Lenovo ThinkPad T470 - ArchWiki

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This article or section does not follow the Laptop page guidelines.

Reason: Needs a function key section for the 20hd/20he/20jm/20jn models, they all share the same keyboard, only the anniversary edition differs. (Discuss in Talk:Lenovo ThinkPad T470)

Device | PCI/USB ID | Working?
--- | --- | ---
GPU (Intel 620) | `8086:5916` | Yes
GPU (Intel 520) | `8086:1916` | Yes
GPU (NVIDIA) | `10de:134d` | Yes
Ethernet (Intel I219-V) | `8086:2068` | Yes
Ethernet (Intel I219-LM) | `8086:156f` | Yes
Wireless (Intel 8265/8275) | `8086:24fd` | Yes
Wireless (Intel 8260) | `8086:24f3` | Yes
Bluetooth | `8087:0a2b` | Yes
Webcam | `5986:111c` | Yes
IR Camera | `5986:111d` | Yes
TrackPoint |  | Yes
Touchpad |  | Yes
Touchscreen | `2386:310e` | Yes
Fingerprint Reader | `138a:0097` | Yes
SD Card Reader | `0bda:0316` | Untested

For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see Laptop.

## Firmware

The T470 is one of the models supported officially by Lenovo through the fwupd firmware update program.

If you are using a UEFI boot scheme, this is probably the easiest and most officially supported way to keep all the firmware programs updated.

Note: Users have observed a BIOS requirement of "UEFI/Legacy Boot" set to "UEFI Only" and enable Windows UEFI Firmware Update under UEFI BIOS Update Options when using fwupd.

If it does not work for you or if you prefer these methods, it is still possible to do the BIOS update by booting on a specially crafted disk or USB stick. By visiting the downloads section (T470) an ISO can be downloaded and burned to disk which will perform the update from Lenovo. Or extracted and copied on a USB Stick.

Another option that works if you got a CD-ISO from Lenovo is to follow this guide and convert the ISO to an IMG prior to dd-ing it to a USB stick.

## Kernel and hardware support

Hardware video acceleration with Kaby Lake seems to work fine via va-api.

As noted in Intel graphics, the xf86-video-intel driver seems to cause more issue than the builtin `modesetting` Xorg driver. Works fine without the intel driver (on a Skylake configuration).

suspend-resume results in the fan holding at 100% without ever spinning down. This is being tracked on the kernel bugtracker. The issue seems to be resolved by BIOS 1.43.

### Fingerprint reader

As of writing this, the fingerprint reader is still under prototype development, but seems working fine on the T470.

To get the sensor working, install the python-validityAUR package, and its dependencies: fprintd-clients-gitAUR and open-fprintdAUR (which conflicts with the fprintd package in the official repositories, so uninstall this package first if it is installed). Enable/start the `python3-validity.service`.

If this fingerprint reader had been previously set up, either through Windows (dual-booted or through a Windows virtual machine), or from a previous setup of fprintd, you will likely need to reset the Validity fingerprint reader to factory defaults (must first stop `python3-validity.service`):

    # validity-sensors-firmware
    # python /usr/share/python-validity/playground/factory-reset.py

Then, start `python3-validity.service` again. You can now enroll your fingers with `fprintd-enroll` as a regular (non-root) user. You may verify your enrolled fingerprints with `fprintd-verify`.

After setting up the fingerprint sensor is complete, one can use it to login or authenticate for `sudo` or `su`.

For login, edit `/etc/pam.d/login` by adding `pam_fprintd.so` as sufficient to the top of the auth section:

    /etc/pam.d/login

    auth sufficient pam_fprintd.so

Note, the `pam-auth-update` command from the python-validity README.md does not exist in Arch, and the lines it adds to files in the `/etc/pam.d/` directory do not work. See the pam.conf(5) manual for details.

Do the same for sudo with `/etc/pam.d/sudo` or su with `/etc/pam.d/su`

Sometimes the `python3-validity` service breaks after suspension of the device, a fix for this issue is to make a custom service to restart the service on exiting suspend. the name of this service does not matter but the location does see Systemd. here is a service that does the job:

    [Unit]
    After=suspend.target
    [Service]
    Type=simple
    StandardOutput=syslog
    ExecStart=systemctl restart python3-validity
    [Install]
    WantedBy=suspend.target

### Screen backlight

Without the `intel` driver (xf86-video-intel), neither `xbacklight` or `xrandr` brightness control are working. It is possible that, with the good `acpi_*` kernel parameters, the backlight related keys do their job.

Other workaround exists, such as described on this post or in the wiki acpid#Enabling backlight control. Using the acpilight package as a `xbacklight` replacement works well. You can also check this repository as a base to add the ACPI rules to call `xbacklight` when backlight keys are pressed.

Note: The acpilight package is known to allow controlling the ThinkPad keyboard backlight. Similar ACPI rules should allow to toggle it when the keyboard backlight key is pressed.

### UEFI boot

After configuring the BIOS setup to allow UEFI boot (either UEFI only or both), it works flawlessly.

For booting directly with EFISTUB, the kernel executable (e.g. `vmlinuz-linux`) may need to be renamed with a .efi extension (e.g. `vmlinuz-linux.efi`) otherwise it will fail to load.

### BIOS GPT boot

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements. See Help:Style for reference.

Reason: Fix first person tone, see Help:Style#Language register. (Discuss in Talk:Lenovo ThinkPad T470)
Note: I was unable to boot with a GPT + BIOS configuration, and therefore switch to GPT + EFI. However, until another confirmation, it is quite probable that was caused by some bad configuration from my side.

I can confirm that issue. Even with a recent bios (1.52), it does not work.

I had to trick my ThinkPad into UEFI (because my bios is locked, found that method by pure luck). It works by installing the syslinux bootloader on your freshly installed arch (be sure to follow the GPT specific instructions at Syslinux#GUID partition table) and the boot that syslinux with the arch install iso ('Boot existing OS' -> press `TAB` -> replace `hd0 0` with `hd1 0`). Syslinux should show you an option to boot the Arch Linux installation in UEFI mode. Mount you Arch installation, `arch-chroot` into it and install GRUB (or your favorite bootloader) for UEFI. That did the trick for me.

You have to create a proper EFI system partition. Have a look at partitioning.

### Special buttons

See Laptop/Lenovo#Special buttons.

## Function keys for model 20K7 25th Anniversary Edition

Special Key | Visible?1 | Marked?2 | Effect
--- | --- | --- | ---
`Fn` | Yes | Yes | XF86WakeUp
`Fn+F1` | No | No | No Effect
`Fn+F2` | Yes | Yes | XF86ScreenSaver
`Fn+F3` | Yes | Yes | XF86Battery
`Fn+F4` | Yes | Yes | XF86Sleep
`Fn+F5` | Yes | Yes | XF86TouchpadToggle
`Fn+F6` | Yes | Yes | XF86WebCam
`Fn+F7` | Yes | Yes | XF86Display
`Fn+F8` | Yes | Yes | XF86WLAN
`Fn+F9` | Yes | Yes | XF86Tools
`Fn+F10` | Yes | Yes | XF86Bluetooth
`Fn+F11` | No | Yes | No Effect
`Fn+F12` | Yes | Yes | XF86Favorites
`Fn+Home` | No | Yes | XF86MonBrightnessUp
`Fn+End` | No | Yes | XF86MonBrightnessDown
`Fn+PgUp` | No | Yes | Cycle Keyboard Backlight
`Mute Speaker` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioMute
`Volume Down` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioLowerVolume
`Volume Up` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioRaiseVolume
`Mute Microphone` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioMicMute
`Fn+Left` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioPrev
`Fn+Up` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioStop
`Fn+Down` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioPlay
`Fn+Right` | Yes | Yes | XF86AudioNext
`Menu` | Yes | Yes | Menu
`Back` | Yes | Yes | XF86Back
`Forward` | Yes | Yes | XF86Forward

1. The key is visible to `xev` and similar tools
2. The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function

## See also

- ThinkWiki page
- Product Specifications Reference (PSREF)
- Hardware maintenance manual
- User guide

Category:

- Lenovo

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