, 2011 07:30
Lenovo sl410 Myron Mobile Computing 3 March 4th, 2010 09:22
X on a Lenovo T61 netman4ttm Mobile Computing 9 September 25th, 2009 16:11


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 17:39.

Contact Us - FreeBSD - Archive - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2013, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
The mark FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation and is used by The FreeBSD Project with the permission of The FreeBSD Foundation.
Web protection and acceleration provided by CloudFlare
0