Installing OpenSUSE 13.1 on a ThinkPad T430s

Model

Lenovo Thinkpad T430s 2356-LPG, BIOS G7ET90WW (2.50), ECP G7HT36WW (1.12)

General

This installation instruction describes these parts that do not or do not completely work after my OpenSUSE 13.1 DVD installation using KDE 4 as window manager.

SSD: Intel SSD 520

Using Linux, the Intel SSD 520 with 180 GB and 240 GB times out on heavy I/O load. There is no fix from Lenovo, yet.[1][2] However, disabling SATA Link Power Management seems to fix this problem.

Graphics

Using the default BIOS settings, the Switchable Graphics with Intel HD Graphics and NVIDIA Optimus may cause high power consumption. Thus, if you do not need the NVIDIA Optimus graphics, change the BIOS settings from Switchable to Internal graphics before installation. Please read Switchable Graphics for the pros and cons. Note that I did not test the NVIDIA Optimus graphics.

NOTE!

Any time you change the BIOS setting after installation, you may have to execute # mkinitrd in order to prevent loading of unnecessary modules.

Network

Wireless WAN

The Ericsson HSPA+ WWAN Minicard (H5321gw) does not work out of the box anymore.[3] While the actual effects might depend on the firmware revision, creating the file /etc/modprobe.d/50-cdc_ncm.conf with the content

options cdc_ncm prefer_mbim=N

fixed the problem for me using the preinstalled Windows 8 compatible R3C11 firmware.

GPS

The Ericsson HSPA+ WWAN Minicard (H5321gw) must be configured every time before it emits GPS data, see H5321gw GPS.

LCD Brightness Buttons

The LCD brightness buttons stopped working because of a change in the 3.7 kernel. Adding acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2012\" as a kernel boot parameter using YaST reverts to the old kernel behavior. However, there is no on-screen display feedback in KDE.