Firmware Update failed

MetaNorm

Hi Guys!
Since a few weeks I've lost the permission to update the Firmware of my Star Lite Tablet.
"failed to write data to efivars: no permission"
I'm doing sudo fwupdmgr update
Have there been any changes here?

infinitymdm

Firmware updates are definitely still working on my system (thanks for the reminder, btw), but I'm on a bog-standard desktop PC. Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that you're on a tablet?

As always, the troubleshooting page is a great resource: https://help.getsol.us/docs/user/troubleshooting/

MetaNorm

That way I have no more trouble. Apart from the missing write permissions, everything really works flawless.

The FW update has worked without any problems the last three times. Thought it might be due to the internal conversion of Solus (user merge...)?

MetaNorm

I didn`find any solution. Is it possible to make the efivars writeable?

brent

sudo su then chown etc doesn't help?

TraceyC

brent sudo su then chown etc doesn't help?

The efivars filesystem is a special mount that is managed by the kernel. Users should not be changing ownership or permissions on it manually. This could lead to problems. This is a case where an uninformed answer could be worse than no answer at all.

The first thing I would suggest is to reboot, if you hadn't tried that already. The evivars filesystem is created in RAM with every boot.

I did a little web searching and found this post from someone who had the same error as you have. You might try some of the things that person tried if rebooting doesn't help. Good luck.

MetaNorm

Unfortunately, it doesn't help. Efivars already has the status ‘rw’ but the firmware cannot be written.

What I have now seen is that the firmware to be installed is apparently already installed. But why doesn't the system recognise this?

brent

if you encounter more stuff you cannot do (or make work) then its the limitations of the tablet. I say that having no idea what they are (compared to a full blown desktop PC for example).

MetaNorm What I have now seen is that the firmware to be installed is apparently already installed. But why doesn't the system recognise this?

You are updated, that is good. Why does the system say you are not updated? I don't know.
Have you tried a firmware update in gnome-software or discover? maybe it will reset something.

MetaNorm

Here you can perhaps recognise it. Even if it is a mixture of English and German.

brent

ahhh you got the 'invalid package' warning that I got. is that related to your permissions thing?

MetaNorm

GNOME-Software says that there went something wrong. No further desciption.

brent ahhh you got the 'invalid package' warning that I got. is that related to your permissions thing?

I would think so, don't you?

brent

MetaNorm I would think so, don't you?

I don't know. Wish I did.

MetaNorm

Perhaps someone else will get in touch with some advice.
Thank you for your help ;-)

Axios

MetaNorm Do a (df -h ) from terminal and paste what efivarfs line says.
Also make sure you delete unsused boot entries from the bootmanager.

(Note) This issue and the multi threads give me the willy's from people thinking its broke
I think maybe what happens to people is that updates to it happen at a point before the kernel
release some of the mem and that causes the issue of no space.
(Thats all it is no room to write the dbx file)
As TraceyC stated its not something you want to mess with behind the scenes the outcome
may not be what you expect.

Sorry if I ranted abit..

brent

TraceyC The efivars filesystem is a special mount that is managed by the kernel. Users should not be changing ownership or permissions on it manually. This could lead to problems. This is a case where an uninformed answer could be worse than no answer at all.

you are right, I don't why I thought manual intervention was a good possibility for this, every crowded efivars thread always reaches the same conclusion: let it be 🙂,

MetaNorm

TraceyC
I had already read the exact link before you posted it. So I know what efivars is and how it is created. But I haven't yet found a way to remove unnecessary entries, especially as I don't even know which ones I'm allowed to remove.
Because the error has been occurring for several weeks, I have already carried out many reboots.
Maybe the approach in CoreBoot is different than in the classic BIOS?

Axios
No need to say sorry - it's all fine ;-)
As I said my System is not broken. It's fluid as hell. Updates are completed as quickly as possible, I never had a single error.
It doesn't really bother me that the error is reported now, because the firmware seems to have been installed anyway. I'm just surprised that the system doesn't recognize the update.

Perhaps it's important to mention that I've been using the OS for three or four previous laptops by simply installing the hard disk in the newer machine. Could that be why there are old entries somewhere that are now interfering?

Axios

MetaNorm Yes the original firmware was updated ok. (So its going show correct ver)
This is just a patch to fix the DBX file for secure boot. (Which prob doesnt matter if your not using Secure boot)
Given time it may update ok.

Its been awhile but I did the same update DBX to mine and it worked fine.
If it was me I would not worry about it but its always good to learn stuff.