12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.08 Release

DSK · May 22, 2024, 1:47pm

Hi,
I have faced the issue with RAM test error after BIOS update. So my laptop wont boot because it cannot pass the RAM test.

About BIOS update from, 3.05 to 3.08 - this issue appeared first, during the update. Bios update was made via Windows(no usb drive). Laptop did not launch after 30-40 minutes with black screen(power button was glowing).

After troubleshooting it and reading this thread - got the advice to remove RAM and SSD for it to boot. It worked.

After a while I have faces this issue faced this issue more than 10 times already. 3 times during this week, 2 of them right now).

I was woried that bios updates was installed incorrectly and tried once more. Seems like all components are up to date but the issue is preset.

This is so sad because my laptop is my daily drive and this issue forces me to disasamble it every time. Like starting car with a hammer every time i need it)

I will add the steps for the issue bellow: hope it will help. I do not know if i need to create a ticket.

SYS CONFIG: FW13, i5-1240p, DIY edition.
RAM: 16GBx2 SO-DIMM DDR4-3200 1.2V CL22 (Crucial CT16G4SFRA32A)
SSD: WD SN 770 2TB
Wi-Fi: WIFI 6E AX210
External Devices/Other: NONE.
EXPANSION CARD TYPES: Type-C x2, USB-A , HDMI gen1.

BIOS VERSION: BIOS 3.08
DRIVER PACKAGE VERSION: If known and if using Windows.
OS VERSION: Windows 11 Pro, 23H2, ‎22631.3593
FAIL RATIO: Closer to 100%
STEP TO REPRODUCE:

This is 100% case.

Press Power button and wait for framework logo;
Press and hold Power button to turn it of;
Press power button again.

OR
This happen from time to time. (3/10)

Press power button.
OBSERVED RESULT: Error code indicating RAM test failure.
EXPECTED RESULT: Successful launch.

ISSUE RECOVERY METHOD:
Issue fixes with different steps from time to time.

Solution 1:
I need to disassemble laptop, put out RAM stich from any slot. Turn on PC and wait for it to launch. Turn off PC. Put the second ram stick back. Turn on PC - fixed.

Solution 2(if 1 failed, to make laptop work with both sticks):
I need to disassemble laptop. Put out RAM stick from slot 1. Turn on PC and wait for it to launch. Turn off PC. Put back on RAM stick to slot 1 and put OUT Stick from slot 2. Power on PC and wait for it to launch to Windows. Turn off PC. Put all Ram sticks back together. Turn on PC - fixed. Laptop now work with both RAM sticks once again.

EXTERNAL DEVICE MODE or NAME: none

Andreas_Donig · May 22, 2024, 5:56pm

I successfully upgraded the BIOS from version 3.05 to 3.08 today. Here are the steps I followed:

Extracted the zip file to a FAT32-formatted pendrive.
Rebooted the system and pressed F2 to enter the BIOS setup.
Disabled Secure Boot, saved the settings with F10, and pressed F12 to boot from the pendrive.
The update process started and went through successfully, with the system automatically rebooting.
A progress bar appeared and took quite some time to reach 100%, after which the system automatically rebooted again.
Re-entered the BIOS setup to enable Secure Boot and then booted into my Linux distro.

Everything worked smoothly, and the update was successful. Here are the version changes:

InsysdeH20 Version: HFW30.03.05 → HFW30.03.08
Microcode Rev: 0000041D → 00000429
GOP Ver: 21.0.1046 → 21.0.1061
EC Ver: hx30_v0.0.1-7a61a89 → hx30_v0.0.1-4ea1c89
PD Controller 1 Ver: 0.1.14 → 0.1.2C
PD Controller 2 Ver: 0.1.14 → 0.1.2C
Intel ME Version / SKU: 16.0.15.1810 / CORPORATE → 16.1.30.2269 / CORPORATE

Jared_Boone · May 22, 2024, 7:24pm

I have exactly the same results. I started with the same versions, ended with the same versions. I never had Secure Boot enabled. Otherwise, I followed the same procedure, except at step 6 I got a green screen with black text telling me the update was complete. I powered off and removed the USB drive as instructed. Then I powered on and all seems OK.

Edit: I should add I had no peripherals plugged into any Expansion Cards. Only one USB-A (right-front bay) and three USB-C Expansion Cards installed, and an Anker PowerPort III charger attached to the right rear USB-C Expansion Card. The ancient FAT32-formatted Kingston DataTraveler G4 16GB drive with the EFI updates was plugged into the single USB-A port.

Bitals · May 22, 2024, 7:59pm

Del key went away and came back after a reboot. This further solidifies my belief that this is a firmware issue.

No one else with this?

kelnos · May 22, 2024, 8:08pm

Tried the 3.08d installer, and it worked without problems. I was coming from a system that was updated to 3.08 using the original EFI updater (the one that did not update the CSME). Here’s my original report: 12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.08 Release - #102 by kelnos – everything is the same, except that this time I’ve removed the USB-A port and instead was using a USB-C microSD card reader with the updater on it.

CSME appears to have updated, as expected. Value of /sys/class/mei/mei0/fw_ver before the update:

0:16.0.15.1810
0:16.0.15.1810
0:16.0.15.1810

and after the update:

0:16.1.30.2269
0:16.1.30.2269
0:16.0.15.1810

One thing I noticed that I hadn’t realized before is that it seems like both retimers hadn’t updated with the original 3.08 update, even though I thought the updater claimed they had. The new 3.08b updater reported that RTM01 is on version 310, but that RTM23 is on version 270 (but it did not try to update it, since you said that functionality has been disabled). I’m debating using your instructions to manually update it; I noticed last week that two of my ports don’t work with external USB-C (Thunderbolt?) monitors, and I wonder if that’s the reason.

Aside from the above retimer version difference, the updater appears to have noted that everything was already at the correct version except for the CSME, so it only updated the CSME.

kelnos · May 22, 2024, 8:24pm

@Kieran_Levin, after a very short mental debate, I decided to try the manual retimer update, but it didn’t work. I booted the USB stick with the updater, hit ESC to get the EFI shell prompt, and typed updateretimers.nsh. It printed that it would wait 8 seconds, and then a line of post-update instructions. After the 8 seconds, it printed:

CapsuleApp: capsule image (winux.bin) not found

And then after another 5-10 seconds it returned me to the EFI shell prompt. framework_tool still shows:

Retimers
  Left:           0x136 (310)
  Right:          0xCF (207)

Kieran_Levin · May 22, 2024, 9:49pm

Hi DSK,
Do you have a support ticket open? This not expected behavior, and seems to be specific to your hardware, so the best path to get this resolved is to go through support.

Kieran_Levin · May 22, 2024, 10:12pm

Did you change your filesystem path to the drive? You can do this by typing fs1: or fs0: (you can see the path on the top of the shell) before running the command?

Simon84 · May 22, 2024, 10:54pm

Since the script started and echoed the warning, he probably is.

kelnos · May 23, 2024, 3:09am

Ah, no, i hadn’t done that. After doing so (fs1:, in my case), the update worked, and framework_tool now reports version 310 for both retimers. Thanks! Haven’t yet had the opportunity to try external monitors in all ports yet.

Simon84 · May 23, 2024, 11:04am

So if I type updateretimers.nsh, the EFI shell looks at all partitions (fs0, fs1, fs…) and starts the first it finds? That’s interesting.

Destroya · May 23, 2024, 8:46pm

Hey Bitals, can you please contact the support team to report this issue? Thank you!

PDXTabs · May 24, 2024, 3:34am

I tried this twice. The first time on battery it rebooted into an updating screen that quickly went away. The second time I tried with power applied to the left rear port and then it seems to have worked.

InsydeH20: HFW30.03.08
GOP: 21.0.1061
EC: hx30_v0.0.1-4ea1c89
PD 1: 0.1.2C
PD 2: 0.1.2C
IME: 16.1.30.2269

JS1 · May 24, 2024, 3:41pm

Hello, I have Ubuntu on the internal disk, and a Windows 11 made with Rufus that I use twice a year on a 250gb expansion card.

I follow this topic from time to time only… So, apparently regular installation guide for Windows, as indicated on the KB page would just work with such setup?

Thanks!

Carwyn_Edwards · May 25, 2024, 1:01am

Update report from me. I’d run the original 3.08 EFI and everything other than the IME and the right side retimers had worked. Manually updated the IME some time ago.

Ran the 3.08d EFI updater which verified everything other than the right retimer was up to date. Manually updated the retimers with updateretimers.nsh and now seems to be up to date.

Something I think would help is to keep the original post in this thread more up to date as it’s currently pointing to the broken 3.08b EFI update not the safer 3.08d version.

It might also be worth checking any Framework bits on LVFS: Device List - are these safe or will they cause more potential problems for people? This was actually intermittently reporting Retimers updates as being available last week, possibly due one side not being up to date for me. I’m currently seeing update alerts on there for the fingerprint sensor.

I can’t help wondering if elements of this community alpha testing might have worked better using a repo under Framework · GitHub ? Especially keeping track of and deprecating older releases and tracking issues arising. Given the technical proficiency of the audience here you may even have had some PRs to try and help.

It’s good to see much more communication in here from Framework. Movement on this is much appreciated. Hopefully getting to a stable EFI release will allow for a smoother ride for future updates.

Kieran_Levin · May 25, 2024, 1:04am

Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I have edited the top post to update the instructions and link for the EFI updater to the latest version, and based on the positive community feedback, marked this as beta.

alko89 · May 26, 2024, 2:52pm

I ran the script and left the computer running, when I came back a few min later it rebooted back to OS. I don’t know if there was any error during install process, but the BIOS still reports the old version 3.04
I tried running the update again, but get the error message, can’t update over same version and then get a green screen that the update was successful.

When instructions say shut down all power sources, does that mean including the battery?

Ray519 · May 26, 2024, 5:05pm

The only error message you are getting is from the ME Updater. Of the updates the script is trying to do on your device, it is the only one that executes instantly. While the main BIOS will be updated after a reboot. So your ME firmware will already be up-to-date from the first attempt, as it says. But that is very separate from the other parts of the update process.
And the next message shows that the updater proceeds and reaches the step where it tries to setup the capsule update including reboot (updating the main BIOS from 3.04 to 3.08). So your issue is somewhere around that part. And the red message shown has nothing to do with it.

Your issue will most likely be about your partitions / EFI System partition etc.

alko89 · May 26, 2024, 7:27pm

Huh? I don’t understand. I have already rebooted my system multiple times and just boots back into the OS.

Ray519 · May 26, 2024, 7:30pm

Because that part of the update does not work for you. It is supposed to set it up so that it continues with a fullscreen progress bar after the reboot. And sth. goes wrong with that, so you just land in your normal OS after the reboot.

But the failure message you have shown is not related to that. It is from another part of the update that already went fine and is to be expected.