I have a Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 with 128 GB Ram and 8 TB of internal NVME storage. It’s pretty beefy. I have been a Fedora Linux Power User for several years, a former CentOS User before that for many years and recently a former SE for Red Hat Software. I have had many Lenovo laptops running Fedora and CentOS and they have always worked very well. I retired in 2024 and purchased this Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 Model in December 2024 so it’s not quite a year old which may be a reason for my issues. Anyway, when I received this unit in December 2024, I built it with the then Stable Fedora Release at that time which I think might have been Fedora 40. Everything has worked very well after multiple “dnf updates” about every two weeks to stay fairly current and secure. Throughout the year, I then decided to upgrade to Fedora Release 41, after monitoring it’s progress to GA, unaware that I was crossing over into unsupported territory! It also has worked very well up to recently even after multiple “dnf updates” about every two weeks to stay fairly current and secure. According to my “dnf history list” command, on 10-19-2025 while on the Fedora 41 Release, I did a “dnf update” and days later noticed that my Bluetooth no longer worked? I didn’t notice it at first so I later suspected that I had a hardware failure so I contacted Lenovo Support since I had a Premier Support Contract. After going back and forth a couple of times with their Support personnel for things for me to try, they pointed me to this information below which says that Lenovo has only Certified up to Fedora Release 40 on this laptop platform! Bummer! Looks like I got a little ahead of myself by already be utilizing Fedora Release 41 before it was tested on this laptop. There is no Docking Hardware involved here for now.
As per this table, I downloaded the Live Fedora 40 image here on this table, created a Live Bootable USB stick, booted it and verified that my Bluetooth now worked. This now lets Lenovo Support off the hook since I was now on an unsupported/untested Fedora Release as verified via the Fedora Live Release 40 USB stick that my Bluetooth now worked. Now my last Full Backup was dated 9-29-2025, which was still on the Fedora 41 Release but everything at least worked at that point, so I had a decision to make. Do I either try to reverse the “dnf updates” to a point where everything worked or possibly just upgrade to Release 42 which was now GA since April of 2025? At this point, I decided to do both an incremental Backup dated 10-20-2025 and a separate Full Backup dated 10-23-2025. Since I previously had successes upgrading to newer stable Releases on previous Lenovo laptops, I decided to go that route and upgraded to Release 42. My problems then worsened beyond just the Bluetooth no longer working, I encountered Suspend no longer functioning as well as various system hangs when connecting to my external monitor. This Fedora 42 upgrade turned out to be a Bad decision. So now rather than trying to troubleshoot this scenario myself, I decided to revert to my Full Backup dated 10-23-2025. The backup restoration worked perfectly and I was now back to the point before I upgraded to Release 42. At least, I thought I was was? So all the data was as expected as per the restoration to the Full Backup dated 10-23-2025 but my Bluetooth still did not work, my Suspend still did not function and I would lockup after connecting to my external monitor? So my question is, it appears that the “dnf update” command updates not only the software packages on the NVME storage devices but also in the firmware as well that won’t be reverted to the state in my Full Backup dated 10-23-2025 because it is located in firmware somewhere and not on the NVME storage devices? Is that a true statement and would this result in my experience? Do you Guys agree with my conclusion here? If so, what would you recommend? Will Lenovo and Fedora eventually support Fedora 42 based upon your experiences?
Gnome software updates some firmware, but dnf update does not.
Is your computer part of the ‘Fedora Ready’ program between Fedora and Lenovo? I think there is a proposal to make such computers be maintained to the latest release, but in reality we see this a lot with Lenovos.
Problems with BlueTooth, networking, and sound are not unusual after major linux updates. I have learned to have USB dongles to use while waiting for vendor firmware updates and/or kernel bug fixes. You can use the LHDB to search for your BT hardware to see if others are having problems. Sometimes there are user comments with workarounds.
Not being able to suspend my laptop is a major obstacle for me! Any ideas on how to do that? After I restored my last Full Backup dated 10-23-2025, I’m very surprised that I didn’t regain that functionality because I thought it functioned at that point? I do have another Full Backup dated 9-29-2025 where I was positive I had this functionality. Do you Guys think I should revert to that Backup or do you think there is an easier way to regain this Suspend functionality? Maybe revert system firmware back to an earlier version perhaps? I’m assuming that system firmware would be the best option to regain functionality that existed before my Upgrade to Fedora 42? You Guys agree?
It is difficult to say that F42 is the culprit. However reading your description, gives hope to fix it while digging into it and search new drivers.
It might be a good idea to use the live iso to check your gear first, if we do release a new version of fedora.
What I would do is to give more information about your docking station and about your hardware in general. Inxi -Fzxx gives a quite good overview of your system. Then you could share the output with us.
If you have frequent problems with your Bluetooth, it might be an idea to change the Wifi adapter if the BT chip is on it. Do hardware check as @gnwiii proposed.
The firmware might be on your NVME, it gets written into the EFI partition. To remove that you would have to create the partition newly. Before that do the checks and deliver us the info’s that we can help you debug.
Please create a F43 Live ISO and have a look if you face the same issues.
Sorry for the delay. I was on the road. So today, I created Live USB sticks for Fedora 41, 42 and 43. I tried them all with the same results. They all worked fine with no failures of Bluetooth, my Suspend worked fine and connecting an external monitor worked fine as well! I was incorrect in saying I had a Docking Station in the mix, I do not. I could not see any failures in operation whatsoever! So here is the output for the inxi -Fzxx command:
When I booted from these Live USB Sticks I noticed with the lshw command the System Firmware was the same as if I booted from the internal drive. I updated to the 1.61 UEFI: LENOVO v: N3TET61W (1.61 ) date: 08/22/2025
On November 2nd, 2025, I used the Grub feature to boot to an alternate older kernel and now my Bluetooth and Suspend functions work as well as the connection to a directly connected monitor without any stability issues. Using any Grub Kernel selection newer than this, results in my issues returning. I also installed the hardware probe from the Fedora Hardware Hub, performed a Probe function and then uploaded the Probe afterwards.
The is the kernel that works for now via a Grub selection: Linux fedora 6.16.8-100.fc41.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Sep 19 16:41:07 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux
So after using my system all day today, after determining that rebooting with an older kernel via the Grub menu now made it operationally stable, I have a couple of questions. I’m assuming it would not be wise to perform a “sudo dnf update” at this point because it could cause a FIFO situation where a new kernel gets loaded into Grub and pushes out the older kernel I need to operate in a stable environment, correct? Should I only perform Security Updates through the cockpit interface to stay secure? Should I assume that there will be better support for my Lenovo Mobile Workstation in the near future since I uploaded a Hardware Probe to the Fedora Hardware Probe Database? So my bluetooth works and pairs with my bluetooth headset as it did before, my laptop behaves now when I connect an external monitor directly to it and the Suspend functions as it should now as well. I am now at sudo uname -a
Linux fedora 6.16.8-100.fc41.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Sep 19 16:41:07 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Anything newer than this becomes problematic.
Thank you for your recommendations, your expertise and efforts here!
