Laptops/CPUs on which it's impossible/unfeasible to install Linux OSs; room for a thread?

A few weeks ago I bought a laptop from Amazon with Win10, intending to install a Linux OS instead of Win10. I got to the bios/uefa easy enough, but couldn't change boot order to allow installation via USB. Asus customer service told me that the CPU on Vivobook S513EA wouldn't allow installation of any another OS; the CPU is Coffee Lake (Intel). Of course I sent the vivobook straight back for a refund. But I'd like to suggest a new thread where experiences like this would warn anyone about to buy a new machine which ones it'd be impossible to install a Linux OS on. The customer service worker who answered me added that Asus doesn't support installation of other OSs. Not sure what that means; possibly just that they don't make machines with no OS installed? I installed Zorin on my battered old HP a few months ago when Windows just blacked out and would've needed reinstallation. I changed bios boot order then installed fom usb in just a few minutes. Maybe a thread devoted to listing problematic laptop models/CPUs would be useful?

Originally Posted by doctorfever A few weeks ago I bought a laptop from Amazon with Win10, intending to install a Linux OS instead of Win10. I got to the bios/uefa easy enough, but couldn't change boot order to allow installation via USB. Asus customer service told me that the CPU on Vivobook S513EA wouldn't allow installation of any another OS; the CPU is Coffee Lake (Intel). Of course I sent the vivobook straight back for a refund. But I'd like to suggest a new thread where experiences like this would warn anyone about to buy a new machine which ones it'd be impossible to install a Linux OS on. The customer service worker who answered me added that Asus doesn't support installation of other OSs. Not sure what that means; possibly just that they don't make machines with no OS installed? I installed Zorin on my battered old HP a few months ago when Windows just blacked out and would've needed reinstallation. I changed bios boot order then installed fom usb in just a few minutes. Maybe a thread devoted to listing problematic laptop models/CPUs would be useful?

They lied. The CPU is not the issue, it is the BIOS/Firmware. If you can get around that, the CPU is perfectly happy running Linux. For example https://access.redhat.com/articles/4098681

The first trick is that you need a kernel at level 4.15 or later. Kernels in the 5.x series are a better bet.
The second is to get around that bios restriction. Check the other settings, I believe there is one for security that affects your ability to select removable devices as options for the boot list.

I do not have that hardware, so I cannot test and report details.

Originally Posted by doctorfever Asus customer service told me that the CPU on Vivobook S513EA wouldn't allow installation of any another OS

Sounds like the sort of stunt Lenovo would pull. Thanks for the heads-up.

My experience is that the cpu is never the issue, but your friend may have identified the model by it's cpu.

Bios can stop the linux install. Graphics and/or chipset can give great grief. but a cpu always runs it's instructions.

I assume it could aso be a windows thing. It isn't likely that it can't run linux.

Some usb drives need to boot twice in order for bios to see it. Are you sure you have a fully supported uefi boot usb and tested with secure boot?

USB drive ought to show up in hard drive order choice by the way. You don't boot to usb. In some bios's you actually may have two choices like uefi usb and a legacy/csm boot choice.

See if you can get to uefi shell if worse comes to worse.

Thanks for your answers. I don't recall the exact words of the Asus rep, but it was to the effect that there was no CSM. I found an article online which refers to this problemhttps://www.top-password.com/knowled...y-support.html The usb I used has worked fine to both install and reinstall Zorin on my older laptop; Zorin worked fine right away WLAN included, took only about 4 minutes to install.I'm afraid I have no idea what a kernel and shell mean this context, I'm not technical minded, I can't work out technical problems, I'd need step by step instructions like in the article I've linked to; I went for Zorin as you simply download the iso direct from the Zorin site.

Originally Posted by doctorfever Thanks for your answers. I don't recall the exact words of the Asus rep, but it was to the effect that there was no CSM. I found an article online which refers to this problemhttps://www.top-password.com/knowled...y-support.html The usb I used has worked fine to both install and reinstall Zorin on my older laptop; Zorin worked fine right away WLAN included, took only about 4 minutes to install.I'm afraid I have no idea what a kernel and shell mean this context, I'm not technical minded, I can't work out technical problems, I'd need step by step instructions like in the article I've linked to; I went for Zorin as you simply download the iso direct from the Zorin site.

Perhaps the "impossible/unfeasible " in the title should really be "challenging". In this case it appears the machine CAN run Linux, if you can get it there, but it may be challenging to load. Those of us doing it for years find a challenge stimulating, whereas someone newer to the task may find it daunting.

There is always a way to do it. There may NOT always be a tutorial or step-by-step defined process or documentation for doing it, unless one of us given to creating detailed documentation has already accomplished the task!

@OP. Is this your laptop?

Update. Oops. Disregard it. It says Tiger Lake. But perhaps you can find your model in that database? Here and here are examples of VivoBooks with Coffee Lake processors.

#1. Forget Asus tech.
#2. Search online, plenty of others seem to have made it work.
Online it says to use latest kernel.

Originally Posted by shruggy @OP. Is this your laptop? Update. Oops. Disregard it. It says Tiger Lake. But perhaps you can find your model in that database? Here and here are examples of VivoBooks with Coffee Lake processors.

link regarding TigerLake needs updating:
last working kernel supporting TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] is 5.14.x
Kernels 5.15.x and 5.160rcX will cause GPU HANG, so any distro providing the latest kernel will fail to run on TigerLake-LP.