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Booting Linux using UEFI just once on various Samsung laptops is enough to permanently stop them working. Several reports have been posted on the Ubuntu bug tracker, but the problem is likely to also be present in other Linux distributions, as it appears to be caused by a kernel driver for Samsung laptops. Kernel developers are currently discussing a change which would disable the driver when booting via UEFI.
A kernel driver for the Sammy machines crashes when users start up from an Ubuntu 12 USB key - although other distributions may be at risk - giving them the dreaded black screen of no activity whatsoever. After the operating system froze, users held down the power button to force the laptops to power off.
Outraged Penguinistas reported the screw-up on the Ubuntu bug tracker, naming various models of the South Korean giant's laptops, including the 300E5C, NP700Z5C, NP700Z7C and 530U3C series. One bloke complained he had destroyed two motherboards investigating the fault.
Senior Ubuntu developer Steve Langasek confirmed that the distro's maker Canonical has spoken to Samsung's engineers, but the electronics giant has no date set for rolling out a fix. Langasek said in December that Sammy feared the bug is triggered by the kernel driver, which also causes issues on Samsung systems when booted in EFI mode. It doesn't appear to matter whether Secure Boot is enabled or disabled.
Good heads-up. Thank you.
Tried to rep you but couldn't. Have to spread it around.
Anyway, as I understood it, the culprit is poorly written firmware by Samsung engineers. That's why Samsun repaired it under warranty.
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Samsung repaired the laptop, which was under warranty, by replacing the motherboard. When the same thing occurred with the repaired machine, the user alerted the Ubuntu development team.
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The Ubuntu development team has held talks with Samsung staff, who have identified the kernel's samsung-laptop driver as the prime suspect. This driver has previously had issues – it had caused problems for other Samsung laptop owners when booting Linux using UEFI. Also involved in analysing the problem is Intel developer Matt Fleming, who posted two kernel changes for discussion a week ago. Since one of them ensures that the Samsung driver is not activated if Linux is started using UEFI, this should resolve the problem. It appears at present that this should be sufficient to prevent damage to Samsung laptops; however, these two patches have yet to be merged into either the main Linux development tree or recently released stable and long-term kernels 3.0.61, 3.4.28 and 3.7.5.
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According to Canonical's Steve Langasek, Samsung developers have been attempting to develop a firmware update to prevent the problem for several weeks ...
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It is understood the "critical" bug is linked to the Samsung hardware driver* and the machine's Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) - but it is unconnected to the controversial UEFI Secure Boot mechanism used to run Microsoft's Windows 8 and other cryptographically signed operating systems.
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"Yeesh. I hate UEFI - this should clearly be impossible with correctly written firmware," one bug reporter wrote.
I know that the EFI specification from Intel has been around for years, largely to replace BIOS. Then came the UEFI specificaton.
But it was never "required" prior to Windows 8. Microsoft's certification requirements now require that computers include firmware that implements the UEFI specification.
As someone who works on a lot of computers, that's pretty scary. I'd sure hate to boot a computer from a Linux-based disk to recover files, reset a password, remove malware, etc and have it brick the computer.
As someone who works on a lot of computers, that's pretty scary. I'd sure hate to boot a computer from a Linux-based disk to recover files, reset a password, remove malware, etc and have it brick the computer.
Would booting from a live disc do it or do you have to install?
But it only happens on some very specific Samsung laptop models - those that have a poorly implemented UEFI firmware installed by Samsung engineers. Ironically, they're the more expensive Samsung models, not the cheapo line.
My friend just installed Ubuntu 12.10 last night on one of his old, throw away Samsung laptops and it worked fine.
I was wondering if setting the BIOS (UEFI) to compatibility or legacy mode would prevent the issue, seems it does.
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