[librem 14] how to update EC firmware to ec-2021-06-04_ef9fd3c

ninex@shadow:~/updates$ sudo ./tools/purism_ectool info
board: purism/librem_14
version: 2021-05-25_3b5ef1e

if i try to execute purism_ectool flash ec-2021-06-04_ef9fd3c.bin
it will attempt to flash it then fail on verify , then reboot.

any idea how to update thi/s?
@nicole.faerber any clues

the flash_backup not flash command. Note this is not supported / can brick your device - Purism has not released official guidance / mechanism for updating the EC firmware yet

thanks, works, and i din’t bricked
:smiley:

To everyone that read this thread. While we cannot stop you from doing whatever you want with your laptop.

I would like to repeat the warning from my colleague:

Purism has not released official guidance / mechanism for updating the EC firmware yet

this is not supported / can brick your device

So proceed at your own risk.

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good point
however , it would be nice to not put ec firmware with release folder if it’s not yet ready to be flashed by experienced user.
anyway, i did flashed mine, you know the issue i was chasing.
issue was in firmware but not ec one. and one of best practices is to always use latest official firmware.
i assumed that if ec firmware is in /release/librem14 is official. that’s why i asked :slight_smile:

to others, if you have serial programmer flash capable of doing in circuit programming. go and flash, test.
to others… please hold your horses , with broken EC you will have go to experienced electronic repair shop to flash it back - which is security threat - you don’t know what “additions” to the hardware you can experience there :wink:

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Still no official guidance regarding EC update? I need to fix the fan noise urgently and i just noticed there is an EC version from 3rd of August which should help.

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same procedure ,
dowlnload purism_ectool
download ec firmware
decompress
sudo ./purism_ectool flash_backup ./ecfirmware.bin
works for me
obraz

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I’m prepping a few more changes for the release and hope to have it out today or tomorrow, along with official instructions.

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Hi, did the 3rd of August update fixed the fan noise for you? :thinking:

i didn’t had fan noise issue from very beginning

Is that possible @MrChromebox?

is what possible exactly?

depends on how you define “issue”
on my unit fan launch only on very heavy load

while during regular work my cpu is 40-45 degree hot.
fan stay at 0 rpm
while it hit 62 degree it runs around 1700rpm
at 70degree 2300 rpm
at 80 degree it hits 3300 rpms

if i can find any issue with fan is a delay between cpu getting hot, and fan reaction.
i can easily catch a moment when cpu is 85 and fan is under 1200rpms.
it takes 2-5 seconds when EC reacts.
imho it should be more aggressive.

also this cpu loses temperature very easily, so after such delayed fan start occur, temperature drops to 40~50 degree quite fast, so people can catch fan at 3300 rpm while cpu is cold.

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OK
now i know what you are referring and , i have sad news.
“issue” you are referring is not an issue at all.
i didn’t had “issue” because i am multi-threading, so my cpu never goes 4GHz , in my case it stays around 2.0GHz max , temperature 69-70 Degree
eg run stress --cpu 12
but
if you run stress --cpu 1 , cpu will go 4GHz and instantly jump to 90 Deg, that will obviously trigger fan at full speed.

Sad news is, that is not an issue, that is EC trying to cool down hot cpu in combination of how Intel Turbo works.
in this cpu model only single core can go Turbo to 4G , normally loaded cpu should go not higher than 2G.

so sorry, this is not a BUG it’s a feature.

EDIT:
12 threads cpu speeds up to 2GHz
6 threads CPU speeds up to 2Ghz(no change it have 6 physical cores)
3 threads CPU speeds up to 2.7GHz
2 threads CPU speeds up to 3.1GHz
1 thread CPU speeds up to 4Ghz
More GHz == more power consumption == more heat

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This procedure should be done from a Live USB

any sane automatic fan control algorithm implements some hysteresis, which helps insulate the fan speeds from sudden changes in CPU temp

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fair point.

Have the official instructions been released yet?

We are working on publishing them on the next few days.

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Any news about this? Sorry for the nagging, I am impatient but not enough to risk bricking my laptop :smirk_cat:

1 Like