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[Mike Hehir <1734147@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I used 32bit boot-repair-disk iso yesterday to try fix a grub problem.
Looks like it's built on unpatched Ubuntu 17.10. My bios is now corrupt
and unable to boot from USB, worse grub wasn't fixed so my tablet is now
a paperweight (maybe a powerbank, suppose it has some use. Fujitsu Q584
using InsydeH20 v5.0 bios.

Can't boot anything so only fix appears to involve a lot of soldering on
miniature components, not something I'd be confident doing. Really
disappointed Canonical consider this problem solved and have not done
more to remove unpatched Ubuntu from the wild.

I've read through all the comments and I don't see any fix that would
work in this circumstance. I know it's an old machine but was really
responsive and usable from my very brief experience on Linux. I'm
concerned others may try to revive old machines with Linux and suffer
same fate.

** Also affects: boot-repair
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1734147

Title:
  corrupted BIOS due to Intel SPI bug in kernel

Status in Boot-Repair:
  New
Status in Linux:
  Unknown
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in linux-hwe-edge source package in Xenial:
  Fix Released
Status in linux-oem source package in Xenial:
  Fix Released
Status in linux source package in Artful:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  An update to linux kernel on Ubuntu 17.10 that enabled the Intel SPI
  drivers results in a serial flash that is read only in Intel Broadwell
  and Haswell machines with serial flashes with SPI_NOR_HAS_LOCK set.

  Symptoms:
   * BIOS settings cannot be saved
   * USB Boot impossible
   * EFI entries read-only.

  ---

  Fix: The issue was fixed in kernel version 4.13.0-21 by configuring
  the kernel so it is not compiled with Intel SPI support. But previous
  affected machines still suffered from a broken BIOS.

  Repair: If you still can boot into Ubuntu, you can recover your BIOS
  with the following steps:

  1. Boot into Ubuntu
  2. Download http://people.canonical.com/~ypwong/lp1734147/linux-image-4.15.0-041500rc6-generic_4.15.0-041500rc6.201712312330+20170103+1_amd64.deb
  3. Install the downloaded package:
    $ sudo dpkg -i linux-image-4.15.0-041500rc6-generic_4.15.0-041500rc6.201712312330+20170103+1_amd64.deb
  4. Make sure the kernel is installed without any error. Once installed, reboot.
  5. At grub, choose the newly installed kernel. You can choose the "recovery" mode.
  6. Reboot and go to BIOS settings to confirm your BIOS has been recovered.
  7. In case your BIOS is not recovered, reboot to the new kernel, then reboot *once again* to the new kernel, do not enter BIOS settings before the reboot. After the second reboot, check BIOS.
  8. If your BIOS issue remains, download another kernel from http://people.canonical.com/~ypwong/lp1734147/linux-image-4.15.0-041500rc6-generic_4.15.0-041500rc6.201712312330+clear+debug_amd64.deb, and use dpkg to install it, then repeat steps 4 to 6.

  After your BIOS is fixed, the kernel packages you just installed are
  no longer needed, you can remove it by running 'sudo dpkg -r linux-
  image-4.15.0-041500rc6-generic'.

  The patch used to build the linux v4.15 kernel in step 8 can be found
  at https://goo.gl/xUKJFR.

  If you have applied updates, and find that you can not boot the above
  fixed kernel because of Secure Boot and that the kernel is unsigned,
  but can still boot another kernel for your system; here's what you can
  do:

  1) Download http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/uefi/grub2-amd64/current/grubx64.efi.signed:
  $ wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/uefi/grub2-amd64/current/grubx64.efi.signed

  2) Copy grubx64.efi.signed over /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi:
  $ sudo cp grubx64.efi.signed /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi

  3) Reboot; you should now be able to load the new unsigned kernel that
  allows fixing firmware / SPI.

  4) Once you're satisfied that things work; boot to Ubuntu with a
  standard, signed kernel, and re-install the right GRUB version for
  your system:

  $ sudo grub-install

  ---

  Test Case: Fix has been verified by our HWE team on affected hardware.

  Regression Potential: Minimal, it's unlikely anyone is actually doing
  anything which requires this driver.

  ---

  Affected Machines:

  Lenovo B40-70
  Lenovo B50-70
  Lenovo B50-80
  Lenovo Flex-3
  Lenovo Flex-10
  Lenovo G40-30
  Lenovo G50-30
  Lenovo G50-70
  Lenovo G50-80
  Lenovo S20-30
  Lenovo U31-70
  Lenovo Y50-70
  Lenovo Y70-70
  Lenovo Yoga Thinkpad (20C0)
  Lenovo Yoga 2 11" - 20332
  Lenovo Yoga 3 11"
  Lenovo Z50-70
  Lenovo Z51-70
  Lenovo ideapad 100-15IBY

  Acer Aspire E5-771G
  Acer Aspire ES1-111M-C1LE (fixed following your new instruction (thank you))
  Acer TravelMate B113
  Acer Swift SF314-52 (Fixed by 4.14.9)
  Toshiba Satellite S55T-B5233
  Toshiba Satellite L50-B-1R7
  Toshiba Satellite S50-B-13G
  Toshiba Satellite L70-A-13M
  Dell Inspiron 15-3531
  Mediacom Smartbook 14 Ultra M-SB14UC (fixed with official fix)
  Acer Aspire E3-111-C0UM
  HP 14-r012la

  ---

  Affected serial flash devices by manufacturer part number, JEDEC ID (SPI_NOR_HAS_LOCK set in drivers/mtd/spi-nor/spi-nor.c)
  /* ESMT */
     f25l32pa, 0x8c2016
     f25l32qa, 0x8c4116
     f25l64qa, 0x8c4117
  /* GigaDevice */
     gd25q16, 0xc84015
     gd25q32, 0xc84016
     gd25lq32, 0xc86016
     gd25q64, 0xc84017
     gd25lq64c, 0xc86017
     gd25q128, 0xc84018
     gd25q256, 0xc84019
  /* Winbond */
     w25q16dw, 0xef6015
     w25q32dw, 0xef6016
     w25q64dw, 0xef6017
     w25q128fw, 0xef6018

  ---

  Original Description:

  Basically on Lenovo Y50-70 after installing Ubuntu 17.10, many users
  reported a corrupted BIOS.

  It's not possible to save new settings in BIOS anymore and after
  rebooting, the system starts with the old settings.

  Moreover (and most important) USB booting is not possible anymore
  since USB is not recognized. It's very serious, since our machines do
  not have a CDROM.

  Lenovo forums at the moment are full of topics regading this issue.

  Thank you!!

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