1 device has a firmware upgrade available....

Fri Oct 22 08:29:25 UTC 2021

On Fri, 22 Oct 2021 08:46:32 +0100, Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:

>On Fri, 22 Oct 2021 at 07:31, Bo Berglund <bo.berglund at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone here have a clue as to what this "WARNING" means?
>> Can the f/w be updated from Linux or not?
>> If not what is the proper procedure to do the update?
>

The disk contains an EFI partition and I have set UEFI to "CSM compatibility
mode" in order for it to be possible to boot from an USB key containing Ubuntu
installer.
Had to do this at the very start in order to install Ubuntu desktop after using
Windows disk manager to create the needed space for Ubuntu.
Thereafter I have used GParted for further repartitioning to make space for the
migrated server.

>I haven't used that s/w but `man
>fwupdmgr` suggests that the `upgrade` upgrade option should update any
>devices with available upgrades, but I suggest a bit more googling
>about that command.  

>Does the message actually say there is an update available?
>

When I log in via ssh Ubuntu displays this message:

1 device has a firmware upgrade available.
Run `fwupdmgr get-upgrades` for more information.

Then if I do as suggested I get this (now complete):

----------------------------------------------------------------
$ fwupdmgr get-upgrades
WARNING: UEFI firmware can not be updated in legacy BIOS mode
  See https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:legacy-bios for more
information.
90MV007HMW
¦
+-SAMSUNG MZALQ512HALU-000L1:
  ¦   Device ID:          71b677ca0f1bc2c5b804fa1d59e52064ce589293
  ¦   Summary:            NVM Express Solid State Drive
  ¦   Current version:    BL1QFXV7
  ¦   Vendor:             Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (NVME:0x144D)
  ¦   GUIDs:              ff40c884-8b84-53e0-9ad0-82c87436a89a
  ¦                       71c19ff0-0bc0-5c85-aa6f-ba47fcc33eee
  ¦                       e8ae98bc-bc37-56b1-9680-8d64884a2792
  ¦                       8b86707a-1412-5389-8f66-725224d28879
  ¦                       09dc27dc-8bd6-5b2f-b26f-1e6f8133e6ef
  ¦   Device Flags:        Internal device
  ¦                        Updatable
  ¦                        System requires external power source
  ¦                        Supported on remote server
  ¦                        Needs a reboot after installation
  ¦                        Device is usable for the duration of the update
  ¦
  +-PM991:
        New version:      EL1QFXV7
        Remote ID:        lvfs
        Summary:          SAMSUNG PM991 NVMe SSD Firmware for Lenovo PC
        License:          Proprietary
        Size:             2.1 MB
        Created:          2016-07-08
        Urgency:          High
        Vendor:           Lenovo
        Flags:            is-upgrade
        Description:
        Do NOT turn off your computer or remove the AC adapter while update is
in progress.

        The computer shall be restarted after updating firmware completely.

        The device may not properly function until you shut down or reboot PC.

        *Supported devices and firmware version
MZALQ128HBHQ-000L1,MZALQ256HAJD-000L1,MZALQ512HALU-000L1,MZALQ1T0HALB-000L1,BL1QFXV7,AL1QFXV7,BL1QFXV7

        *Supported Product Scope Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkCentre,ThinkStation ,
IdeaCentre
----------------------------------------------------------

The Lenovo PC I am using is a newly bought IdeaCentre with a Samsung 500 GB SSD.
I have migrated Ubuntu Server 18.04 to this PC and release-upgraded to 20.04.3.
It now multiboots Ubuntu Server 20.04.3, Ubuntu Desktop 20.04.3 and Windows 10.
All handled by the grub loader.

In the output shown above it has:

Urgency:          High

which to me indicates I should perform an upgrade, but what I do not want is to
break the system because of this! If the drive becomes unusable then I am hosed
and back at square one...

>Did you check the link in the error.  I *think* it is saying that you
>cannot upgrade the UEFI firmware, but since you are not using UEFI
>then possibly that is not an issue.

I have now checked the displayed URL:
https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:legacy-bios

and it displays this message:
----------------------------------------------------------
When fwupd is compiled with UEFI support (plugin_uefi=true) during startup fwupd
checks to see if the UEFI runtime is available. If the plugin startup fails, a
message is shown with a link to this page.

The WARNING: Firmware can not be updated in legacy BIOS mode will show if you
are running on a system with only legacy BIOS or most commonly, a UEFI BIOS in
"CSM compatibility mode". If this is detected then UEFI runtime functions are
not available. This includes the ability to schedule firmware updates.

This warning can be ignored if UEFI firmware updates are not desired. It can be
disabled by adding

DisabledPlugins=test;invalid;uefi

to /etc/fwupd/daemon.conf or by recompiling without UEFI support.

WARNING: If you change your BIOS mode from UEFI CSM/legacy to UEFI then you may
have to reinstall all installed operating systems. A UEFI system requires an ESP
partition and Linux installers do not typically create an ESP when run in legacy
mode.
------------------------------------------------------------

Can I take this to mean I can edit the file /etc/fwupd/daemon.conf and add the
suggestion and thereafter do the fw upgrade?
It already contains this line:

DisabledPlugins=test;test_ble;invalid

The disk *contains* an EFI partition and I have set UEFI to "CSM compatibility
mode" in order for it to be possible to boot from an USB key containing Ubuntu
installer.
Had to do this at the very start in order to install Ubuntu desktop after using
Windows disk manager to create the needed space for Ubuntu.
Thereafter I have used GParted for further repartitioning to make space for the
migrated server.

-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden