Lenovo Thinkpad BIOS Update with Linux and USB

dooblem — Thu, 29 May 2014 16:59:54 +0000

Here are the steps I used to upgrade the BIOS of my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 2.
You have to download the bootable ISO file from Lenovo support site, convert it and copy it to a usb flash drive.

You will need a USB key you can erase.

First Get the bootable ISO file from Lenovo support website. To get your product number:

sudo dmidecode -t system | grep Product

To check your BIOS version: sudo dmidecode -t bios

Get the geteltorito program from your packages or download it:

cd /tmp/
wget http://userpages.uni-koblenz.de/~krienke/ftp/noarch/geteltorito/geteltorito
chmod +x geteltorito

Extract the img from the ISO:

./geteltorito -o bios.img gruj09us.iso

Copy the img to the USB key (make sure sdb is you USB key!!):

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb #at least check that device size is right
sudo dd if=bios.img of=/dev/sdb

That’s it. Boot on USB stick and follow the instructions to update your BIOS.

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Lenovo Thinkpad BIOS Update with Linux and USB