LVFS tames firmware updates

Posted Oct 1, 2020 18:34 UTC (Thu) by hughsient (subscriber, #52199)
In reply to: LVFS tames firmware updates by dowdle
Parent article: LVFS tames firmware updates

Because there's no way of scheduling a legacy bios update. You can't even boot into a random update mode to run anything with CSM.

LVFS tames firmware updates

Posted Oct 1, 2020 21:29 UTC (Thu) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link] (3 responses)

I have little to no understanding about the constraints of Legacy BIOS... but I can tell you Dell Command Update (Microsoft Windows on most Dell end-user systems) on a Legacy BIOS system works just fine. I also use their DSU on Linux systems in Legacy BIOS mode. Various other vendors provide tools that work in both modes... Lenovo, HP, etc.

Granted, a single tool for Linux that works with a wide range of multi-vendor hardware doesn't really compare to a single vendor product. I realize there are most likely a wide range of differences between the various vendor Legacy BIOS setups... whereas UEFI is a tome of standards with a single reference implementation that most vendors only slightly customize? Yeah, I made that a question. :)

It would be helpful if fwupdmgr when run on a Legacy BIOS system would inform the user that they are simply wasting their time and that no matter how many times one reads the man page, it isn't going to help.

LVFS tames firmware updates

Posted Oct 2, 2020 9:20 UTC (Fri) by hughsient (subscriber, #52199) [Link] (2 responses)

> inform the user that they are simply wasting their time

We do, but you have to be running a very new fwupd version: https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/blob/master/plugins/bios/f...

LVFS tames firmware updates

Posted Oct 2, 2020 11:07 UTC (Fri) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link] (1 responses)

Are there instructions for converting a Red Hat / Fedora Legacy BIOS install to a UEFI boot install? Microsoft Windows has such a tool and I've used it on a few occasions. It works most of the time.

If there isn't a standard / reliable way to do it for Linux then, "Firmware can not be updated in legacy BIOS mode, switch to UEFI mode" practically means... change your system's boot method and re-install your OS... so you can update your firmware. I guess one could temporarily boot live media in UEFI mode and update from that... and switch back again.

I look forward to using fwupdmgr on the UEFI systems and think it is really a benefit to the entire Linux ecosystem. Thanks for all of the hard work.

LVFS tames firmware updates

Posted Oct 11, 2020 21:33 UTC (Sun) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129) [Link]

I have recently done that, and basically you have a 🐔 and🥚 problem. Installing a UEFI bootloader is only possible if you already booted via UEFI, and to do that, you need a UEFI bootloader. Commands like grub-install won't work in UEFI mode if you booted with the CSM. So you indeed have to boot from a live media and set it up from there.