12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.08 Release

Framework Laptop 13
618

I’m not sure if there’s a recommended way to tell if your retimer firmware is up to date or not (the quoted sentence implies there is?) The best method I’ve found on Linux is by reading EFI variables to get the retimer version:

$ efivar --name 567ce681-487d-42ff-b875-38c963e5bb4c-TbtRetimer1Version -p 
GUID: 567ce681-487d-42ff-b875-38c963e5bb4c
Name: "TbtRetimer1Version"
Attributes:
        Non-Volatile
        Boot Service Access
        Runtime Service Access
Value:
00000000  36 01 00 00                                       |6...            |
$ efivar --name 125622a2-2aeb-4930-a5a4-e2b9955b6d9e-TbtRetimer2Version -p 
GUID: 125622a2-2aeb-4930-a5a4-e2b9955b6d9e
Name: "TbtRetimer2Version"
Attributes:
        Non-Volatile
        Boot Service Access
        Runtime Service Access
Value:
00000000  36 01 00 00                                       |6...            |

The key part of each output is the bottom line with the value. 36 01 00 00 is 0x136 which is decimal 310. This matches the suffix of the Framework_Laptop_12th_Gen_Intel_Core_Retimer_port??_310.cap files in the zip file, so I assume this means the retimers are both up to date on this system.

619

What are the top 5 problems you are referring to ?

620

I installed the updated bios, but was unable to update the retimers.

The audio input for both a usb c dac, the builtin mic, and the 3.5mm jack is completely broken. I can no longer have video calls without horrible screeching feedback or sound muffled.

Any advice?

621

Well, seeing latest messages, it just confirms my initial idea of not doing anything on my laptop that I badly need every day for working, until this bios upgrade process is stabilized (if it can happen, to some extent).

5 Likes
622

I am in the same situation its my main WORK device. I cannot afford to break it .
So I am looking this thread every now and then for a stalbe linux update of my framework.
I am thinking that the next bios update I will get is a motherboard update with the bios :smiley: When getting a AI NPU in 2 years :smiley:

2 Likes
623

Same feeling here.
At least after the switch to a new mainboard, like some users above, I will install the 12th gen one in a new laptop or desktop case and upgrade its bios with temporary Windows installation.
But I don’t expect it will be that soon, and hope there will have been a solution found in the meantime.

And good luck to @John_Wyatt who has partially bricked his mainboard…

1 Like
624

What I think @Iann_C was referring to was the only way he’s going to get a BIOS update, is by buying a completely new board. Which i’m sure is FW’s whole model.

I wish FW would just come out and say our boards are abandoned so we can get on with the class action lawsuit.

Showing this outward and overt pledge to “sustainability” and “repairability” is completely at odds with producing a mainboard, launching it in a beta state, then ceasing development on it immediately.

2 Likes
625

It’s been two months that you received a direct reply from @Ray519 that had some interesting questions in it. Your post initially gave me a lot of hope for more transparency on the advancement on that front but I am starting to lose hope again. Would you mind replying to it to assuage our fears a little ?

The reason I am asking is that I have been having the 61wh battery in my shopping cart for a while (since it got out really) but since this is the laptop I am using for my work, I am not risking a failed update and shenanigans. I am waiting for the end of beta or better a fwupdmanager solution.

4 Likes
626

Thanks for the reminder. I’ll be due for a battery swap soon!

627

FYI: I’ve updated to 3.08 a while ago - worked ok. The 61Wh battery works as expected.

1 Like
628

Just updated my 12th gen bios and retimers via the efi shell path.
No errors popped up, bios is on 3.08 but the right tb4 ports stopped working (they can still charge, they can even do “normal” usb work but won’t take the tb4 dock anymore).

“gnome firmware” shows me four “UEFI Device Firmware” blocks, two have version 310 (I assume the left ports that are working), and two are version 0 (I assume the right ones that are broken).

I tried to re-run the bios update and the retimer update multiple times, no changes.
Does anyone have any idea how to get those two ports back? :confused:

629

If you have not already done so, try switching the power cord to the other side and re-running the update. Best of luck, hopefully you are able to get it working.

2 Likes
630

Try a mainboard reset. You can find the instructions at guides.frame.work.

2 Likes
631

No. The 2 “0” entries are there either way, don’t know from what components.
The 2 “310” entries are the 2 retimer firmwares. So both are updated correctly.
Sounds extremely to the behavior I saw. Unpower the board and its probably fine. For this, I used the battery disconnect option in BIOS, wait 5 min. power back up to ensure the board was fully unpowered. But lesser things like just unpowering and waiting could already be enough.

2 Likes
632

Thank you all so much for your suggestions, they were greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

Tried to re-run the update with power on either side, no luck. :frowning:

Tried that as well, the bios did reset but the ports remain broken.

Thank you, at least that gives me confidence that the ports aren’t “electrically broken”.

Will raise a ticket with support, if anything comes out of it’ll give an update here.

2 Likes
633

Adding another success report here in case in helps anybody else:

  • BIOS update from 3.05 to 3.08d
  • Operating system: NixOS 24.05
  • Just in case in matters: powerered from upper left USB-C; update sourced from USB-A thumb drive in lower-left slot
    • Had to hit F12 a few times on boot rather than holding it (for whatever reason)
  • No bootloader reinstall necessary (I’m using systemd-boot / EFI - boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;)
  • I didn’t completely follow the discussion about retimer firmware but audio playback and recording is functioning normally

Went about as smoothly as I could hope for using the USB stick method. This is a very early (first batch maybe?) 13inch Framework that has been through one motherboard upgrade so far (from 11th gen to 12th gen).

1 Like
634

Still broken as of 2024-11-01. Did everything as instructed, and the 3.08d EFI shell updater ends in “success” having done nothing. Still stuck on the 3.05 (more than two years out of date) firmware. Amazing that framework has effectively abandoned even EFI updates for these boards when every other company has figured out how to do EFI and LVFS updates on this generation. These boards have numerous bugs and security vulnerabilities. My 2009 ThinkPad T400 with libreboot has better support than my Framework 13 12th generation. The worst part is Framework knows the board firmware is broken and still sells it.

2 Likes
635

Can you try booting via efi, and on the 10 second time out hit escape.

Then find the correct boot filesystem and change to it by typing fs0: fs1: etc.
You can find the filesystem associated with your USB drive as the path will have USB in the string.

Then run

h2offt.efi firmware.cap

And see if this will manually update your bios.

As other people mentioned, there were some compatibility issues with MBR formatted drives. But we would like to see if this can get you a fix.

The other debug item that we would like help with is in efi/boot/startup.nsh you could delete the CLS 2 0 and everything below starting on line 126. And then rerun the script. If there was an error that was printed, it would be helpful for us to understand where your failure is happening.

3 Likes
636

I didn’t see 10 second timer. After pressing escape on the 5 second timer I couldn’t select any file system. I tried two different USB 2.0 drives formatted to MBR/FAT32 and to GPT/FAT32. I have power connected to the upper left (closer to the screen) and the USB2 drive in the lower left (closer to me/the touchpad). I tried resetting BIOS settings to factory defaults. Both had the same error. Most of this is from optical character recognition:

UEFI Interactive Shell v2.2
EDK 11
UEFI v2.80 (INSYDE Corp., 0x00000305)
Mapping table
FS1: Alias(s): HD1b:; BLK3: PciRoot(0x0)/Pci] (0x6, 0x0)/Pci) (0x0, 0x0)/NVMe(0x1, D1-5C-F4-48-8B-44-18-00)/HD(1, GPT, 94669386-8536-4099-87A1-57E1A60D7200, 0x800, 0x120000)
FS0: Alias(s): HD0d0b:; BLK1: PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14, 0x0)/USB<0x3, 0x0)/HD(1, GPT, DCE27C61-24EB-4E32-A88D-450BB86F9DAC, 0x800, 0x784000)
BLK2: Alias(s): PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x6, 0x0)/Pci(0x0, 0x0)/NVMe(0x1, D1-5C-F4-4B-8B-44-18-00)
BLK4: Alias(s): PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x6, 0x0)/Pci(0x0, 0x0)/NVMe(0x1, D1-5C-F4-4B-88-44-18-00)/HD(2, GPT, F8786399-09CF-4525-8831-C8D44305FC54, 0x12C800, 0x200000)
BLK5: Alias(s): PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x6, 0x0)/Pci(0x0, 0x0)/NVMe(0x1, D1-5C-F4-4B-8B-44-18-00)/HD(3, GPT, BDC55183-3790-4707-AD69-A4AF64795018, 0x320800, 0x1018DF000)
BLK0: Alias(s): PciRoot(0x0)/Pc1(0x14, 0x0)/USB(0x3, 0x0)
Press ESC In 1 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
Shell> echo -off
AC is: connected
Battery is: connected
Battery LFCC: 3398 mAh (Last Full Charge Capacity)
Battery Capacity: 2782 mAh 44.982 Wh
Charge level: 81% Battery discharging
Target Version "03,08"
Comparing BIOS version "03,05"
Compared version: 1
Updating bios
Target Version "310"
Comparing RTM23 version "310"
Compared version: 0
Target Version "310"
Comparing RTM01 version "207"
Compared version: 1
Need to update Retimer 01
Intel (R) FW Update Version: 16.1.30.2313
Copyright (C) 2005-2023, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Checking firmware parameters...
Error 331: Full FW Update using same version is not allowed. Include -allowsv in command line to allow it.
Loading BIOS updates in 4 seconds
CapsuleApp: creating capsule descriptors at 0x3DEF7798
CapsuleApp: capsule data starts CapsuleApp: capsule block/size at 0x36A4B018 with size 0xA5422 0x36A4B018/0xA5422
CapsuleApp: creating capsule descriptors at 0x3DEF7E98
CapsuleApp: capsule data starts at 0x34106018 with size 0x2274DC4
CapsuleApp: capsule block/size Boot Next Data Fail. Status Not Found 0x34106018/0x2274DC4
Get CapsuleApp: cannot find a valid file system on boot devices. Status Not Found
CapsuleApp: failed to update capsule Not Found

Green screen:

COMPLETE
Your BIOS is up to date!
Press the power button to shutdown and remove your update drive
COMPLETE
UEFI BIOS
Version: 03.05
Release Date: 08/23/2022
EC Firmware
Build version: "hx30_v0.0.1-7a61a89 2022-07-28 13:35:04 runner@fv-az127-921"
RO Version: "hx30_v0.0.1-7a61a89"
RW Version: "hx30_v0.0.1-7a61a89"
Current image: R0
PD Controllers
Right (01)
Main App: 0.1.20 (Notebook)
Backup App: 0.1.20 (Notebook)
Left (23)
Main App: 0.1.20 (Notebook)
Backup App: 0.1.20 (Notebook)
Retimers
Left: 0xCF (207)
Right: 0x136 (310)

After running FS0:, h2offt.efi firmware.cap, and rebooting a few times:

Current BIOS Model Name: HFW30
New BIOS Model Name: HFW30
Current BIOS Version: HFW30.03.05
New BIOS Version: HFW30.03.08
Update BIOS Progress: Completed
Update EC start...
\Completed
Loading PD1 Image: Done
Current PD1 firmware version: 0.1.14
New PD1 firmware version: 0.1.20
Update PD1 start...
Update PD1 Progress: Completed
Loading PD2 Image: Done
Current PD2 firmware version: 0.1.14 New PD2 firmware version: 0.1.2C
Update PD2 start...
Update PD2 Progress:

The firmware appears to be running 3.08 and reports such to the operating system ( 6.11.5-300.fc41.x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux). Thank you.

Output of sudo dmidecode | grep -A3 'Vendor:\|Product:' && sudo lshw -C cpu | grep -A3 'product:\|vendor:'

	Vendor: INSYDE Corp.
	Version: 03.08
	Release Date: 12/25/2023
	Address: 0xE0000
       product: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1280P
       vendor: Intel Corp.
       physical id: 4
       bus info: cpu@0
       version: 6.154.3
637

Great! Glad you were able to update. I think you may be running into an issue that your SSD may have a MBR instead of GPT boot record. This was our first generation of rolling out updates using capsule updates, and after the release we found some users reporting incompatibility issues with MBR formatted drives.

Glad you were able to get things up to date!