I was unable to boot to live Linux distro to install Linux on my newly bought A485 ThinkPad laptop. Although I was initially dissapointed, I was not alone. This gist documents the information I gathered from the net to complete the installation.
At the time of posting this gist, the issue is still persistent. It might not be relevant anymore once Lenovo release a working BIOS update to resolve the issue. [Update 19/01/2019]: Updating to BIOS 1.14 worked for me.
The information in this short gist was compiled from several sources. Although most are for E series, it worked for A485: