updated thunderbolt 3 firmware on my thinkpad x1 carbon 6th gen laptop with fwupd

[ruebenramirez]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fwupd

[ruebenramirez]

# list all devices
fwupdmgr get-devices

# download latest metadata for devices
fwupdmgr refresh

# list available updates
fwupdmgr get-updates

# install updates
fwupdmgr update

• was asked to confirm applying updates
• my machine rebooted
• firmware updates automatically updated
• machine rebooted a few times after the firmware updates were installed
• machine booted back to my normal ubuntu install
• the video over my usb-c started functioning properly after the firmware updates were installed!

[ruebenramirez]

Why did I need to apply updates in the first place?

• I installed windows on this machine sometime late last year
• this process installed a bunch of updates from lenovo
• I ultmately reinstalled linux as my primary OS on this machine
• the external monitor I sometimes travel with stopped working on this machine, but I hadn't taken the time to figure out what was wrong with it.
• I read this earlier today: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-statement-Thunderbolt-firmware-responsible-for-ThinkPad-USB-C-failures.451307.0.html
• I thought I would have to reinstall windows in order to apply the latest updates available from Lenovo.....then I found that there was a utility available on linux to handle firmware updates!
  • https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fwupd