I recently got a monitor that I can’t seem to get working. It’s been quite the journey and I’ve been picking up some good knowledge around NixOS and managing it. Unfortunately, all this exploring hasn’t lead me to any sort of fix.
My machine is an X1 Carbon 7th gen and I’m trying to link it to the monitor via USB-C. I’ve made sure the monitor works through my housemate’s laptops.
My current configuration.nix looks as follows: configuration.nix · GitHub and I have the following set up:
sudo nixos-version
21.03pre252388.069f183f16c (Okapi)
$ uname -a
Linux nixos 5.10.0-rc3 #1-NixOS SMP Mon Nov 9 00:10:16 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux
and there was no output, despite the USB-C being plugged in and the laptop is charging.
I’m trying to update the firmware by running:
$ sudo fwupdmgr upgrade
udo fwupdmgr update
[sudo] password for haptop:
Devices with no available firmware updates:
• INTEL SSDPEKKF010T8L
• Intel Management Engine
• UEFI Device Firmware
• UEFI Device Firmware
• UEFI dbx
Upgrade available for Embedded Controller from 0.1.10 to 0.1.20
20QDCTO1WW must remain plugged into a power source for the duration of the update to avoid damage. Continue with update? [Y|n]: Y
Downloading… [***************************************]
Decompressing… [***************************************]
Authenticating… [ / ]
Authenticating… [***************************************]
Updating Embedded Controller… / ]
Scheduling… [***************************************]
Successfully installed firmware
Devices with the latest available firmware version:
• Prometheus
• Prometheus IOTA Config
Upgrade available for System Firmware from 0.1.20 to 0.1.41
20QDCTO1WW must remain plugged into a power source for the duration of the update to avoid damage. Continue with update? [Y|n]: Y
Downloading… [***************************************]
Decompressing… [***************************************]
Authenticating… [ | ]
Authenticating… [***************************************]
Updating System Firmware…[ | ]
Scheduling… [***************************************]
Successfully installed firmware
• Touchpad
An update requires a reboot to complete. Restart now? [y|N]:
I press y and it reboots. Then if I do the same command it goes through the same update process for both these components. Is there something else I have to do to get these updates to stick? I’d really like to rule this out.
Any help is very much appreciated, and if I can help my situation by providing more information let me know
As far as I know, fwupd needs to run some code after rebooting to complete the installation of the capsule.
Whether a reboot is necessary for a particular device can be checked with sudo fwupdmgr get-devices and looking for “Needs a reboot”.
Usually, the next boot entry can be set through either EFI variables (which shouldn’t be the case here).
In the case of systemd-boot, the boot configuration can be checked with bootctl.
So I read a bit more into that post and saw that the OP added boot loader /boot/loader/entries/firmware_update.conf, which I added as well like:
title Linux Fireware Updater
efi /EFI/nixos/fwupdx64.efi
When I rebooted I chose the Linux Fireware Updater (just noticing they had a typo and I copy-pasted ). The firmware update did its business and the updates persisted
That’s the good news. The bad news is that there’s still no signal getting to my monitor at this point I’m thinking about seeing if I could get a replacement under my warranty.
It might not be broken at all, it might just be broken on linux :-(. Try it with windows, and see if it runs with that. You probably find that there is some proprietary microsoft/lenovo driver that is doing magic…if that doesn’t work, this it’s magically broken.
I tried booting Windows 10 from a USB but I’m getting to a point that makes me nervous where it complains about not finding drivers and ask me to Browse to find them. So I bailed out of that.
I’d find this weird, because I know at least two people who have the same computer, run NixOS, and use monitors. I think I have a magic hardware curse
Hmm,…beware of same…, i’ve seen two pieces of hardware, same manufacture , have completely different firmware, chips or even motherboards… Something made in January, can be completely different to something made in February!! The devil is the details… especially with hardware revisions and firmware revisions…sometimes it’s even caused by the bios!!!
Lucky everyone is cursed with hardware problems like this… hopefully risc-v based computers my get us out of this hell.
Ya, I tried setting it to “No Security” and still no love. I’m gonna send my laptop off for repair and hope for the best Have all my stuff backed up, a USB with NixOS on it, and my configuration.nix ready to go again
it’s good to rule out all the stupid stuff first!
at this point I’m thinking about seeing if I could get a replacement under my warranty.
Have all my stuff backed up, a USB with NixOS on it, and my