LenovoThinkpad P53 P73 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Installation v1.0
LenovoThinkpad P53 P73 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Installation v1.0
LenovoThinkpad P53 P73 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Installation v1.0
• Boot into BIOS by pressing the function F1 key at the “Lenovo” splash screen.
• Tab over to the ‘Restart’ menu tab and set “OS Optimized Defaults” to “Disabled”.
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• Switching the “OS Optimized Defaults” settings may give a warning message. Select
“Yes” to continue to disable OS Optimized Defaults.
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• Pressing F9 function key will allow Legacy and UEFI bootable devices by setting
“UEFI/Legacy Boot” to “Both”; otherwise, it will be an unchangeable setting to “UEFI only”.
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Section 2 – Discrete vs Hybrid Graphics
The Thinkpad P53 and P73 offer both Nvidia and Intel graphics. To run exclusively Nvidia
graphics, use the discrete graphics mode highlighted below.
• Boot into BIOS, tab over to the “Config” menu option, and select the “Display” option.
• By default, the “Graphics Device” will likely be set to “Hybrid Graphics”. To run exclusively
Nvidia graphics, set the “Graphics Device” to “Discrete Graphics”.
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Section 3 – Installing Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS
Please refer to the following instructions and screenshots on how to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on
the Lenovo Thinkpad P53 and P73.
• Insert the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installation media (either through USB or CD/DVD).
• Power on the system and press the F12 function key whenever the following Lenovo
splash screen appears.
• Select the Linux bootable installation media from the F12 boot menu list.
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• Highlight “Install Ubuntu” from the GRUB boot menu and press ‘e’.
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• The Ubuntu Linux Welcome Screen should appear. Select the appropriate language and
“Continue”.
• Choose the keyboard layout and language accordingly by selecting each one.
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• Select “Normal Installation” and “Continue”.
• Choose the installation type. For simplicity, this guide was done using “Erase disk and
install Ubuntu”
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• If more than one drive is detected in the system, the installation will prompt which drive to
use to install the operating system on.
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• Choose the appropriate geographical location and select “Continue”.
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• Ubuntu installation progress bar will be shown.
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• Remove the installation media and press ENTER.
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Section 4 – Wireless Network Driver
The wireless network driver isn’t native to the Ubuntu Linux 18.04 kernel. Therefore, the wireless
device will not work following the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installation by default. However, here are a
couple of workarounds to get the wireless network working on the Thinkpad P53 and P73.
Option 1:
# sudo reboot
Option 2:
- Upgrade to the Linux kernel 5.0 and linux-firmware to the latest version by using the
following commands:
# sudo reboot
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Section 5 – Installing the Nvidia Graphics Driver
In order to get optimal performance out of the Nvidia GPU, it’s a good idea to install the Nvidia
graphics driver.
There are a couple of different ways to install the Nvidia driver: through the Ubuntu upstream
repository or by downloading the Nvidia driver from Nvidia’s website and installing manually.
Option 1: Install the Nvidia graphics driver from the Ubuntu Repository.
# sudo reboot
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Option 2: Install the Nvidia graphics driver manually.
1. Download the latest Nvidia graphics driver for the appropriate Nvidia GPU from
nvidia.com/drivers.
2. Open a terminal window and stop x-windows by using the following command.
# sudo init 3
# chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-64-*
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4. Run the Nvidia driver executable by using the following command.
# ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64*
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6. Select “No” to not register the kernel module with DKMS.
7. Select “OK”.
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8. Select “Ignore CC version check”.
9. Select “OK”.
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10. Nvidia driver installing progress bar may appear.
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12. Select “Yes” to update the X-configuration file to use the Nvidia X driver.
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14. Execute the following command to verify the Nvidia driver is loaded.
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Section 6 – Revision History
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