Lenovo Devices and OS installation via opsi

[m.radtke]

Dear opsi users,

currently, we are receiving an increasing number of support requests through our ticket system and here in the forum regarding Lenovo devices experiencing issues with operating system installation via opsi.

Unfortunately, as of now, Lenovo devices with the latest firmware are unable to perform a Windows or Linux netboot installation. Lenovo has made changes in the firmware updates that were previously unknown to us, causing the GRUB2 bootloader (version 2.12) we use to fail to initialize the network card. When this happens, GRUB crashes, resulting in a black screen.

If the firmware is rolled back to an earlier version—specific to each device—netboot installation works again.

We have already reported this issue as a bug to the GRUB2 project and have also informed a customer contact at Lenovo. We sincerely hope that this problem will be resolved soon. In the meantime, we kindly ask that new device purchases be reviewed for alternative options until the issue is fixed.

A current workaround is to flash the latest opsi boot cd onto a USB stick and boot from it. We recommend using the tool Balena Etcher for this.

As soon as a solution to the problem becomes available, we will communicate it as quickly as possible.

Here's a list of affected devices we know of, thanks to thomas.f for the list:

ThinkPad L14 Gen 4 (Type 21H5, 21H6) UEFI:1.21 / ECP:1.10
ThinkPad L15 Gen 4 (Type 21H7, 21H8)
ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 (Type 21L1, 21L2)
ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 (Type 21L3, 21L4)
ThinkPad L13 2-in-1 Gen 5 (Type 21LM, 21LN)
ThinkPad L13 Gen 5 (Type 21LB, 21LC) 1,11
ThinkPad S2 Gen 9 (Type 21LQ)
ThinkPad L13 2in 1 5th
ThinkPad X1 2 in 1 Gen 9 (Type 21KE, 21KF) UEFI:1.36 / ECP:1.24
ThinkPad X1 Carbon 12th Gen (Type 21KC, 21KD)
ThinkPad L14 Gen 4 (Type 21H1, 21H2) UEFI:1.28 / ECP:1.17
ThinkPad L15 Gen 4 (Type 21H3, 21H4)
ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 (Type 21L5, 21L6) UEFI:1.28 / ECP:1.23
ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 (Type 21L7 21L8)
ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (Type 21FA, 21FB) UEFI:1.56 / ECP:1.54
ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 (Type 21FV, 21FW) UEFI:1.32 / ECP:1.14
ThinkPad X1 Carbon 11th Gen (Type 21HM, 21HN) UEFI:1.31 / ECP:1.19
ThinkPad X1 Yoga 8th Gen (Type 21HQ, 21HR)
ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 (Type 21LK, 21LL) UEFI:1.14 / ECP:1.12
ThinkPad Z13 AG1 (21D2) UEFI: 1.70

Regards

Mathias