Flashing Lights after FW Update

So, after updating firmware my mainboard appears to not output any video?

Video of lights https://youtu.be/JgDl9X359cI

  • Which OS (Operating System)? Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

  • Which release of your OS (Operating System / Windows 10, 11)? Latest

  • Which Framework laptop: 13" AMD 7040 W RYZEN 7 7840U.

  • What happened? I updated the firmware (not the first time) per these instructions, which has previously worked fine…

And now my machine turns on, but flashes some sort of debug sequence (see video attached) and then never boots.

I’m completely unable to further diagnose as it doesn’t seem to be outputting any video.

  • All cables are good, tested them with my other systems.
  • Tried all permutations of power in the top left and right (the nicer ports), and I’ve tried video in all ports.
  • Power runs to the peripherals and the dock etc that I’ve usually used connected to this board.
  • I have always ran the board in standalone mode (never in a laptop chassis), I do have a case that it normally lives in but have taken everything out to better isolate for problems etc.
  • Have tried removing the ram dimms, all combinations of all slots, but the dimms are good (again, verified working in another system).
  • The NVME drive is good too, I’ve tested that in another system.
  • The machine did not lose power during the firmware update, all appeared to be normal until the reboot now. The reboot and power cycling is par for the course (based on previous firmware updates).
    The battery was at 98% when I started, and just before the reboot I made sure it was connected to the regular power supply, so there shouldn’t be any issues there.

Q: How do I know it never boots into an OS? - because I’d be able to see it try to connect to the router (tried wifi and tried a cable).

Anyone got ideas?

This is my second mainboard, the first one I received was DOA. Which is unfortunate – hopefully this can be fixed by some sort of benediction and mashing of the open/close button or some such.

Have you tried performing a mainboard reset?

Remember you have your board in standalone mode. Thus, the bios update needs to happen on both halves (left and right) of the machine.

I have never used the LVFS bios update. The UEFI update had to be done on the left and the right to update both sides of the board when in standalone mode.

Edited to link to the Master BIOS update thread here.

Where is your source for this?

so PSA, you cannot use the fwupdmgr when in standalone mode.

If you go to the end of the firmware update documentation is mentions that standalone FW updates must be done via USB in the UEFI shell and that you have to do so without a battery connected.

Hi @jeremy_webb,

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. The link here talks a little about updating the BIOS in standalone mode.

" Updating a Mainboard outside of a laptop

This release supports standalone updates without a battery attached. After rebooting, please follow the onscreen instructions to update your BIOS when in standalone mode, which will require moving the power source between both sides of the Mainboard to allow PD firmware to update correctly if a PD firmware update is necessary."

Some of the firmware for other CPU configurations claim that it will prompt you to do what you need to update the other side of the mainboard. In my experience with the Framework 11th gen boards it never prompted me; so I took the liberty of shutting it down after it said it was complete, pull the power and power the other side of the board and put the USB in to flash the firmware again from the other side of the board.

It sounds crude, however the BIOS updates check to see what version is installed and traditionally will not apply if it already sees the BIOS is the current version.