Framework 11th gen crashing during bios update

Community Support
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1

So I tried to update my BIOS and it didn’t work, it just froze.

System: Framework 13 11th gen bios 3.06
OS: Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon Kernel 5.15.0-130-generic

I chose version 3.19 because version 3.20 did not have the capacity to be downgraded in case it caused compatibility issues or something,
And I’m just after battery charge limit and high-capacity battery support.

First Attempt
Downloaded bios 3.19 from here and Extract it to fat32 usb flash drive,
i shut down and then Fresh boot and hit F12 and boot from the usb flash drive,
there was a percentage-based progress bar, it finished and then auto rebooted,
I didn’t pay close enough attention to see exactly what it said after that,
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version said the BIOS version was still 3.06,
f2 bios menu said insydeH20 Version GFW30.03.06
but intel me version / SKU Which I assume is CSME Went from “15.0.23.1706 / CONSUMER” to “15.0.42.2235 / CONSUMER”
no error.log file on flash drive

Second Attempt
I needed more information, so I tried again,
shut down, Fresh boot, hit F12, boot from flash drive,
this time, there is no percentage-based progress bar,
I get the following message.

FS0:> fwupdlcl.efi -F fwupdate.bin -y
intel (R) FW Update version: 15.0.47.2473
checking firmware parameters…
Error 331: Full FW Update using same version is not allowed. Include -allowsv in command line to allow it.
FS0:>CapsuleApp.efi winux.bin firmware_hdr.cap -OD
CapsuleApp: creating capsule descriptors at 0x439E4B18
CapsuleApp: capsule data starts at 0x3E947018 with size 0xA5422
CapsuleApp: capsule block/size 0x3E947018/0xA5422
CapsuleApp: creating capsule descriptors at 0x439E4E98
CapsuleApp: capsule data starts at 0x3BF16018 with size 0x220B9D4
CapsuleApp: capsule block/size 0x3E947018/0x220B9D4
Get Boot Next Data Fail. Status = Not Found
CapsuleApp: cannot find a valid file system on boot devices. Status = Not Found
FS0:>_

and then it just froze, Could not type, no cursor blinking,
I did some research, It seems like other people could still type in here,
After being concerned, I might have bricked my computer, I waited a half hour And then after I Determine it wasn’t doing anything, I then tapped the power button, and it just powered down instantly. Luckily it rebooted just fine.
now there is a error.log file on the usb flash drive that said,
“Error 331: Full FW Update using same version is not allowed. Include -allowsv in command line to allow it.”
my research shows that if I modify the “efi/boot/startup.nsh” file on the flash drive and add “-allowsv” to “fwupdlcl.efi -F fwupdate.bin -y” so it is “fwupdlcl.efi -F fwupdate.bin -y -allowsv”
that should fix the First problem But I have not tried yet,
because I’m more worried about the second CapsuleApp error crashing during the update and Bricking my computer.
Hopefully I can get some confidence inspiring guidance on how to continue without Bricking my computer

2

It seems like you do not have an EFI System Partition. Your operating system installer did not guide you to produce the right disk layout for the computer you are using.

Can you share the output of:

sudo sgdisk -p /dev/nvme0n1

? Drop sudo if you otherwise run it as root.

fwupdlcl updates the CSME. You have indicated that you already received the CSME update, so you do not need to modify the script to apply the update a second time.

2 Likes
3 
$ sudo sgdisk -p /dev/nvme0n1
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 7814037168 sectors, 3.6 TiB
Model: WDS400T3X0C-00SJG0                      
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): (REDACTED)
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 7814037134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3693 sectors (1.8 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048         1050623   512.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   2         1050624      7814035455   3.6 TiB     8300
4

I just noticed these files in my EFI partition that appear to be from the update tool.

$ sudo ls /boot/efi/EFI/UpdateCapsule/
firmware_hdr.cap  winux.bin
$ sudo sha256sum /boot/efi/EFI/UpdateCapsule/firmware_hdr.cap
e14e456115069cdbdcb92ac076827348f242f768725635ac505e0e4359ad0127  /boot/efi/EFI/UpdateCapsule/firmware_hdr.cap
$ sudo sha256sum /boot/efi/EFI/UpdateCapsule/winux.bin
45073afe13403a41468f05eff11d77702917a81a6425827c84979ec5ecdd0237  /boot/efi/EFI/UpdateCapsule/winux.bin
5

I think you are in good hands with the assistance of @dhowett.
I’ll mention that I think people have had issues installing very recent bios updates on very old versions and stepping through some intermediate versions was successful. There are differences using the Windows installer, lvfs and efiboot methods.
Research that if you don’t have luck with installing 3.19 directly on top of 3.06

Also there have been issues with the battery being fully charged with some update versions and installers. It may be useful to drain your battery 30-40% and then connect the power adapter just before beginning the update. The idea is to keep the battery charging through the whole process but also have the batter provide full power for short times while the update impacts some components on the system board. This is mentioned in the release notes for older update versions: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/framework-laptop-bios-releases-S1dMQt6F

There is more in the forum. I know it can be a nuisance looking for this info in the forum. Sorry that I don’t have handy links for you.
EDIT: Check the replies in this thread for one instance: Framework 11gen Linux - BIOS 3.20 error

Good luck!