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What's the easiest way to update bios on my Ubuntu laptop without a USB? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago by SurpriZe@lemm.ee to c/linux4noobs@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/41741300

As a lifelong Windows user I've just for the first time switched to Ubuntu and I'm learning how to navigate the system but I haven't found an easy way to update my Carbon's X1 Gen 6 BIOS from its hard disk and would appreciate any advice.

I'd be also happy to hear what I should do as a newcomer to Ubuntu to make my experience with it better and have an easier time overall.

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[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure you can do the bios on Thinkpads etc through "fwupdmgr" (I guess it means Firmware Update Manager). I definitely did mine through it.

There's a bit of info on here: Linux Mint Forums - [SOLVED] BIOS update on Lenovo ThinkPad X1C 7th gen

It should apply the same to Ubuntu as it does for Linux Mint.

[–] SurpriZe@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've got the 6th gen and it seems to be not in the list, but thanks

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No guarantee this will work, but there seems to be instructions from the arch wiki here: wiki.archlinux.org Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6)

Try at your own risk of course, but maybe an option if nothing else works?

[–] SurpriZe@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thank you so much, this was insightful! The system actually has a firmware update which did the trick (to version 1.63) but it didn't get the latest version so I've tried updating BIOS manually via a flashdrive with the latest version (1.64) but it doesn't see the flashdrive material when I load (I'm sure I've written the drive correctly).

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Glad you're making some progress with it! It looks like the 1.64 update is only a few days old, so perhaps it will make its way into the system updates in a few days? (In the same place you found 1.63).

Otherwise, I wonder if the windows .exe or .iso contains the .cab file (can you extract with archive manager or mount the iso?), which could then be installed using the instructions under "1.1.2 Manual (fwupdmgr)"?

Alternatively, if everything seems to be working well with 1.63, perhaps no need to worry for a while?

[–] SurpriZe@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Overall it's of course no big deal but Im still confused as to why it doesn't see the mounted iso of the update when booting from the USB.

And I've tried unarchiving the iso and also just looking inside but it just shows up empty (I've checked multiple times that it downloaded correctly and even redownloaded it a few times just to be sure). Do I need to convert to img or something first? The size is still showing correctly, so I'm unsure as to why it's empty in every case.

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I had a look at it myself last night and it showed up empty to me as well, which is a bit strange. I wonder if their 1.64 iso is corrupt?

Though it will not resolve anything, for the sake of curiosity, I might be tempted to check the previous 1.63 iso to see if it is also empty. If the 1.63 iso is not empty, then there's a problem with their 1.64 iso file, and see just wait for them to fix it. If the 1.63 iso also shows up as empty, then I guess the mystery continues!

[Edit] 1.63 is also empty, so something odd about how iso is formatted?

[–] SurpriZe@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Thanks for trying to help so much!

I'm at a total loss here, as I've never had an issue with a BIOS iso before. Perhaps it's only visible on Windows, or they have protection in place? Could also be negligence and they don't care anymore as this is a relatively old model (though I've just bought it as I was looking for a good deal on my first proper work laptop 😅)