Thunderbolt Software and Firmware updates and Linux

[zeroconf]

Hello,

I received the mail from Lenovo about the Thunderbolt Software and Firmware updates but from the documentation[1], I see the software update is only available for Windows 10. Is Linux affected? Should I update only the firmware?

[1] https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/it/en/solutions/ht508988

[Michael418]

@zeroconf, Are you able to install the firmware? I have a Thinkpad X1C6 and from what I can see[1], even the firmware is only for Windows.

@Lenovo, please provide bug fixes for Linux too when the bug is as serious as this. It's not acceptable that I should experience hardware failure just because I choose to use a different operating system.

[1] https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-...

[jnWibble]

I got the e-mail too. There are posts on Reddit from Linux users wondering what the e-mail means for them. I used a Windows To Go installation yesterday and run the rather horrible Lenovo update App (one wonders, for one thing, whether the '5' that it displays is a countdown - it's not) and it offered nothing that seemed relevant. `fwupd` is offering nothing. I'll say what I've said before - and then I think I'll give up, for why bother? - Lenovo, you treat your Linux users dreadfully and your communications are, partly as a result of that, inept.

[zeroconf]

@Micheal418

I haven't tried, I just read the message and came here to find more instructions before trying anything.

--
Thinkpad T570

[jnWibble]

I have just run Lenvo Update on a Windows to Go installation, on an X1CG6 - which is one of the models listed as affected by whatever-exactly-the-problem-is. No updates were listed. I went to the link provided in the e-mail and found the relevant updates. One was dated June of this year, the other July. Hence - given my previous usage of the Windows To Go disk, and indeed `fwupd` - I imagine I had both updates (though one was merely a Windows driver) installed already. I ran the firmware installation tool anyway. It ran, taking a while, and giving me no indication whether it had been installed already or not. One would find it hard to make this stuff up. What an utter shambles. I just hope that (re)flashing this firmware doesn't break anything.

[Michael418]

If "firmware update" means the same thing as BIOS update, then I guess I could do that according to the instructions on the Arch Linux Wiki. Apparently, Lenovo is in the "Linux Vendor Firmware Service" so I guess it should work. Or maybe this is a different thing, I don't know. Would love some response from Lenovo on this. Running:

fwupdmgr get-updates

reports back "No updatable devices" though.

Strangely, the tool reports that "X1 Carbon Thunderbolt Controller" is on version 30.00. But the bug fix is firmware version 17.0.0.3.

[Vantskruv]

If you read the txt file in the downloads section (scroll down in the file), you can see the 17.0.0.3 version is the updater version, which is not the firmware vesion. The current Intel firmware version is 43, which seems to have been issued 20190705.

https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n23th02w.txt

I have version 33 according to fwudpmgr.

Edit:

Also, fwupdmgr seems it does not work as intended, or I am wrong.

I have the X1 Carbon 6th Generation, and it seems I found 3 sources of different firmwares (not Thunderbolt though):

https://cdn.fwupd.org/lvfs/devicelist

fwdupgmr uses the above source as what I have seen refreshing the app, and I cannot find any Thunderbolt sources for my Thinkpad, though fwdupdmgr do list that as upgradable, as well as the SSD disc. Nothing else is upgradable via the fwupmgr it seems.

[Michael418]

We're in the same boat. It's infuriating that they have published the thunderbolt update for both generation 7 and generation 5 but not generation 6. I will see if I can email them.

[MarkRHPearson]

I'm following up with the driver team on this.

[markuspeloquin]

There are a substantial number of people at my workplace with issues relating to the Thunderbolt 3 docks, we all use Linux, and we would all love to update our firmware. fwupdmgr does not seem to support the docks (that is, `fwupdmgr get-updates` doesn't list the dock, but `fwupdmgr get-devices` does. I suppose this simply means that the firmware databases (https://cdn.fwupd.org/downloads/firmware.xml.gz and https://cdn.fwupd.org/downloads/firmware-testing.xml.gz) have no entries for it?

ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock
DeviceId: 77c00d7806ea43fa3f5cba8ed1a186c1dab0c7a3
Guid: 75039175-c354-5df9-a798-5da41461c007
Plugin: thunderbolt
Flags: updatable|require-ac|registered
Vendor: Lenovo
VendorId: TBT:0x0108
Version: 36.02
VersionFormat: pair
Icon: thunderbolt
Created: 2019-10-18