HP EliteBook 840 G2

Resources

Gentoo is able to run smoothly on this hardware, however it is recommended to SPEND some time in the BIOS to know its hardware and get familiar with is names.

Hardware

The following is the hardware as listed by BIOS. It is strongly recommended that you update the BIOS before installing Gentoo , there is an option to update it without the need to install an operative system, you just need to adjust network settings inside BIOS.

System Board ID: 2216
BIOS Version: M71 Ver. 01.27
Bios Release Date: July 12th 2018
BIOS Revision: INTEL(R) VBIOS (5.5.1040)
Processor Type: Intel Core i7-5600U
Processor Speed: 2.60 GHz
Memory Size: 8192 MB RAM
Memory Slot Information: 2x Samsung 4096 MB RAM @ 1600 MHz
HDD Model: SanDisk SD7SB2Q-512G-1006
HDD Size: 512GB
WLAN
Bluetooth
Ethernet

BIOS

Inside BIOS there are three "Boot Modes" available:

Legacy
UEFI Hybrid (With CSM)
UEFI Native (Without CSM)

For some unknown reason I wasn't able to boot Linux in "Legacy mode", internet pointed out that may be related to HDD Model listed in section above, so I selected "UEFI Hybrid" and it could be booted correctly. You just need to take note that "UEFI Hybrid" allows you to have MBR/DOS partition layout.

Partition Layout

As stated in the previous version, installation was done using MBR/DOS partition layout. If using such layout, it is recommended that first partition starts at sector 2048

Hardware as reported by Linux

root #lspci -nn

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI [8086:1604] (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 5500 [8086:1616] (rev 09)
00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller [8086:160c] (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller [8086:9cb1] (rev 03)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 [8086:9cba] (rev 03)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (3) I218-LM [8086:15a2] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller [8086:9ca0] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 [8086:9c90] (rev e3)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #2 [8086:9c92] (rev e3)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #4 [8086:9c96] (rev e3)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB EHCI Controller [8086:9ca6] (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller [8086:9cc3] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] [8086:9c83] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller [8086:9ca2] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5227 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5227] (rev 01)
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 [8086:095a] (rev 48)

root #lsusb

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 04ca:7053 Lite-On Technology Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 138a:003f Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS495 Fingerprint Reader
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub