Linux @lemmy.ml gpstarman @lemmy.today 4mo ago

Updating BIOS via Linux ?

How to update BIOS on a system that only use Linux as OS.

Asking this because some clowns at Acer decided that they will only provide BIOS updates through Windows Update.

Edit: I'm not talking about installing the BIOS file. They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place.

66 comments

There is no universal solution to this. Some vendors support fwupd (LVFS) on some hardware (Dell, Lenovo), some allow to update via a file on a USB stick (Asus).

Unless it is a system from Linux first company (Tuxedo, StarLabs, System76, Slimbook) expect to manually check what the specific model you are looking at supports.
- I'm not talking about installing the BIOS file. They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place.
  
  Also, I don't think fwupd has firmware for this particular laptop. ( Acer One 14 Z2-493 )
  
  That's the thing - there is no option to update BIOS on Linux then.
  
  You must install Windows or maybe use one of those unofficial Windows Live USB images.
- system from Linux first company (Tuxedo, StarLabs, System76, Slimbook)
  
  Indeed that's IMHO the solution, namely prioritizing ecosystem that genuinely see Linux as something valuable, with an addressable market, rather than a cost linked to annoying users.
  
  it's just sad that they are not selling on my country
I had an Acer laptop once. I had Ubuntu on it. I had problems with random crashing after a few minutes, I ran memtest, it took a few hours for a full test and came back with a whole slew of faults. I sent it to Acer under warranty and they told me that Linux was the problem and I should leave windows on it.
- I called the "technical" support regarding this issue. And they said they'll only support Windows.
  
  Making your entire hardware reliant on particular proprietary software like Windows is just stupid.
  
  Never buying Acer again.
  
  At this point, I don't even know which vendor to buy, when everybody is shit.
  
  Tuxedo, Framework, Slimbook, System76, Starlabs are Linux-first vendors with an excellent track record.
  
  Have a look at Starlabs. You can choose coreboot
- reminder to myself to remove the ssd next time i need warranty repair
  
  A 128 or 256 GB SSD or NVME drive costs £10 to £15 on eBay used. I would buy one and put Windows on it when sending back for warranty repair. OP should actually just do this for the BIOS update and then swap out the SSD back to the Linux one after.
- Had something similar with ASUS…never again
Install windows on a second/spare drive. Boot PC from this and run their tool.

I know you're trying to find a way around not using windows, but if the vendors only solution involves it, I wouldn't trust any hacky workarounds when it comes to bios updates.
- Thank you. Makes sense.
Is there an option to save the new bios update file to a USB stick, then enter bios and trigger an update manually that fetches the file from said USB stick?

I've done it this way with an Asrock motherboard for desktop running Bazzite.
- They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place.
Depends on the exact model. The usual way on Linux is via fwupdmgr.
- I'm not talking about installing the BIOS file. They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place.
  
  Also, I don't think fwupd has firmware for this particular laptop. ( Acer One 14 Z2-493 )
  
  Try it out. I was often pleasantly surprised by the things provided by fwupd.
All the security updates are in the microcode loaded by the bootloader even before the kernel is loaded, so unless there's some new feature, bugfix, or hardware support you specifically know you need it's not important to update your BIOS anyway. Which is good, because as far as I can tell you're just screwed by a bad hardware vendor.
- not important to update your BIOS
  
  Not actually gonna update BIOS. but just curious.
  
  bad hardware vendor.
  
  Which accurately translates to Acer.
if the provide and exe, You can always create a bootable usb stick of freedos or another dos tool. Copy the file onto the stick. boot to it and cd to where the file is and issue filename.exe
Frankly in my opinion, bios should only be updatable from the bios itself. No matter which os we talk about, it can always get in the way.
- Thank you sane person.
I feel your pain. I've searched a bit online and found several different methods (not for Acer though) that all go way over my head. I just leave the BIOS to deprecate on its own by now.
- As someone who's built his own PCs for years, I've never really bothered with a BIOS update.
  
  Then again, one of the main reasons to update BIOS is to gain support for new CPUs, but I've been using Intel which switches to a new socket or chipset every other generation anyway. I've almost always had to buy a new motherboard alongside a new CPU.
  
  I don't have reason to update BIOS either. But just in case.
- 🫂
Acer has had this policy for over 20 years. I bought a laptop long ago from a vendor that I had issues with and they refused to give me support because I was running Linux at the time. (I forget what distro. Probably either Mandrake or early Ubuntu.) That laptop went right back to the vendor.

Never bought anything from them since.
- What a joke they are.
I know for HP machines, the bios updater exe can be decompressed and you can just get the bios image and the signature file from that.

Idk what machine you have, but at least for an older aspire laptop my friend has, there is a bios download.

If you follow instructions to make bios recovery media, you can update your bios through that.

Edit: that Acer laptop you have doesn't even show up on Acer's support page. Supposedly it's sold as an Acer aspire a something or other. If you search based on your snid, you should be able to get to a downloads page.

Also clevo seems to make this laptop, according to the Acer India webpage I found for it
- doesn't even show up on Acer's support page.
  
  This is exactly my problem.
  
  If you search based on your snid, you should be able to get to a downloads page.
  
  Still nothing.
  
  Thank You.
  
  What's your snid? It might show up as a different model on a different website.
Acer supports 2 of their devices on Linux

https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devices/
- Thank you. Sadly mine is different.
Usually you can extract the windows updater exe and use the bios/bin/upd file via mainboard bios update mechanisms
- They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place. So no exe to extract.
Sorry, but in your case the only way is to install Windows. Make a dual boot.
- Thank you.
  
  I think it's stupid to provide something hardware related like BIOS exclusively through a particular proprietary software like Windows.
I know some BIOS update that works with FreeDOS.

Just basically need to flash it into a USB drive and run the BIOS update .exe with it.
- There's no exe. They don't even provide BIOS file in the first place.
  
  What do they provide then?
  
  Also, in Linux there's fwupd
take a look at this and this
- Thank You.
My Lenovo laptops running fedora get BIOS updates via dnf
- Well, sucks to be me.
What Acer board are you trying to update?

66 comments