Big jump Bios upgrade on forgotten 11th gen framework 13

Framework Laptop 13
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Which Linux distro are you using?

Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

Which BIOS version are you using?

Version: 03.06

Which Framework Laptop 13 model are you using? (AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series, AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series, Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 1, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ , 12th Gen Intel® Core™, 11th Gen Intel® Core™)

Framework 13 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz × 8

I own a couple of framework laptops (and have been a happy customer).
I’m down two at the moment, and using for work the first framework I purchased (this 11gen I am using to type this post).

My battery life has gotten worse, so I ordered the the ”upgraded” battery in stock on the website.

I saw on the guide that the Bios should be updated for the new battery: I am very behind on bios updates (using 3.06 while newest is 3.24!)

Looking at the page, it looks like it won’t work to just try to update from 3.06 to 3.24, but I am having trouble determining both which upgrades should I do, in order, to get to 3.24, as well as any earlier bios.

What is my recommended upgrade path, and where to do find the other bios versions earlier to 3.24, as well as instructions (as there seems to be different “correct” ways to do the bios upgrade depending on the version… )?

If it is less “risky”: I do have a windows 10 install disk: to make this “go through”, I can do a fresh install of windows, update the bios, then wipe the drive again and reinstall pop. Let me know if that is the “safer” route for a linux user who is comfortable with the terminal, but isn’t some power user.

I remember doing my bios updates without a usb drive (just like upgrading OS components) on my AMD framework (which is another story and post to figure out when I have time: I’m down to one laptop for my business currectly, so I don’t want to screw this up, and, honestly, can’t afford for this laptop to be bricked/broken or otherwise FUBARed… :slight_smile:

Thanks for your time: I have never upgraded bios using a usb stick (just as an upgrade in “settings”), and I am nervous I will mess something up.

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Just a light “ping”: the battery was supposed to be delivered yesterday (go

If I don’t hear back, I think I’ll put on a windows 10 install on the laptop, do the bios, do the battery, and then reinstall linux… would like to avoid that for… moral reasons :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance for anyone’s time: if nothing else, let me know if I’m correct that the BIOS update process is easier on Windows.

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BIOS update process should be easiest to flash the image to a USB stick and use that stick to boot up. An operating system on the SSD is not required for this

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Thanks for your reply.

Will use the “USB” stick method you mentioned work no matter the jump in versions (very old to new)

I have seen around the forum that it light he problematic to jump from my very old bios version 3.06… to the newest one for the new battery (3.24…). Does anyone have experience with this that they could share.

In hindsight, this might have been a question better for framework support, but thanks anyone for the time for commenting.

..

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Unfortunately I can’t speak to the EFI or USB stick process, but I recently jumped from 3.09 to 3.23 + 3.24 on an 11th gen FW13 with the Windows process. Zero issues - I was able to do 3.09 to 3.23 in one jump, then up to 3.24 from there. I was upgrading the SSD anyhow so it wasn’t a big deal to do a quick clean install of Windows 11 to do the firmware updates before I swapped the SSD and ultimately installed Mint.

Obviously that’s a less than ideal process on a machine that you’ve already got an OS on, and maybe somebody else (or FW Support) can offer a suggestion for the right sequencing for doing it natively on Linux. Reading the docs it seems like the answer is to flash 3.17 via LVFS (to get EFI update capability), then do 3.23/3.24 via EFI, but that’s just a guess. In any case I figured I’d at least share the data point regarding the big jump in versions.

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@ibor132 : thank you for your time…. that was exactly the experience I needed.

For years I don’t keep anything “important” on laptops that aren’t cloud (or otherwise) backed. It allows me to not fear having to do an re-install of an OS (or, for work, I keep images to clone)… as a “linux guy”, I don’t mind doing a windows install once in a while (well, I don’t know how I feel about windows 11, but that is way off topic): just reminds me sometimes I don’t know as much as I think I do :slight_smile: –> if it is “easier” in windows for something that can leave my hardware dead in the water, I’m not THAT stubborn haha.

I did reach out to support to get their view, but thanks all who viewed and contributed.

Framework isn’t a huge company, and I am thankful they actuall care as much as they do about early hardware. ~J