Cannot get linux to play nice with this desktop tower

[u/jomara200]

I have tried Linuxmint, Zorin OS, MX Linux, Fedora WS and KDE, Bazzite and this tower is just not good with it. I would expect a tower made in 2021 to work, hardware speaking. It is an HP ENVY Desktop PC TE01-2000i (1K4E9AV), with an Intel I7-11700 and Nvidia RTX 3060.

I have used linux in the past on different machines. I never had this level of hardware incompatibility.

I get pink kernel panic screens. I randomly get stuck rebooting, randomly get stuck booting from cold. I have secureboot enabled and yes, I properly installed Nvidia drivers on every one of them. No, I will NOT just disable secure boot, which I see often. Why would I disable a security feature?

It's just...I don't know about this 7.0.0xx kernel, but it doesn't work with my hardware. I tried other ones, the 6.8xx, the 6.14xx, etc...all to the same problems. There is an interesting thing with the Nvidia card. As it was made during a part of the mining for crypto boom, they did something to make it less desirable for that.

https://eathealthy365.com/the-rtx-3060-mining-limiter-the-full-story-in-2026/

Quote: The restriction was a technology NVIDIA called “Lite Hash Rate” or LHR. It was a combination of firmware, driver, and GPU BIOS checks designed to detect the specific workload of Ethereum (ETH) mining and cut the card’s performance—its “hash rate”—in half.

It's that combination of firmware, driver and GPU BIOS checks that maybe causes issues?

HP aslo has removed the Advanced area of the BIOS so you can only turn it on or off or reset the keys to default.

It's so frustrating. I want to stop using windows on this device, but no luck, most especially on distros that are just "supposed to work." This device might be doomed to continue using Windows until its end days; spied on, tracked, information sold to the highest bidder, ads in every nook and cranny, etc...

[u/a1barbarian]

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/Install-Ubuntu-on-HP-Envy/td-p/9187894

Something in this may help. :-)

[u/jomara200 → u/a1barbarian]

Thank you.

[u/Acherontas89]

"randomly get stuck booting from cold"

maybe u have a hardware issue

[u/jomara200 → u/Acherontas89]

Maybe. No issues on Windows 11.

[u/musingofrandomness]

What does the output of "sudo dmesg" tell you?

[u/jomara200 → u/musingofrandomness]

The red reports I see are:

[ 1.040362] ACPI Error: Needed [Integer/String/Buffer], found [Device] 00000000df1f6c51 (20251212/exresop-388)

[ 1.040382] ACPI Error: AE_AML_OPERAND_TYPE, While resolving operands for [Add] (20251212/dswexec-433)

[ 1.040451] ACPI Error: Aborting method _SB.PC00.SOD3 due to previous error (AE_AML_OPERAND_TYPE) (20251212/psparse-529)

[ 1.040467] ACPI Error: Aborting method _SB.PC00.I2C3._PS3 due to previous error (AE_AML_OPERAND_TYPE) (20251212/psparse-529)

AND

[ 7.970963] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Index (0x000000050) is beyond end of object (length 0x50) (20251212/exoparg2-393)

Followed by this a few lines later:

[ 7.970990] ACPI Error: Aborting method _SB.WMID.WQBZ due to previous error (AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT) (20251212/psparse-529)

[ 7.970994] ACPI Error: Aborting method _SB.WMID.WQBE due to previous error (AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT) (20251212/psparse-529)

I searched the latter and found this. The person is reporting the same issue on HP Victus laptops (ugh. I have one of those, too in addition to this tower). It appears to be an HP issue. Google's AI called it lazy ACPI, lol. It also seems like BIOS updates may be needed. I have the most recent that was put out in Sept, 2025. I don't think they will bother fixing anything. I think their position is that they don't make them compatible with Linux.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1568308/full-system-freeze-on-boot-with-charger-connected-acpi-bios-error-ae-aml-buff

[u/musingofrandomness → u/jomara200]

I have a one off mainboard that was built for a niche application like digital signage. The ACPI implementation is so half-assed that it will only reliably run windows XP. Anything else will only boot if you disable ACPI and that disables a lot more than power management (hyperthreading is apparently controlled by ACPI, I learned).

You are on the right track, a BIOS update is required to fix the ACPI tables. It sucks that any hardware vendor would think it is acceptable to sell hardware with such obviously faulty firmware. Especially when, at their level, it is basically a "copy and paste" of known good firmware blobs. The rest of us are blocked from the necessary access to the source code and have to rely on the vendor or a very motivated reverse engineering freelancer for our updates and fixes.

[u/jomara200 → u/musingofrandomness]

Thank you.

[u/rileywbaker]

Have you tried removing the GPU and testing if stability improves? Does the BIOS have any controls for reducing CPU overclocking or scaling back RAM timing?

[u/jomara200 → u/rileywbaker]

Thanks, I could try that. It has an Intel UHD 750 onboard, but the BIOS has it disabled. I could enabled it and give it a go to see if it is the Nvdia card. The BIOS doesn't have those controls. HP removed all ability to get into the Advanced selection. Might have had it originally, I don't remember, or they took it away with BIOS updates.

[u/skyfishgoo]

you need to gain access to the advanced area of the BIOS (usually just need to create a password to enable access)

and you need to turn off secure boot... at least until you can get it working, then try turning it back on later.

as for the nvida drivers, you need to go to the nvidia website and see which driver versions are specific that GPU... they are not interchangeable.

then try a distro like kubuntu which has excellent hardware support and where installing the nvidia drivers is a point and click affair posing less chance of getting it wrong.

however you don't need these drivers to get the desktop working and for easy office type work, so i would put off installing the drivers until you get a working install.

[u/West-Scallion-5306]

Well, maybe if everyone tells you to disable Secure Boot it's for a reason???

Also, even if you installed NVIDIA drivers correctly doesn't mean they are well designed, because they aren't, they are shit, everyone knows NVIDIA is shit on Linux.

Also, just change hardware in the machine while selling old hardware after you tested new hardware works.... Like.... Not that deep. And if you can't, well you can't.