Dell Precision 7540 -- Thunderbolt firmware -- Ubuntu

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Have you solved the problem yet? I also need Linux firmware.

I also need this firmware.

thunderbolt 3 security in bios wont allow that.

You would have to set thunderbolt security in bios to No Security to even attempt to get it working.

Having USB-C ports DOES NOT mean you have thunderbolt 3 controller.

If the security options are greyed out in bios you DO NOT have thunderbolt and this will NEVER work.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln305150/some-systems-with-usb-type-c-port-lack-a-thunderbolt-3-controller?lang=en

How to Install Ubuntu and Windows 8 or 10 as a Dual Boot on your Dell PC

I am also experiencing this with the 5540 which was purchased in july.     

─Thunderbolt Controller:
│ Device ID: ...
│ Summary: Unmatched performance for high-speed I/O
│ Current version: 41.00
│ Vendor: Dell (TBT:0x00D4)
│ GUIDs: ...
│ ...
│ Device Flags: • Internal device
│ • Updatable
│ • Requires AC power
│ • Device stages updates

It looks like your a little ahead of me version wise.

I have also been testing direct thunderbolt networking between two dells.   if both are the 5540 versions it doesn't work but when I connect with my 5520 (from 2017) which has the thunderbold-net module loaded it transfers files at the 10gbps   

I see a continuous stream of messages with the below when the active thunderbolt cable is connected between the two 5540's

Sep 18 14:05:26  kernel: usb usb4-port1: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
Sep 18 14:05:26  kernel: usb usb4-port1: config error

and when plugging in the apple thunderbolt display with the same cabling below it shows an error 

"switch at %u.%u was rejected by ICM firmware because topology limit exceeded"

from here

https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/887061/

I have just updated the Thunderbolt firmware on a Precision 7510, using ArchLinux wiki instructions found by a web search.

The ArchLinux instructions almost work, but are hampered by a couple of typos.

Here are the contents of the README file I created to record my successful upgrade:

Upgrade Thunderbolt 3 firmware on Precision 7510

See https://www.dell.com/community/Linux-Developer-Systems/Precision-5510-Thunderbolt-3-Firmware-Updates-on-Linux/td-p/5031168/page/3 
and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(9360)#Thunderbolt_Firmware_updates 

XPS13 instructions

The instructions on the ArchLinux wiki page, for XPS 13 instead of Precision 7510, (which do not work, due to a couple of typos) are:

Thunderbolt Firmware updates

The thunderbolt controller in the laptop has an embedded firmware. The laptop ships with firmware version NVM 18, and the most recent available version from Dell's website is NVM 26. If encountering compatibility problems with Thunderbolt accessories (such as the DA-200), the firmware may need to be updated. If you have fwupd (see: #Firmware Updates) set up then you should receive this update automatically. Otherwise, you can install it manually as follows.

Dell maintained a github repository with the firmware, but abandoned it now that the firmware is on LVFS. The current version is available as 0x075B_secure.bin (or 0x082A for newer model, see instructions below) inside the Windows package. This can be extracted with p7zip.

Here is a short list of steps to update the Thunderbolt-Firmware on linux 4.13+ (use at your own risk):

Force enable the thunderbolt controller (or plug in a device to enable it)

# echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power

Check your model ID. If it's 0x082A, use the 0x082A firmware instead of the 0x075B one.

# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/device

Flash the 9360 firmware from the thunderbolt-nvm-linux repository to a non active NVME memory spot

# dd if=payloads/0x075B.bin of=/sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_non_active0/nvmem

Trigger the update process

# echo 1 > /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate

At this point, your screen should flick a couple of time. Verify that the update is done by checking that authenticate returns 0

# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate

Verify the new nvme version (it should return 26.1)

# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_version

Put the controller back in normal mode

# echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power

Process as carried out on 2020-12-12

0. The current kernel version is:

$ uname -srvmpio
Linux 5.8.0-31-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Mon Nov 23 18:44:54 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

1. Check the downloaded update files:

$ (cd Downloads/Computer/Dell/Thunderbolt && md5sum --check md5sums.txt)
Intel_TBT3_FW_UPDATE_NVM16_VH741_A06_4.16.00.005.exe: OK
Intel_TBT3_FW_UPDATE_NVM26.01_4CCY9_A07_4.26.10.001.exe: OK

2. Enable the Thunderbolt controller:

$ echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power
1

3. Confirm the device and current firmware version:

$ sudo su -
# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/device
0x6d9
# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_version
15.0

4. Used Engrampa to extract only this file from the ...NVM26.01... archive:

# ll -og /home/mark/Downloads/Computer/Dell/Thunderbolt/*.bin
-rw-rw-r-- 1 229376 Jan 24 2018 /home/mark/Downloads/Computer/Dell/Thunderbolt/0x06D9_secure.bin

5. Flash the firmware to non-active NVME and trigger the firmware update:

# dd if=/home/mark/Downloads/Computer/Dell/Thunderbolt/0x06D9_secure.bin \
of=/sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_non_active0/nvmem
448+0 records in
448+0 records out
229376 bytes (229 kB, 224 KiB) copied, 0.0059111 s, 38.8 MB/s

6. Trigger and check the update:

# echo 1 > /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate
# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate
cat: /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate: No such file or directory

7. Restart the controller and check the update:

# echo 0 | tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power
0
# echo 1 | tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power
1
# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_authenticate
0x0

8. Check the device and firmware version:

# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/device
0x6d9
# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-0/nvm_version
26.1
# exit
logout

9. Put the controller back in normal mode:

$ echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/bus/wmi/devices/86CCFD48-205E-4A77-9C48-2021CBEDE341/force_power
0