Hi everyone! I just saw that on the BIOS page, the version available for the 13” Intel gen 12 was now 3.19. Is this wrong?! I feel like last time I checked, it was still at 3.04.
Also, I’d like to point out that the article says that if updating from UEFI, the minimum version should be 3.05, but there isn’t a link to version 3.05 anywhere.
I think that this might be a mistake. Has there really been an update for gen 12, or did they just copy the page for gen 13? I feel like I’m going crazy trying to find something like a proper version history.
Not “should be”, it says, that updating via the EFI method (OS-agnostic boot stick rather then the Windows or Linux update procedures) to this version only works starting with 3.05. Because the recent EFI installers use a new method to it, that was not available in versions prior to 3.05.
So if you are on older versions, then you can only update with the Windows or Linux update paths.
But yes, they screwed up by removing the old versions from the page entirely. But they are still available on the forum (12th Gen Intel Core BIOS 3.08 Release).
The other versions before that were beta-only / only for some factory-related reason. 3.06 Beta was the first version we could install ourselves after the fact.
And Framework made some mistake with the version numbers, which required them to skip a few numbers between 10 and 16 to avoid bugs…
Thanks. It’s weird, because I checked during the summer (got a new battery), and I don’t remember seeing a new BIOS being available (or maybe it was only available through Windows? I don’t remember exactly, but if it was available I would have tried upgrading).
On Linux, the fwupdmgr option doesn’t update the BIOS, unfortunately. I used it to update other drivers, but no BIOS. Which means that the only way to update my BIOS is through Windows, which I don’t have. Great.
Also, quoting from the BIOS upgrade page: “Please note, you need to update to 3.05 or later to update using EFI, as this is needed to support capsule on disk.” That’s very misleading, they write that like 3.05 is available to update to, and that sent me on a goose chase only to discover that newer gen 12 boards came with it and that I can’t get it. What they should really write is: “Please note, if using a version prior to 3.05, the only update path is through Windows. We apologize for making you install an OS you never wanted to use in the first place.”
Not going off on you Ray, I appreciate your input and am glad that I’m not thinking I’m crazy for not being able to find a way to update to 3.05. But the lack of clarity on Framework’s part is a real shame, given that it’s a company that offers DIY kits and supports the use of Linux. Now I’m going to have to find a spare SSD to install Windows on, because I’m never letting it touch my current partitions.
You could run the 3.06 Beta update, which was also published via LVFS testing.
That should get your BIOS new enough to run the other update via EFI method. And you can avoid Windows for that.
The problems with the 3.06 Beta (and even the 3.08 Release) were about the Retimer updates failing on some side of the device, such that you needed multiple reboots / retries until both sides of USB ports were working again, but I don’t remember anything else that should effect using it as intermediary version on the update path.
Hi! Thank you so much, that was the correct answer. Sorry for the late reply, it took a while before I had time to give it a proper try. I had to use LVFS for 3.06, because indeed the USB one failed. I got pretty scared for a moment because I wondered if it had bricked my motherboard and if I should find a way to shut it down and try rebooting. Fortunately it all worked out. Did 3.19 with USB, and it was a much better process than with 3.06.
Cheers, and thanks for the help!
Leaving a link to the 3.06 post for posterity’s sake (in case anyone has the same questions and finds this thread):