BIOS guide

[suliblian]

@Michael_O_Donnell

I am hunting for a way to receive notifications of new BIOS updates.

You could use a monitoring service that notifies you of changes on a page to get an alert when the BIOS page changes.
I use https://visualping.io/, but there are others out there, often free for small number of watches.

[Quinn_Dougherty]

I got a 13th gen intel chip a month or two ago, and didn’t touch the bios.

sudo dmidecode -s bios-version is 03.03

[Isaac314]

@GhostLegion

There is! Now I need to go find the script that enables that feature…

Edit: Found it

GitHub - jonas-schievink/keylightd: Keyboard backlight daemon for the...

I had the keylightd script installed when I got my 12th Gen Intel, just upgraded to Ryzen 7040 series, and it’s now broken. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling, no dice.

Any advice?

[Spence]

@Isaac314

Any advice?

Check out the recent 7 or 8 posts in the topic about the EC, which talks about differences on talking to the EC on the new AMD systems. I suspect it is related and a solution has been provided.

Exploring the Embedded Controller

Might there be a good reason that ectool doesn’t work on the new AMD Ryzen based Framework laptops yet? I get “Unable to establish host communication” for every --interface option I try. I received mine just a couple days ago, I’ve installed firmware (bios) 3.03, and I’m running Arch linux with kernel 6.5.9, and have installed “fw-ectool” from aur, the build script basically just clones the latest from Dhowett/framework-ec and does make utils. By default, the modules cros_ec and cros_ec_lpcs a…

[DHowett]

@jeshikat

Note: if “fn lock” has been toggled (Fn+Esc) then use Fn+F2 / Fn+F12 / Fn+F10 instead during startup

Funny enough, you don’t actually need to do this! The firmware disables the media functions when there is no OS running.

[hannah_dee]

Hello!

I’ve been trying to update my bios as there are a few dmesg things which don’t make sense and there was an intermittent freeze thing, and the internet suggested it might be bios.

That is, [RESOLVED] Suspend behavior on AMD running Fedora 39 is the only thing which has the same dmesg output on these fora and that problem was fixed with a bios update.

(my dmesg looks like this:

[12336.252647] [drm:amdgpu_dm_process_dmub_aux_transfer_sync [amdgpu]] *ERROR* wait_for_completion_timeout timeout!
[12346.493098] [drm:amdgpu_dm_process_dmub_aux_transfer_sync [amdgpu]] *ERROR* wait_for_completion_timeout timeout!
[12356.732667] [drm:amdgpu_dm_process_dmub_aux_transfer_sync [amdgpu]] *ERROR* wait_for_completion_timeout timeout!
[12366.972860] [drm:amdgpu_dm_process_dmub_aux_transfer_sync [amdgpu]] *ERROR* wait_for_completion_timeout timeout!

going back a very long way )

So I tried to update the bios and then hit another problem:

hannnah@butternut:~$ sudo fwupdmgr refresh
[sudo] password for hannnah: 
Failed to connect to daemon: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.fwupd: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.fwupd': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)

so now i have two problems. anyone know how to solve either?

ta
h

[Doug_McAfee]

My BIOS appears differently for the most recent Framework Ryzen 5. My Insyde version of the BIOS has a GUI. And most critically, below I/O Interface there is no menu for Secure Boot. I cannot install Linux or update my BIOs without this.
Is there a method to populate this setting from a combination of other options? (I’ve tried setting up a Supervisor pwd)

[DHowett]

@Doug_McAfee

there is no menu for Secure Boot

If you press F2 during boot (the key typically used to enter Setup), it will drop you on a page with a number of options. You can get to Secure Boot configuration from there.

[Doug_McAfee]

Thanks for the quick reply. I assumed that entering the settings from Boot select (F12) would get me to BIOS. They are separate guis. That’s it!

[Adrian_Joachim]

@Doug_McAfee

Thanks for the quick reply. I assumed that entering the settings from Boot select (F12) would get me to BIOS. They are separate guis. That’s it!

Yeah that bit is quite unexpected, I was digging for hidden menus in the bios for a while before I figured that out.

[junaruga]

In this thread’s first comment, I updated Framework Intel 12th gen, the current beta version as 3.08.

[Charlie_6]

I found that the power consumption is high while in BIOS. My Framework Laptop 13 has a power consumption about 3~5W when idling on desktop running Linux or Windows, however in BIOS, a whopping 18W

[Jonathan_Haas]

That’s normal, the system is in a very basic mode in BIOS/UEFI and there are for example no specific power saving features active.

[next_to_utter_chaos]

At least 11th Gen and 12th Gen Intel have a “Boot performance mode” (or similar) under Advanced in BIOS/UEFI. Choosing a more “battery-friendly” option at least quiets the “starting jet-engine” noise level of the fans. Maybe the graphic BIOS/UEFI of the 13th Gen Intel and AMD 7040 have a similar option hidden somewhere?

[next_to_utter_chaos]

@anon81945988

Not sure that is useful
a) It sets the Performance mode for the computer, once the BIOS has passed

I don’t think so. With the 12th Gen and “Max Battery” for “Boot performance mode”, I still get the jet engine as soon as I boot into Windows - and Linux still turbo-boosts if PPD is set to balanced or performance (or not installed at all).

@anon81945988

b) Using it made no difference to the fan coming on when I use BIOS

It does on my 12th Gen (still, just checked with the 3.08 Beta BIOS):
“Turbo Performance” (factory default) → jet engine after 30 s, switching to “Max Battery”, saving and rebooting into BIOS/UEFI → silence (even after 10+ min), switching back to “Turbo Performance”, saving and rebooting into BIOS/UEFI → jet engine after ~ 20 s

@anon81945988

c) Usually I have no fan noise but if I go to the BIOS then I get the fan and it persists after Windows 11 starts for some 20 seconds, even with the Battery Mode in the option you mentioned.

Well, I only mentioned, that it’s quiet while in BIOS/UEFI? Maybe it’s different for the 11th Gens because they’re not as jet-engine noisy in the first place?

[next_to_utter_chaos]

@anon81945988

Yes I have the 1165 so not so demanding but ???

I just thought (in regard to @Charlie_6’s problem) it might be worth to check if “Max Battery” for “Boot performance mode” (or something similar for 13th Gen Intel / AMD 7040 if available) might not only reduce the noise level but also the power consumption while in BIOS/UEFI

@anon81945988

Dropping this discussion

I’ll do the same.

[Wave]

Looking for a guide to all of the settings in Bios for the Laptop 13 13th gen. There must be user guidelines somewhere, but all I’ve found is the copied list of all of the menus on the screen, not the meanings and implications. Have not been able to locate them yet via search either, not even in the BIOS guide - Framework Laptop 13. I could have missed it there.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Laptop 13 13th gen Intel(R) Core™ i7-1360P 2.20 GHz
Windows 11 Pro 23H2
22631.3672

[Wave]

Hi,

They may be self explanatory for some people, but I’m probably in good company of others not wanting to rely on Google about the real meanings and implications of the settings. I believe I gave the laptop version, the bios that came on it is 3.03.

The manual attached is from 21 years ago, and it maybe be all you need but doesn’t really apply to especially the more complex processor and security settings today. Something like that for today’s Bios is what is expected and it must be available somewhere, right?

Thanks!

[Wave]

Thanks. That’s about it for what I’ve changed so far too. Plus turning off Quick Startup.

Hopefully a user manual will appear somewhere, I’ve never seen a laptop without a BIOS manual, often built into the BIOS, but sometimes on a website. They can be quite detailed, but having nothing makes the laptop worth much less, especially to an enterprise (I’m not an enterprise, just commenting on the target for many BIOS manuals, for security options for example). Hopefully someone from Framework Laptop 13 is reading this!

[Michael_O_Donnell]

I vote for a manual if it can be produced without ridiculous effort. I don’t know in advance what to expect from BIOS settings. I would like to browse them in case there is something I’m missing. The BIOS interface is not always obvious, and it’s a lot of trouble to switch between installed OS and BIOS to check things.

A way of making BIOS visible while the OS is running would be very helpful, but I expect that is too difficult.