I was able to update using the provided EFI Shell update. However, I experienced the issue noted above “losing” my boot entry/device for Debian.
With Secure Boot disabled I was able to use the EFI Shell in rEFInd and added the necessary boot entry using the bcfg command.
I used the Linux EFI setup, flashed successfully however once it was done my Framework was not able to locate my EFI boot partition.
After some mucking around (chrooting from a live USB, recreating the Grub config, nuking the partition and recreating, etc – all which did not work), I used efibootmgr and found that my partition wasn’t there. Using efibootmgr I manually re-added the partition and everything worked again. Was concerning, but fixable. *Note: I did not experience this issue when upgrading from 3.02 to 3.06 (EFI settings remained intact) when using a bootable version of Windows to handle the firmware update.
Running Gentoo 5.15.11 under ~amd64 testing with Grub v2.06, on a Seagate FireCuda 530
XMP Support is needed as well as the ability to undervolt the ram/cpu in the bios would also be nice. I also wouldn’t mind getting a menu to adjust the individual ram timings either these are must haves in a laptop like this.
I have been following the BIOS beta releases for a while now, but I haven’t seen any stable releases yet. Is that right?
Apart from the version that the laptops are shipping with, are there any other newer stable releases out there?
Updated to Bios 3.07 using the EFI Shell update and fat32 USB drive and went through with no issues. Running Linux Mint Cinnamon. Didn’t reinstall the OS but I dont really see a need too.
I also ran into the issue where rEFInd mysteriously vanished after saving the new battery % limit for the first time after updating to 3.07
Fixed by re-adding the boot entry using efibootmgr (see here).
ArchLinux, installed 3.07 via efi shell with no issue yet.
Do note that this installation method uses the fallback efi bootloader path /efi/boot/bootx64.efi, which may overwrite your bootloader if you installed it this way on the same medium.
For this reason, you should use a usb stick for installation.
I am not sure if this update wipes your efi boot options. I would hope/assume not. But if it does, then you will only be able to boot if your original bootloader was also installed to the fallback location on your nvme.
It does, I mentioned in an earlier comment it happened to me, and it looks like other people have experienced similar issues where their EFI boot options are wiped.
Just installed it myself. Lost my bootloader, but that wasn’t what bugged me, it was that the as script happily reflashed on top of the same version - Because it was missing another boot options, it probably looped six or seven times when I looked away.
Now that it’s reconfigured, seems to be working well.
Just got a email saying ‘We wanted to let you know of a couple of firmware updates that we strongly recommend running to keep your laptop running smoothly and at peak performance: BIOS 3.07…’.
I got a Batch 5 laptop a week ago and both Win 10 and Pop OS 21 work more or less fine on it. I’m not satisfied at all by the time of working from battery (4-5 hours of web browsing with medium brightness), but this doesn’t seem to be addressed by that specific update. My laptop seems to have BIOS 3.03, so are there any real reasons to upgrade? Especially considering all the problems risen above and that 3.07 is still in beta.
P.S. anyway, still cannot get why the BETA version of software is strongly recommended.
In my specific setup, I have Linux on the internal SSD + Windows on a storage add-in card. As expected, I can confirm that unplugging my internal SSD, doing the update from Windows, and then plugging the SSD back in left its EFI boot partition intact.
@Kieran_Levin It would be good if the instructions reminded you to have the framework plugged in; saves a reboot if you forget to plug in, since it’s a requirement of the updater.
I had no trouble updating using the FAT16 USB method. However, I went to reinstall from my Ubuntu 20.04 live USB (because I found out that hibernation on ZFS is not supported–yikes! I thought ZFS was supposed to be way more supported than btrfs!) and I noticed that the touchpad was not working.
Now I understand that this version is not supported, but I have the PS2 mouse emulation setting on auto and the touchpad still doesn’t work. So it seems like there may be some sort of regression on that setting. I tried both disabling and enabling that setting and couldn’t get it to work. Anyone else having a similar issue?
I run Manjaro Linux with Secure Boot, Systemd-Boot, TPM2 Backed Full Disk Encryption and kernel 5.15.
I used the EFI USB update option without any major problems.
Two minor problems:
Had issue getting the USB boot, but I think that was an issue with my existing boot configuration.
Some BIOS settings got reset. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that my custom secure boot keys stayed. I only had to re-enable secure boot and re-initialize my TPM.
So far so good.
I was able to get the install to go fine via a FAT32 formatted USB, as expected.
However, setting battery limits in the bios has caused problems with battery state detection on linux. Wondering if this is a known issue and what I might be able to do to fix it.
@Jake_Naviasky battery state detection (as in discharging or not) seems ok here. Charge time remaining, when on AC, is broken when the limit is set (mine is at 80% atm). Always shows “Estimating”.
But that has been the state of upower/Fedora since about Fedora 19 back in 2013, and Ubuntu before that for I-can’t-remember-how-many years, using Thinkpads and tlp. So no regression I can see (yet, anyway; I just upgraded to 3.07 today).
Edit: Are you seeing some other issue when the limit is set?
I’m with @ololobus on this, why did we get an email telling us its recommended to update to a Beta BIOS, then the KB article page warns us we should be wary of it cause its a Beta BIOS.
Make up your minds!
I’m also a bit frustrated cause I wanted to avoid this strange no boot scenario when I might really need the notebook so I rolled the dice on the Beta BIOS anyway, figuring it couldn’t be any worse, probably. And it wipes the whole BIOS settings save for the Secure Boot DB. This would be fine except this also includes the dang EFI boot entries. With no option to manually add back in the boot option inside of the BIOS I had to go find out how to do so in Windows. At least that worked as expected.
Plus, please fix it so we can actually find everything necessary for the product when we click the Support option. Having to search the KB article DB everytime I wanna look for BIOS or other download options is downright tedious and unorganized.
Which email? Framework Newsletter? I haven’t received the email yet.
It was an email sent by Nirav Dec 24:
Important Firmware Updates for your Framework Laptop
Hi, we hope you’re enjoying your Framework Laptop! We wanted to let you know of a couple of firmware updates that we strongly recommend running to keep your laptop running smoothly and at peak performance: BIOS 3.07, and an update from Western Digital for SN850 SSDs.
The first update is for anyone on BIOS 3.06 (though we recommend that anyone on older firmware update as well). Most Framework Laptops from Batch 5 and later shipped with 3.06 installed. You can double check your BIOS version in the first screen of your BIOS menu, in System Information in Windows, or by running “sudo dmidecode -s bios-version” on Linux. We found an issue where in some circumstances, fully draining the battery while suspended on a laptop running 3.06 prevents it from charging (we have a workaround if you run into this). This is resolved in 3.07, and we have a few other fixes and improvements like being able to set a battery charge limit. You can download and update to 3.07 by following the instructions in this knowledge base article. While you’re on that page, you can also update your drivers to the latest Windows 10 or Windows 11 driver bundle.
The second update only applies if you are using a Western Digital SN850 SSD on Windows. Some SN850 SSDs ship with a firmware version that can cause random reboots or blue screens on Windows, with the system booting back to a screen that states “Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed”. You can update to the latest SN850 firmware using the Western Digital Dashboard to resolve this. We have instructions in a knowledge base article.
Please let us know if you have any questions or run into any issues; we’re here to help! You can reach our Support team through our contact form.
Thanks,
Nirav
Thanks for sharing it! It seems the email is only sent to the users using the laptop where the BIOS 3.06 (most laptops from Batch 5) is installed. I am Batch 2. That’s why I haven’t received it. I can understand the approach.