For weeks I’ve been getting that error when trying to update Dell system firmware using Discover on F37 KDE. DNF upgrade says there is “nothing to do”, yet the upgrade notice still appears. In the settings for Discover, only lvfs is enabled (not lvfs-testing or vendor-directory).
That title seems to indicate it is expecting a windows .cab file to do the firmware update and the file it sees is not of the expected format.
Firmware upgrades are not dnf/rpm packages, they’re from fwupd. Discover is a front-end for fwupd as well (not just PackageKit/dnf and flatpak).
Dell themselves provided the firmware update to the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS), to be distributed to users of your Dell model using fwupd. It may include critical bug or security fixes, or new features—Discover should tell you what’s included, or we can find out if you provide some details.
I’m getting the same in Discover updating a DIY PC build (MSI PRO X670-P/AMD 7950X). The machine is dual-booted with Windows 11. I guess I’ll boot into Windows to see if it has the same firmware update to install. I’m concerned that I’ll end up with a bricked Fedora installation: a recent BIOS update seems to have killed off a Debian 11 installation.
Justin, the specific name/version (according to Discover) is “Dell System Firmware version 2.17.0”
I’m using a Dell Inspiron 15 laptop (but 15 is the monitor size) and the message is coming from Discover->updates and “Firmware Updates, lvfs”. There is more information provided, but it is, in its entirety, a list of the issues addressed in the update to version 2.16.0.
Hi Joe, I just had the same issue on a Dell Inspiron. My solution was:
from terminal run the following 3 commands:
fwupdmgr refresh --force
fwupdmgr get-updates
fwupdmgr update
This bypassed the firmware update in Discover and did it manually. Laptop should be plugged in to allow the update to initiate.
That worked! Thank you very much, Brad. And welcome to the group.