How to update system firmware

There’s a new system firmware release available for my machine (https://fwupd.org/lvfs/device/com.dell.uefie4d7bdc4.firmware). I don’t currently have anything set up in Clear Linux to apply firmware updates so I checked to see what’s available with swupd search fwupd. This listed both fwupdate and firmware-update. I have no idea which is the right bundle, so I just tried adding the fwupd bundle.

When I run fwupdmgr get-updates it tells me I have ‘no remotes configured’, so it appears just installing the bundle isn’t enough.

Does anyone know whether fwupdate or firmware-update is the best bundle to use, and, in either case, where I can find out how to get the update working?

Furthermore after installation fwupdmgr get-devices tells me it’s Unable to determine EFI system partition location. I’m a bit confused about this - mount doesn’t show any efi partitions as mounted, yet I have a /boot/EFI directory.

I’m wondering whether I might need to reinstall a small Windows partition to get my firmware updated.

This bundle and the content needs work. There are several issues that we’ve not gotten to, including the one you listed. Upstream has been helpful, so, we just need to put some time into it to get it working for those who need/want it. Note: we disabled it in the past due to some hardware actually breaking. While that seems fixed now, we never properly refitted everything back together.

Thanks for the update @ahkok. I guess that means a Windows partition is the answer for the time being.

Not necessarily - most firmwares nowadays can be put as a file on the ESP and then just loaded from the BIOS screen - no Windows needed.

I’ll have a look into that but … what’s an ‘ESP’?

Never mind - wikipedia to the rescue - EFI system partition - Wikipedia

As far as I can find so far Dell only distributes the BIOS update as a windows .exe. But I’ll keep digging.

Put both FreeDos and your update on a stick, no Windows needed.

Use UNetbootin :

Or download manually

The BIOS updates are distributed as win32 executables (thanks Dell). There might be another source for updates somewhere but I haven’t found anything yet.

OK I managed to do this without reinstalling Windows (phew).

It turns out that the BIOS has its own update facility that knows how to extract the bios data from a Dell-supplied .exe: https://www.dell.com/support/article/au/en/audhs1/sln171755/updating-the-dell-bios-in-linux-and-ubuntu-environments?lang=en

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Why isn’t it possible to use gnome-firmware on Clear Linux to do all FW updates issued by Intel? Clear Linux is an Intel distro!

Why do users of Clear Linux still have to use Windows to update FW coming from Intel?

Intel NUC is never advertised as being able to run any specific operating system except Windows 10…

@AW_clearlinux, I’m running Clear Linux on a NUC8i5. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘Firmware’ issued by Intel.

For the 8 version NUC’s, some of the Intel Downloads are OS Independent and can be run on a system running Clear Linux only.

For instance, on the Intel Downloads page for my NUC, here: Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i5BEK

Bios Update, Intel Integrator Toolkit, and the RAID software are all OS Independent.

I’ve personally used the Bios Update and updated my 8i5 NUC Bios without issue with only Clear Linux installed.

The other software / drivers available currently are only available for Windows 10, so it seems like you wouldn’t be able to install those on any Linux distro.

Good luck!

Edit: Sorry, I see that you did have a link to a post on Intel NUC Community. That HDMI Firmware is OS-specific and is only designed for Windows 10. The original post was regarding a BIOS update, which doesn’t necessarily need to use a computer’s OS.

The HDMI Firmware, however, would need to interact with a computer’s OS.

That Intel Community is probably the better place to discuss the issue of Intel Hardware support for Linux in general.

@doct0rHu, actually, depending on the model of the NUC Intel does support Linux.

For the 7 series NUCs, the below page specifically mentions Ubuntu and Clear Linux.

Regards!

Thanks! I didn’t know that.

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This is funny. Perhaps even ridiculous. A Linux distro made by Intel “Intel Optimized. Highly tuned for Intel platforms where all optimization is turned on by default” not able to run on very common Intel NUCs.

Clear Linux OS Team told me that Intel NUC8i7BEH is supported by CL:

https://docs.01.org/clearlinux/latest/reference/compatible-hardware.html
Some NUC8I7xxx are in.

I’m running Clear Linux on a NUC8i5 without issue. I am using an HDMI monitor, and I did not need the Windows HDMI firmware from Intel.

@AW_clearlinux He needs to update the firmware, and Intel only provides a Windows program to do that.

It’s done. With a fresh install of Win10.

Clear Linux will run on Intel NUCs, but is not currently distributed from the factory on Intel NUCs.