[clug] can upgrading ubuntu kill your bios?

[ericm]

On 21/1/19 9:56 pm, Chris Smart via linux wrote:

> 
> Bummer :-( Should maybe double check that the exact revision of his XPS 13 is supported[1] (should be, and Dell added official support for the new XPS 13 9380 just a week ago). I have done several of these updates on my XPS 15 9560 without any problems, it seems to me more likely that the laptop powered off during the update (it can take a few minutes and seems plausible that the user panicked not expecting to see strange update screens)...
> 
> Not that this is now possible on his machine, but for reference on another machine you can see supported device details with this command (might also include other supported devices):
> 
> $ fwupdmgr get-devices
> 
> If the machine is definitely supported and definitely wasn't powered off or anything, then prob should reach out to the project...
> 

Hi Chris,
     The unfortunate colleague of Bob turns out to be me.    Now I 
didn't panic and power down the laptop,  the panic set in some time 
after.  Although you could be correct about it powering down during this 
update.     So I did the upgrade on Friday,  which took some time, 
during this I had the power cord connected.  After the update on Friday 
I rebooted (although it may not have rebooted from a complete power 
down) and everything was working fine.   Come Monday morning I wanted to 
quickly do something on the laptop before I headed off for work,  so I 
didn't have the power cord connected.    This is when the flashing 
started.  Which I watched for a while then thought this will take some 
time,  I left the laptop.  When I returned a few minutes later the 
screen was blank, it was off, and all I could get it to do was turn on 
the lights behind the keyboard on when the power button is pressed.  The 
battery indicator also still works.  The battery was fully charged.  I 
could imagine not having the power cord connect,  could have meant there 
was not the correct voltage for the flashing?? Maybe without the cord 
connected it timed out and shutdown?  Or one of the kids could have 
turned it off as they worked past (I often turn take their screens when 
they shouldn't be playing them!).

    I have attempted the process on Dell's site mentioned by George, 
without any luck.   The screen has not gone on at all.  I can get the 
lights behind the keyboard to show with the power button,  and the light 
within a USB stick has gone on briefly, but other than this the laptop 
appears completely dead.


Many thanks to yourself and the others on the CLUG list for these ideas. 
   I will check if my laptop is supported,  something I should have done 
before I did the update!!

Eric