Lo all. I have a k55a-si50301p laptop since early 2014. It has been MORE than great. I replaced the stock 500GB WD BLUE 5400 rpm Drive with a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB. Removed the Optical DVD Drive and replaced it with a HDD/SSD Caddy Adapter to go there instead. I installed a WD Black 500GB in there. Also the max you are supposed to be able to upgrade this laptop memory-wise is 8GB, but I decided to try 16GB (CMSX16GX3M2B1600C9) and it worked without a problem.
I want to run QUBES OS on the 2nd drive doing dual-boot. The QUBES OS site says this:
Even on supported hardware, you must ensure that IOMMU-based virtualization is activated in the BIOS. Without it, Qubes OS won’t be able to enforce isolation. For Intel-based boards, this setting is called Intel Virtualization for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) and for AMD-based boards, it is called AMD I/O Virtualization Technology (or simply AMD-Vi). This parameter should be activated in your computer’s BIOS, alongside the standard Virtualization (Intel VT-x) and AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) extensions. This external guide made for Intel-based boards can help you figure out how to enter your BIOS to locate and activate those settings. If those settings are not nested under the Advanced tab, you might find them under the Security tab.
I know that the processor (i5-3230M) supports "Intel Virtualization Technology" and "Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables" But I am unaware if this machine has The IOMMU-Based virtualization or the Intel VT-d. I was unable to install the OS, but I hope I am just missing a setting in the BIOS.
