12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.06 Beta

I’m one of the people Framework Support asked to upgrade to the beta to see if it fixed the CPU throttling issue. Luckily, I didn’t have any of the problems with the upgrade that many others did here[0], but it unfortunately did not fix the throttling problem.

[0] One small UX improvement I can suggest, though: the final screen that says the upgrade is complete says to press enter to flash again, some other specific key to do something I can’t remember, or any other key to reboot into the regular OS. Even after reading that – seemingly very carefully – my brain said “ok, press enter to reboot to my OS”… which of course, as the instructions told me in the first place, actually performed the flashing again. Since re-flashing should be an unusual occurrence, I’d suggest that it should be a very specific key, like “F”, perhaps, and not enter.

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I feel the same. Waiting for a year to patch some random CVEs is not really the best idea. Since I own my framework laptop (October 2022) my Lenovo P50 (from 2016…) had at least 2 BIOS Updates while the FW had none.
I think I do unterstand why this is the case, mainly because of the new products/variants that are beeing released and take up development time, but I do not approve.

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meanwhile, my HP Probook (from 2012) has had a big fat ZERO bios updates since 2016, and that one was a panic release to encrypt the bios because they realised that people were flashing modified bioses to bypass their anti-consumer hardware whitelists that restricted them to utterly crap bottom of the barrel draft-n wifi cards.

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I’ve been following this thread for a long time as I’m eagerly awaiting getting Thunderbolt support. I’m sympathetic to the fact Framework is a small company that won’t always have the resources to move quickly, but I can’t help but think they have just moved past spending time on 12th gen and have everyone focused on their newer initiatives. My expectations of ever seeing this delivered are pretty low at this point.

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Framework | Framework Laptops now have 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports So you cannot yet use thunderbolt? does the current beta 3.06 not add support already? I dont understand your statement.

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The 3.06 beta bios does introduce the Thunderbolt support, but it also has some major issues. Users in this thread have reported that it just bricks half of the ports on the laptop and there is no way to rollback the bios.

I’m not comfortable taking that gamble, so I’m waiting for the final (non-beta) version of the bios to be released that won’t have those symptoms.

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I started to look at the earlier posts and scrolled down and noted what issues people where having and if they got fixed. well, actually, most did. and eventually i stumbled upon
12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.06 Beta - #109 by Kieran_Levin Kieran answering the “concerned user” and noting the current issues they are tracking. some of which I listed above and seems they tracking them. and I think we sort of saw also the fixes those people found, this is including the non working usb port.

Then I looked at the first post again, its been updated, it has suggestions for main board only users (that use DP-mode dongles for example) and most thunderbolt issues, well, the now certified ports will less likely allow DMA attacks, thus, under linux, one needs the right tools to use thunderbolt 12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.06 Beta - #91 by Mapleleaf what catched my eye was, often, non working ports was due to partial updated motherboards, rerunning the update would fix for most (and I spotted them replying it was fixed). or at-least you could notice in their wording, they had a partial update and what the possible fix would be.

1 concern I personaly have is the usb-a devices not working. I believe if you know about the first post having these details what to do, and how many times… updating the full board should be possible for everyone. 12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.06 Beta - #185 by Simon_BN one of them (2 or 3 ppl?)

The first post also mentioned why a rollback wont be advisable.

I asume this has to do due to firmware incompatibility between bios v<=3.05 to 06 and the usb/thunderbolt controllers.

Overall, I think the first post has been updated well enough and not only is this a “bios” update (UEFI firmware) but also updates part of the chipset, the thunderbolt controllers. meaning, more is involved and also charging over one of these ports prevents it from being updated is a odd one (probably framework special, as they dont have a dedicated charge port AND 2 thunderbolt connectors, so 1 can be charged and another does not) why we cant downgrade both, might be aanother firmware issue they cant controll (rollback prevention by standard?)

overall, Im very tempted to just try the new bios anyway. I do want a thunderbolt device before i do so, to test it.

Framework | Framework Laptops now have 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports again this post mentions thunderbolt support was already there, but its officially certified now (by means of the new firmware ?!) and probably better support from firmware. but it worked already.

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That hasn’t been the case for me, Windows 11 device manager shows I don’t have Thunderbolt at all. I bought a fancy new Thunderbolt docking station, but it essentially only functions as a USB hub currently.

I am going to re-read those posts you pointed out. If people have consistently been able to solve the dead port issue, I would be tempted to try the bios also. I’m ok with things being imperfect, I just was scared by losing some major functionality on the laptop. Thanks for posting those details.

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Thunderbolt 4 is only a certification for USB4. Everything that is happening behind the scenes is USB4 or Thunderbolt 3, which was supported from the first day and should appear in your Device Manager.
And from 12th gen forward, all notebooks seem to use Windows’ integrated USB4 drivers and no longer require the additional / older Intel Thunderbolt drivers.

The TB4 certification just means that they discovered and fixed a few more bugs with USB4, and now have Intel’s approval that the USB4 implementation is bug-free enough for Intel’s tastes and can now be advertised as Thunderbolt with the logos etc.

The basic, underlying functionality has not changed and was always there.

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That would be very sad. Not having important CVEs patched does not work for me and having to buy a new laptop every year (to have a secure one) is against frameworks claimed philosophy. My Thinkpad gets fixes every 1 to 3 months. I hope they improve this situation and maybe this is just because of the problematic retimers update.
Gen11 had 5 firmware updates in two years, which also is not much.

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Curious to which Thinkpad this is. (beside the one metioned before)

Anyway, are you considering a framework (I see your relatively new) ? if so, the 13th gen and FW16 havent come out yet so we (consumers) have NO idea how many updates will come. my 12th gen came with 3.04, apparently a minor update 05 (for factory fix) version, and this beta (which is STILL public) could be replaced at any moment when they test the 07 version to be stable or ready for beta. (unless there is an even newer one in the works.)

Also curious where you folks get the notion of any unpatched CVE, i looked this thread back and only see people wanting the CVE patched (and if I read correctly, the beta 3.06 would do so). and altho logically, some parts of the 3.06 update cannot be seperated (altho pure CVE patches might be? depends on Insyde probably to adress this) I think if you want a 12th get FW, get the beta bios. 13th gen and FW16 are the latest. no idea how AMD would go for bios updates

I’ve also been falling this thread since December due to the CVE discoveries and disappointed it’s been 6 months without an official release. I’m running Mint and refrained from upgrading due to the complicated process for non-Windows systems.

The Framework team officially announced they would be releasing a new firmware to support the 61WHr What’s new in this year’s Framework Laptop 13: Part 1 (upgrades). I can only hope that they are working to integrate the fixes from 3.06 and cleanup the upgrade process based on this thread to make something rock solid for the summer.

We’re releasing firmware updates for 11th Gen and 12th Gen Framework Laptops to support the higher resulting pack voltage, and are coordinating with Google on support in the Chromebook Edition too.

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Got the email notification that it was in stock…I can’t order it because I have a 12th gen and no BIOS update in sight. I really wish they would get their BIOS pipeline fixed. In the same amount of time I have received three updates on my five year old Thinkpad T480s…yes I know Lenovo HUGE, Framework not huge plus extra crap due to module combinations.

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Updated to 3.06, laptop will no longer accept charging, on battery power only. Where is a link to the old firmware?

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Your comment sent me down a rabbit hole last night. I went back to the marketing page for the 12th Gen Intel and Framework indeed markets that it has Thunderbolt, but I definitely didn’t have it listed in my Windows 11 Pro device manager, and my Caldigit TS4 dock didn’t seem to connect as Thunderbolt.

After some Googling I found this Microsoft support thread about Thunderbolt and Windows 11, and someone said the following:

Same problem on Dell XPS 15 9520 with i9-12900Hk. TB4 is working under windows 10 but TB controller disappear under windows 11. Seems to be a general issue in windows 11 with 12th gen intel. USB-c is working fine. TB4 dock is working but recognize as a USB4 device. TB audio interface is not working. Intel software updater cannot detect TB.

Last night I formatted and reinstalled Windows 10 Pro on my laptop, and now the dock seems to be connecting over Thunderbolt and working great. I still don’t see a Thunderbolt controller in my device manager, but as far as I can tell it operating over Thunderbolt.

I also ran the Intel Driver & Support Assistant in both Windows 10 & 11, and neither detected a Thunderbolt controller. It really does seem like it should be listed, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. But in the end my problem with Thunderbolt compatibility issue was actually a Windows 11 problem, not a Framework problem. Thanks for giving me that information to send me down that path, this makes my day.

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I would contact support, they should respond reasonably fast!

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I’d like to clarify something for folks surrounding USB4 & TB3/TB4.

USB4 does not explicitly equal TB3. It can be TB3, but isn’t always. It’s kind of like what’s happening around HDMI 2.1, but more confusing like the entire USB naming conventions with things like USB 3.1 Gen2 vs. 3.2 Gen1 and it’s mess.

Thunderbolt, no matter the version, is an Intel proprietary spec. USB is a consortium, with input from many, many manufacturers. With the introduction of USB4, Intel opened much of the TB3 spec to be usable by anyone, and USB adopted it as part of the USB4 spec. However, like everything USB4, much of it’s “spec” is optional inclusion. The allusion I made previously to HDMI 2.1 is probably easier to understand. HDMI 2.1 allows for 4k@120Hz with HDR due to the increased bandwidth, but manufacturers are not required to support those features while still being allowed to call something HDMI 2.1. There was even a moment (I believe they backpedaled on this but it might still be a thing) where the HDMI consortium was actually going to require basically anything that meets HDMI 2.0 spec to be called HDMI 2.1 even if it doesn’t support any of the new features/higher bandwidth of HDMI 2.1. In much the same way, USB4 can support TB3 and it’s features, but manufacturers are allowed to sell products as USB4 without supporting those TB3 featuresets.

Prior to the USB4 TB3 inclusion, devices needed to have specific hardware to meet TB3 spec. These were Intel chipsets, some of which was in the CPU but much was a separate chip, to do what TB3 does. The same is true for TB4. Most desktop motherboards don’t have Thunderbolt because the advantage of TB (adding more IO) is meaningless, but some companies sell PCIe cards that add TB ports for those edge cases where it’s useful, which is how you can have an AMD Ryzen desktop with a Thunderbolt add in card. This is also why Framework was able to make a laptop that can use Thunderbolt even though they hadn’t yet met the TB spec. You may recall having seen this: Framework | Framework Laptops now have 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports (this was shared previously in this thread) Nirav went into more detail, but the gist of it is that you can have the hardware inside a laptop to do Thunderbolt, but to actually guarantee functional Thunderbolt support you need to meet the spec and pass certification with Intel.

That certification is include in the 12th gen 3.06 BIOS, which is still beta. Now, Thunderbolt devices like docks absolutely can work laptops that aren’t certified, but they won’t be guaranteed to work. Heck, even when the dock and laptop have been certified they might not work well together. I had a Caldigit TB3 dock that refused to play nice with my old Dell XPS 13.

Beyond the concern over the CVE’s that we’re still missing via stable releases of the BIOS, I’m personally also pretty annoyed that in November of 2022 the CEO of Framework said this:

We’ve worked with our manufacturing partner and chip suppliers over the last two years to address each test failure through firmware modifications, and now have fully compliant firmware and hardware!

It’s been 8 months since that post, and we the consumer do not have the fully compliant firmware that was promised. Again, most of us using TB docks are likely working just fine, but I’m curious how many “Oh wow this dock doesn’t work?” questions would be solved if the firmware was properly updated. To my understanding the certs can be part of the Thunderbolt handshake process, and if a dock is particular strict… that might be why it doesn’t work.

So, yeah, I’ll repeat myself again: I really want to like my Framework laptop, and I really want to keep it around and upgrade my motherboard again, but the issues surrounding the BIOS release schedule are disheartening. I’m hoping the 3.07 BIOS doesn’t have significantly longer to go under internal testing, but if it has another 6+ month beta period I’ll feel forced to jump ship back to the big manufacturers.

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Like I said, it is intended to use the Windows USB4 drivers for this. For my 12th gen FW, this shows up as 2 USB4 Host Routers in Device Manager (Win 11, from that start). That is how it is designed to work. The 3.06 Beta BIOS does not change this and does not need to, as TB4 means it is USB4 on the wire and every TB4 device is just a USB4 device with more than the minimum features and Intel’s blessing.

As this is getting somewhat off topic, if you have issues getting your TS4 to work, you might want to open a different thread for support for that issue, because it should work just as well under Win11. And nowhere does anything need to show up as “Thunderbolt” for it to work.

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I was using a Thinkpad P-series.

I have one Gen11 and one Gen12. I have financial stuff on another e-mail, which is not registered in this forum. I was an early adopter, but probably made a mistake with Gen12. Let’s see.
The Gen12 replaced the Thinkpad as Secure Laptop. The Gen11 is my development machine (mainly when developing on something which needs a TPM2 during the boot process).

Please have a look at Insyde's Security Pledge | Insyde Software
You can click through the months in 2023 and see e.g. Insyde Security Advisory 2023020 | Insyde Software Insyde Security Advisory 2023023 | Insyde Software

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Hoping to see an update soon, recently purchased a 61Wh battery, and was emailed after it shipped that the release was a mistake. Support told me to keep the battery, and wait for the update, which I’m fine doing if it is not months before I can install this item.

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