BIOS
Introduction
A full compilation for the X2100 & X210 BIOS and EC is available on Github.
BIOS updates in any machine refers to updating the BIOS EEPROM SPI chip present on the motherboard that typically looks like this and communicates with the main system over the SPI bus. The entire BIOS image is a single binary file, typically with an extension of .rom or .bin.
In order to flash in the BIOS, a flashing tool is required. The X210 and X2100 provides the Intel FIT tool that can be used to flash the BIOS in one step. Flashrom on Linux can also be used to flash BIOS updates internally.
Flashing of BIOS can be dangerous for beginners. A CH341a or a hardware flasher is highly recommended as a backup in case something goes wrong during the flashing process.
Flashing via external thumb drive (for X2100)
- Download the appropriate ISO image.
- Use Rufus or dd to flash the ISO image onto an external thumb drive.
- Boot the drive in UEFI mode and the image will automatically flash.
- Shutdown the machine, unplug battery and power adapter for 1min before booting it up.
- Replace the bin image with another BIOS image if you intend to flash another image.
Flashing on Windows (for X210 & X2100)
- Download the BIOS package from below.
- Install the driver MEIsetup from the BIOS package to flash the BIOS.
- Right click update.bat and run with administrator.
- Shutdown the machine, unplug battery and power adapter for 1min before booting it up.
Flashing full BIOS on Linux (for X210 & X2100)
For 8th gen X210, the stock flashrom utility present on most modern distros is compatible. Look up on how to install flashrom for your distro.
For 10th gen X2100, you need to compile flashrom from source as support for 10th gen Comet Lake was only added recently. Follow the Github repo for more details. Alternatively, the compiled flashrom for Linux is included in the update packages as well.
To update the BIOS on Linux, set iomem=relaxed in the boot arg and run the following command: sudo flashrom -p internal -w bios.bin
Shutdown the machine, unplug battery and power adapter for 1min before booting it back up.
Separately flashing EC & BIOS (X2100)
- Download the latest BIOS update file as linked.
- Follow the instructions in the Github repo.
4th batch X2100 Comet Lake 10th gen BIOS
The OFFICIAL BIOS are the official updates from 51nb.
UNOFFICIAL BIOS are patches provided by the community. It includes more hotfixes and notably fixes the battery detection issue. More info can be found here.
| Release | Description | Download/Link |
|---|---|---|
| Official BIOS Initial release V15 | Factory BIOS update | Direct link (MD5) Source |
| Official BIOS 29 May 2020 V16 | Resolves charging issues Resolves sudden shutdown on battery Battery can now be fully charged | Direct link (MD5) Source |
| Official BIOS 2 June 2020 V21 | Resolves sleep issue Resolves internal mic issue | Direct link (MD5) Source |
| Official BIOS 13 July 2020 V25 | Resolves SD card issues Resolves charging issues | Direct link (MD5) Source |
| Unofficial BIOS EC Update 4 September 2020 | BIOS is exactly the same as V25, only EC is updated. Hotpatching / EC debugging support. Backlight table that allows backlight to go as low as 1%. Correctly report battery state of charge on 9-cell and 4-cell batteries Report power consumption from battery (“time remaining on battery”) Fast charge 6-cell battery at 3A, and 9-cell battery at 4A. (X2100_V25 charged all batteries at 1.5A.) Limit input power to 80W while charging battery. (X2100_V25 consumed up to 100W, which could cause trouble for 90W chargers.) | FN/CTRL not swapped Direct link (SHA256) FN/CTRL swapped Direct link (SHA256) Source |
| Unofficial BIOS BIOS update 06 August 2021 | BIOS config is updated from V25 official BIOS BIOS is properly configured with sensible power levels (15W fallback). CPU C states are enabled with options of promotion and demotion. CSM completely disabled to avoid screen tearing. Turn on CSM settings under the advanced section to reenable legacy BIOS OS. RAM is set to 2666MHz all the time to reduce screen tearing. IGP is set to 1GB for higher intel GVT-G resolutions. CPU microcode is updated. Intel ME is updated to 14.1. GOP updated. | Linux (contains both EC and BIOS update) (SHA256) Windows (SHA256) |
| Unofficial BIOS BIOS & EC update 15 December 2021 | BIOS config is updated from 06 August 2021 unofficial BIOS CSM is turned back on for users who faced issues with booting traditional BIOS OS EC is further patched with improved power delivery, more key bindings and fan curves. Relevant blog post | Linux (SHA256) Windows (SHA256) |
| Unofficial BIOS BIOS update 17 January 2022 | Intel_HDA GPIO voltage adjusted from 3.3v to 1.8v. Do not flash on old boards (>200 power-on hours). Only flash for newer boards. This should resolve most ME issues. All other updates remains the same as the 15 December 2021 update. | Linux (SHA256) Windows (SHA256) ISO (SHA256) |
X210 Kaby Lake-R 8th gen BIOS
MD5 is different from my website than from 51nb as they are recompressed to save space.
| Date | Description | Download/Link |
|---|---|---|
| 12 January 2019 | OFFICIAL BIOS Added SLIC2.1 to the BIOS from 3 July 2018 Compatible with 2nd & 3rd batch X210 | Direct link (MD5) Source |
| Patched community BIOS Based on 12 January 2019 | Patch notes here. Compatible with 2nd & 3rd batch X210 | Direct link (SHA256) Direct link FN/CTRL swapped (SHA256) Source |
Management Engine issue on the X2100 Comet Lake
The ME on the X2100 may have issues that develops over time as documented here.
Coreboot/EC
X210 Kaby Lake-R
Coreboot has been ported to this machine by Matthew Garrett for the X210 (8th gen Intel) available here. In addition, a very helpful forum member vladisslav2011 has patched the embedded controller to fix a charging bug and both coreboot and the EC patch is compiled by harrykipper and available on his github repo here.
X2100 Comet Lake
The 10th gen EC was patched by jwise and is available here. They were further forked by exander77. Coreboot was also ported by Matthew Garrett for the X2100 Comet Lake (10th gen Intel).