Update BIOS to work with newer kernel

[photobill]

This is a follow-up question to my earlier resolved question, see here for details.

Permanent freeze on shutdown

I’ve just heard back from a friend who had extensive professional experience with Linux, so I felt to post his input on here, in case it adds anything: One thought is that the BIOS for the system might be not the latest. You ought to be able to check it through the laptop manufacturer’s website. Worth looking at a later BIOS if one exists, and trying the later kernel again. So I’ve gone to this page. And when I leave the default serial number, it returns several results for BIOS updates. How…

Basically, after I resolved my earlier Ubuntu issue by reverting to an older kernel, a friend suggested to me that updating the BIOS could well resolve the problems which I experienced with the newer kernel.

Here is the sticker on the back of my laptop:

The BIOS is telling me I am on:

System BIOS version 1.10

When I enter the serial number here, I get an error message:
SATELLITE L50-B Support | Dynabook

Your entry doesn’t appear to be valid. Please double-check that your product is from the Americas, Australia or New Zealand region and try again.

Which led me to search for third party sites which offer the BIOS update. Here is one of them: https://123ifix.com/threads/toshiba-satellite-l50-b-1dz-psktue.22413/

So what do people think? Is it worth trying to update the BIOS and what would I be gaining from an updated BIOS which might work with a newer kernel? Also, is is it a prudent thing to do, to download a BIOS update from a third party site?

[oldfred]

I would be very leary of any third party UEFI/BIOS update. Who knows what modifications have been made.

The link you posted shows several BIOS updates. Often vendors stop updates after several years, but users should update when a new version is released, in most cases.

Part of your issue may be:
Toshiba in 2018 sold its PC business unit to Sharp, now DynaBook, last 20% transferred June 30th, 2020

You can see current versions in system settings or with these for UEFI/BIOS and SSDs.
Compare firmware versions to vendors support site

sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
udisksctl status

Many vendors may it easy to update firmware with Windows. Better vendors now use fwupdate which now can be lauched from grub or Ubuntu. I turned it off on my older system as no updates available any more and I do not need it slowing boot to check.

Devices using LVFS for firmware updates
https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devicelist

[photobill]

@oldfred

The link you posted shows several BIOS updates. Often vendors stop updates after several years, but users should update when a new version is released, in most cases.

The link shows several BIOS updates if one leaves the default serial number in place, but shows an error if I enter my actual model number or serial number.

So I guess what I am wondering is whether an official BIOS update for SATELLITE L50-B is a sure match for a SATELLITE L50-B-1DZ, without having received an exact match for the product serial number?

I’ve entered the command you suggest and it confirms that I am on BIOS version 1.10.

I think you are right about the business sale being part of my issue. I am seeing references online that the European support site is no longer.

Maybe things have improved over the years re. ease of firmware updates? I wonder what the situation is with my 2013 machine? I have dual boot Windows 10/Ubuntu, in case that helps.

[oldfred]

My 2017 machine has no new updates. But for a year or two after I built it the motherboard manufacturer had update which I did.

[photobill]

Thanks, that seems to be the same situation as with my machine. The other thing is that I am now realising that perhaps it was a red herring on my part to be looking for a BIOS which matched my specific serial number. Whereas the reality seems to be that the BIOS updates applicable to my machine are for “Satellite L5x-B/S5x-B”, which would seem to indicate a wide range of models. And, looking at this screenshot, the obvious thing to do would seem to be to update to BIOS version 2.00.