Booting Kernel > 4.19 on HP Envy x360 (2017 Ryzen 5 2500U)

**TL;DR:** If you're using the F.20 BIOS for this laptop, you might be having issues booting kernels newer than 4.19. If you have the F.19 BIOS, you can boot newer kernels.


**Disclaimer**

If you're already on F.19, this post might be useful. If you are F.20, maybe it'll shed light on why newer kernels aren't booting on this machine. If you are on F.17, then flashing to F.19 might be an option, but you do so at your own risk. Take careful note of model numbers. YMMV.

**Overview**

The 2017 Model of the HP Envy x360 with the Ryzen 5 (my model is 15m-bq1xx) had a BIOS update F.19 Rev A that increased VRAM from 256 MB to 1024 MB, updated AGESA to 1.1.0.5, and had a number of security fixes.

However this release saw issues if you were running older HP-provided graphics drivers. HP released a higher version BIOS (F.20) that reverts the VRAM & AGESA back to 256MB and 1.0, respectively. You cannot downgrade from F.20 -> F.19.

**Relevance to Linux**

I was debating about following the steps I found [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/avn2f3/amd_ryzen_mobile_new_drivers_tested_ryzen_5_2500u/ehithat/) to flash the BIOS to F.19 with working drivers.

When searching a bit more, I found posts talking about [Linux not booting](https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/Downgrade-BIOS-on-HP-Envy-x360-cp0004no/td-p/6824819) when they upgraded to F.19. So I held off.

I remained on F.17 and upgraded my kernel to 5.0 only to find it could not boot. So I've been staying on 4.18 for the time being.

Flash forward a few months, I decide to flash F.19 forgetting about the Linux issue. After flashing, I'm able to boot any of the kernels I have for my Lubuntu install. I even re-tested a 19.04 Live USB that previously did not boot, and that also worked!

Now everything is running smoothly on both OS's.

**Additional Links**

* [Kernel 4.20 amdgpu fails to load firmware on Ryzen 2500U](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109206)
* [F.19 BIOS from HP](https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-envy-15m-cp0000-x360-convertible-pc/20270308/model/21925604/swItemId/ob-217449-1)

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Thanks

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Weekend Fluff / Linux in the Wild Thread - June 07, 2019

Welcome to the weekend! This stickied thread is for you to post pictures of your ubuntu 2006 install disk, slackware floppies, on-topic memes or more.

When it's not the weekend, be sure to check out r/WildLinuxAppears or r/linuxmemes!

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​

Use case:

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>error: Remote listing for flathub not available; server has no summary file
Check the URL passed to remote-add was valid.

This is in response to:
>flatpak install flathub net.ankiweb.Anki


I was able to install flatpak with no issues, and I really can't find much help with this. Thanks in advance for anything you can give me!!!

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I've been trying out desktop environments on my laptop and I came to the realization that the budgie desktop is actually a really good de.And it makes me angry that this desktop never gets recommended or treated as well as other de's: kde-xfce-gnome....

What do you think ?

Upvote or downvote to represent your thoughts.

And maybe change my mind

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