Situation

I have recently installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on a new HP 17-ca1124ng laptop.

Unfortunately, however, I realized that the OS will boot only when the laptop is charging. When trying to boot Ubuntu without having the laptop on a charger, I am asked to decrypt the hard drive (which works) but then the boot process just hangs on a black screen. Booting while on charger, then disconnecting from the charger works perfectly fine.

Resolution attempts

• new install of Ubuntu 20.04 did not cut it
• BIOS reset did not cut it
• changing GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/grub/default to
  • GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash dis_ucode_ldr" and running sudo update-grub did not cut it
  • GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash" and running sudo update-grub to maybe get some info on what fails but everything is flagged as OK during boot

Questions

1. Is this a hardware or software issue?
2. If this is software related, how do I fix this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Similar issues

• Ubuntu 18.04 won't boot on battery power
• Dell Forum discussion on laptops only booting Linux is charger is connected

unfortunately I experience the following error when running

$ gpg2 --refresh-keys
gpg: refreshing 18 keys from hkps://keys.openpgp.org
gpg: keyserver refresh failed: General error

As you can gather from the above, I've configured the keyserver to be hkps://keys.openpgp.org in ~/.gnupg/dirmngr.conf as suggested here. This is the full content of ~/.gnupg/dirmngr.conf:

keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org
verbose
debug 4096
debug-level 4096
debug-all
log-file /tmp/dirmngr.log

Running gpg2 --refresh-keys again after pkill dirmngr gives this in /tmp/dirmngr.log

2020-04-19 23:36:35 dirmngr[20588.0] listening on socket '/home/whoami/.gnupg/S.dirmngr'
2020-04-19 23:36:35 dirmngr[20589.0] can't access directory '/etc/gnupg2/trusted-certs': No such file or directory
2020-04-19 23:36:35 dirmngr[20589.0] can't access directory '/etc/gnupg2/extra-certs': No such file or directory
2020-04-19 23:36:35 dirmngr[20589.0] permanently loaded certificates: 0
2020-04-19 23:36:35 dirmngr[20589.0]     runtime cached certificates: 0
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] handler for fd 0 started
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> # Home: /home/whoami/.gnupg
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> # Config: /home/whoami/.gnupg/dirmngr.conf
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> OK Dirmngr 2.1.11 at your service
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] connection from process 20586 (1000:1000)
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 <- GETINFO version
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> D 2.1.11
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> OK
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 <- KEYSERVER
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> S KEYSERVER hkps://keys.openpgp.org
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 -> OK
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: chan_0 <- KS_GET -- LIST_OF_KEYS
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] resolve_dns_addr for 'keys.openpgp.org': 'keys.openpgp.org' [already known]
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] resolve_dns_addr for 'keys.openpgp.org': 'keys.openpgp.org' [already known]
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] TLS verification of peer failed: status=0x0042
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] TLS verification of peer failed: The certificate is NOT trusted. The certificate issuer is unknown. 
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: expected hostname: keys.openpgp.org
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: BEGIN Certificate 'server[0]':
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:      serial: 031419524A880F1D74B7C7BF3514F95D3FFA
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   notBefore: 2020-04-02 04:32:09
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:    notAfter: 2020-07-01 04:32:09
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:      issuer: CN=Let's Encrypt Authority X3,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:     subject: CN=keys.openpgp.org
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   hash algo: 1.2.840.113549.1.1.11
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   SHA1 fingerprint: 447582CA4F0DDA406F88D52DBBDF35B16C060B7D
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: END Certificate
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: BEGIN Certificate 'server[1]':
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:      serial: 0A0141420000015385736A0B85ECA708
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   notBefore: 2016-03-17 16:40:46
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:    notAfter: 2021-03-17 16:40:46
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:      issuer: CN=DST Root CA X3,O=Digital Signature Trust Co.
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:     subject: CN=Let's Encrypt Authority X3,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   hash algo: 1.2.840.113549.1.1.11
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG:   SHA1 fingerprint: E6A3B45B062D509B3382282D196EFE97D5956CCB
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] DBG: END Certificate
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] TLS connection authentication failed: General error
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] error connecting to 'https://keys.openpgp.org:443': General error
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] TLS verification of peer failed: status=0x0042
2020-04-19 23:36:36 dirmngr[20589.0] TLS verification of peer failed: The certificate is NOT trusted. The certificate issuer is unknown. 

What's the problem here?

• Do I have to specify (TLS) certificates for gpg2 separately? If yes, how do I do so?
• Or am I missing something in ~./gnupg/dirmngr.conf?
• Or why else is the TLS connection failing?

Thanks in advance for your help!

EDIT 1

$ gpg2 --version | head -n 1
gpg (GnuPG) 2.1.11

EDIT 2

$ dirmngr --version | head -n 1
dirmngr (GnuPG) 2.1.11

After reading the log more thoroughly and checking the dirmngr manpage, I realized that on my system the whole /etc/gnupg directory is missing.

FILES

   Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:

   ~/.gnupg

   /etc/gnupg
          The first is the standard home directory for  all  configuration
          files.   In  the deprecated system daemon mode the second direc‐
          tory is used instead.

   /etc/gnupg/trusted-certs
          This directory should be filled with certificates  of  Root  CAs
          you are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Reponses.

          Usually  these are the same certificates you use with the appli‐
          cations making use of dirmngr.  It  is  expected  that  each  of
          these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certifi‐
          cate in a file with the suffix ‘.crt’ or ‘.der’.  dirmngr  reads
          those certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP.  Certifi‐
          cates which are not readable or do not make up  a  proper  X.509
          certificate are ignored; see the log file for details.

          Applications  using  dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these cer‐
          tificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with  the
          extra-certs directory (see below).

          Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
          option --ocsp-signer is always considered  valid  to  sign  OCSP
          requests.

   /etc/gnupg/extra-certs
          This  directory  may  contain  extra certificates which are pre‐
          loaded into the interal cache  on  startup.  Applications  using
          dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete
          a trust chain.  This is convenient in cases you  have  a  couple
          intermediate  CA  certificates  or certificates ususally used to
          sign OCSP reponses.  These certificates are first  tried  before
          going  out to the net to look for them.  These certificates must
          also be DER encoded and suffixed with ‘.crt’ or ‘.der’.

Since this might be of relevance, how can I create and fill /etc/gnupg with its default values? Or do I have to do it manually? And why is this directory missing in the first place?

A few moments ago I wanted to shut down my laptop and got the standard question whether I would like to install updates in the process. I checked the box and was very surprised to see my ThinkPad reboot into a black screen only saying "Please wait while we install a system update" and a rotating /.

After a while, my laptop shutdown and I could reboot normally. But what happened and what was this message about?

EDIT:
Before running into this issue, I loaded a firmware update via Gnome Software and have not previously shutdown the computer. Was the "weird" update process result of this firmware update?

Today I've realized that I can't switch bluetooth on and off

(i) from the settings GUI with the slider (the slider moves, yet there is no menu available for selecting detected devices) and
(ii) by pressing the respective function key on my Lenovo Thinkpad T470 running Ubuntu 18.04.

Interestingly, it has worked fine previously and I can switch bluetooth on and off from the command line with sudo rfkill unblock all and rfkill block bluetooth, respectively.

What is the problem here?

Additional info:

• rfkill list returns that bluetooth is soft- but not hard blocked.

Is it possible to set up recurring tasks (say weekly or monthly) in Gnome's Evolution mail client? If yes, how?

Is it possible to sort files in Nautilus by multiple attributes (e.g. first by type and second by name) globally? I.e. can I do this without having to first click on one column and on another one afterwards, everytime I open a folder/directory?

Despite considering all the following posts,

[1] L2TP IPsec VPN client on Ubuntu 14.10 [2] How to connect to L2TP over IPSec VPN? [3] How to connect to L2TP over IPSec VPN? [4] l2tp/ipsec problem [5] Can´t connect VPN using network-manager-l2tp [6] L2TP/IPsec NetworkManager plugin using only username, password and PSK

I have been unable to set up a connection to my university's VPN.

Although strongswan and network-manager-l2tp are running, and all data (gateway/vpn ip, username, password, pre-shared key, phase1 & phase2 algorithms) are entered, I get the error message that the "Connection failed: Activation of network connection failed."

What am I missing?

EDIT 1:

ike-scan
terminal output:

130.82.18.20 Main Mode Handshake returned HDR=(CKY-R=e8f536147acee1d4) SA=(Enc=3DES Hash=SHA1 Group=2:modp1024 Auth=PSK LifeType=Seconds LifeDuration=28800) VID=4048b7d56ebce88525e7de7f00d6c2d3c0000000 (IKE Fragmentation)

Thus, I have set the "Advanced Options"-Tab to:
Phase 1 = 3des-sha1-modp1024
Phase 2 = 3des-sha1
[no UDP encapsulation]

system xl2tpd

Stopping the system xl2tpd in the terminal hasn't helped either.

While trying to setup my L2TP/IPSec VPN with strongswan and the network-manager-l2tp on Ubuntu 17.10 I accidentally deleted the ipsec.conf file from /etc.

Reinstalling strongswan didn't help to recreate the ipsec.conf file. How should I proceed if I still want to configure a L2TP/IPSec VPN connection?