[SOLVED] EFI bios update - "cannot find EFI system partition"

Community Support
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1

I’m trying to update the bios on my framework16 to latest. I’m always shaky when EFI shell tools go awry, but I believe I’ve followed the correct steps. Starting by making a new fat32 drive:

~initialize the disk partition

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdf  # select [n]ew [p]rimary [1], with size [+1G] and set [t] to [b] for WIN95_FAT32

<fdisk> Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdf: 57.77 GiB, 62026416128 bytes, 121145344 sectors
Disk model: USB DISK 3.2    
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xf890383f

Device     Boot Start     End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdf1        2048 2099199 2097152   1G  b W95 FAT32

make a new fat32 filesystem & mount

$ sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdf1
$ mkdir /tmp/usb-1gb-fat32  &&  sudo mount /dev/sdf1 -t vfat /tmp/usb-1gb-fat32

unzip the bios efi zip to the root of the drive:

$ cd /tmp/usb-1gb-fat32
$ unzip ~/Framework_Laptop_16_Amd_Ryzen7040_BIOS_3.05_EFI.zip
Archive:  ~Framework_Laptop_16_Amd_Ryzen7040_BIOS_3.05_EFI.zip
  inflating: CapsuleApp.efi          
   creating: efi/
   creating: efi/boot/
  inflating: efi/boot/BootX64.efi    
  inflating: efi/boot/Startup.nsh    
  inflating: Framework_Laptop_16_Ryzen7040_capsule_signed_allsku_3.05.cap  
  inflating: winux.bin 

$ pwd
/tmp/usb-1gb-fat32

$ ls -l
total 36044
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root     4096 Dec 31  1969 ./
drwxrwxrwt 1 root root    19722 Dec  9 20:12 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    87048 Nov 12 19:17 CapsuleApp.efi*
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root     4096 Nov 12 19:17 efi/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36129956 Nov 12 19:17 Framework_Laptop_16_Ryzen7040_capsule_signed_allsku_3.05.cap*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   676898 Nov 12 19:17 winux.bin*

unmount & boot the drive, results in

IMG_20241209_201436_138
IMG_20241209_201436_1381920×1054 155 KB

live on the device:

# the above image ^
Error: Cannot find a EFI system partition!
CapsuleApp: cannot find a valid system on boot devices. Status = Not Found
...
FS0:\> ls
Directory of FS0:\>
...           CapsuleApp.efi
... <dir> ... efi
...           Framework....3.05.cap
...           winux.bin
2

If you partition the USB drive using gdisk instead of fdisk, and set the partition type code to ef00 (EFI System Partition), does that help?

The firmware update expects to find a GPT-partitioned disk with an EFI system partition. Usually, it’s looking on your main SSD. Does your main SSD also not have an ESP?

4 Likes
3

Thanks! yes, fdisk makes mbr only by default. Switching over to gpt works.

NOTE for future readers, I also marked the partition (which has filesystem from mkfs.vfat) as [t]ype code ef00 (EFI system partition) - but I presume this might not be necessary as it boots EFI shell from the drive (?)

update running now, successfully.

4 Likes
4

Check your secure boot settings

5

The person you are replying to reported that their issue was resolved.

8

oopsie :3

9

secure boot failures also have a very different error; it’s been a while since I’ve forgot to turn it off before booting something unsigned like this, but they don’t present with not finding a partition.