[SOLVED] Samsung SSD 980 Pro firmware update on linux - how?

Thomas_Herrmann · February 8, 2023, 6:51am

I am running debian stable on my gen 12 framework.

I want to update my Samsung SSD 980 Pro to firmware 5B2QGXA7, but the firmware is not available in LVFS.

I downloaded the .iso from samsung and tried to boot it, but the screen stays black. Some other users indicate that this iso only boots in legacy mode. I don’t have secure boot enabled and I have no idea how to apply this firmware update…

Any ideas?

Anachron · February 8, 2023, 7:38am

Take a look here:

I will need to wait for the 990 Pro Firmware update to test this myself though.

Usernames · February 8, 2023, 8:49am

I followed a similar guide to above (did not need to use a USB for booting just normal OS) all went well.

Thomas_Herrmann · February 23, 2023, 9:22pm

Thanks for those answers -it worked flawlessly!

I wonder why samsung cannot just release the folder with the update tool and the firmware binary. That seems to be all it takes to flash the firmware on linux.

Meyer_Nadia · February 23, 2023, 10:48pm

Hi there,

Because we’re not all in ease with Linux, I just would like to share some more notes about the firmware update instructions mentioned which, indeed work great:

To be able to use the smartctl command to check your ssd health, you must install smartmontools via this command: sudo apt-get install smartmontools
to find your ssd name, in a terminal type df then copy the name of the files system mounted on the root
to make the command sudo ./fumagician work, you must allow execution of the program: in the terminal, once in the folder of the program, type chmod +x fumagician

Now you’re good to go.

PS: i did it with the Samsung SSD 990 Pro

Anachron · February 23, 2023, 11:20pm

Oooh, the 990 Pro firmware finally dropped.

I will probably upgrade soon, even though my drive is unaffected.

a_framework_owner · February 24, 2023, 11:15pm

Anyone knows how to do it on Fedora ?

Anachron · February 25, 2023, 8:16am

@a_framework_owner there is no difference.

Matt6 · March 31, 2023, 7:14pm

Wanted to say the instructions at this link (shared above by Usernames) worked for me with a Samsung 980 SSD. Thanks!

Danyal_Mugutdinov · May 11, 2023, 12:56pm

@Anachron Could you tell me if 990 pro works well under linux? Have you done perfomance tests? Did you manage to update the firmware without problems?

Matt_Hartley · May 11, 2023, 9:48pm

If you want to be 100% sure, let this be your guide. What storage (SSD) parts are compatible with the Framework Laptop?

wiggmpk · June 1, 2023, 3:05pm

@Danyal_Mugutdinov yes, it works for the 990 Pro under Linux and it should NOT be distro dependent.

My experience was pretty straight forward. Download the ISO from Samsung, mount the image, extract the Initial RAM disk, run the firmware update (just like the instructions posted here

Result

PS: Finally hit 1% used (before the firmware upgrade, don’t freak out lol)

a_framework_owner · June 1, 2023, 3:22pm

Does anybody knows of any plans from samsung to ever use LVFS ?
They have an account but I think they already had one one year ago…

How do you understand :

 Is uploading firmware on behalf of other vendors

and

 Restricted to upload firmware for any hardware with vendor IDs:

    NVME:0x144D
    HSI:SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

?

Kim_Asplund · August 22, 2024, 4:05pm

i cursed their bootable iso and windows software also when it refused to find my drives set in raid from bios so i made a script to do this a bit easier.
then ran it from a live cd. but works fine if you have linux running also.

it will extrct the firmware from the bootable iso and tell you what to do.