<![CDATA[[HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware]]>Motivation
The Fairphone 2 has got some interesting firmware updates that most users seem to have missed on Ubuntu Touch. While Android users can utilize the updater App made by Fairphone, Ubuntu Touch users are mostly stuck with the stock firmware that came with their device, which might be outdated. Support suggests to update firmware for battery stability and reboot issues. So I thought I give it a try.

Note: My results are probably skewed since I also use 16.04 on this device, but I will flash another one with 15.04 to verify them

My reboots have dropped, and the battery life has been extended. So I am seeking users that can confirm or disprove this.

How

  1. Download the latest Android update package for Fairphone 2 to your PC:
    1.1 Android 7.1 base: https://storage.googleapis.com/fairphone-updates/13484ddf-8791-4a7a-a876-641d5e8eb3ab/fp2-gms-19.11.2-manual-v2.zip
    1.2 Android 9.0 base: https://storage.googleapis.com/fairphone-updates/ed0bd398-399b-4fb0-88f9-f2142fd425ad/fp2-gms-21.03.0-rel.2-manual.zip
  2. The zip file contains a "firmware" or "images" folder. We only need this, extract it to a location of your choice
  3. Connect your phone, developer mode must be enabled
  4. issue the following command: adb reboot bootloader - The phone will enter fastboot mode
  5. Open a shell at the location where you have extracted the firmware folder
  6. Issue the following commands exactly as stated:
    6.1. sudo fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
    6.2. sudo fastboot flash sbl1 sbl1.mbn
    6.3. sudo fastboot flash rpm rpm.mbn
    6.4. sudo fastboot flash tz tz.mbn
    6.5. sudo fastboot flash dbi sdi.mbn
    6.6. sudo fastboot flash aboot emmc_appsboot.mbn
    6.7. sudo fastboot reboot
  7. The phone will reboot normally

ThatΒ΄s it - please report your success or not πŸ™‚

BR Florian

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/topic/1103/howto-update-baseband-other-firmwareRSS for NodeSun, 10 May 2026 05:29:11 GMTSun, 08 Apr 2018 11:53:44 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 24 May 2021 13:22:26 GMT]]>@s3r0 yes. By flashing the entire fairphone OS, so you don't have to worry about which part of the firmware goes where.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51123https://forums.ubports.com/post/51123Mon, 24 May 2021 13:22:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Sat, 22 May 2021 14:40:36 GMT]]>@tommiedom
Good question πŸ™‚

I have this power-on bug too, but flashing seems to be a bit risky..
Has anyone flashed the latest (19.11.2) firmware release?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51060https://forums.ubports.com/post/51060Sat, 22 May 2021 14:40:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Sat, 22 May 2021 12:11:24 GMT]]>@s3r0 i meant, the current firmware of my phone

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51052https://forums.ubports.com/post/51052Sat, 22 May 2021 12:11:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Sat, 22 May 2021 11:28:39 GMT]]>@s3r0 No idea πŸ™‚ better not flash anything thats not 100% safe πŸ™‚

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51050https://forums.ubports.com/post/51050Sat, 22 May 2021 11:28:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Sat, 22 May 2021 10:39:31 GMT]]>@tommiedom
https://github.com/WeAreFairphone/modem_zip_generator/releases
19.11.2 released on Feb 11, 2020

@Flohack

6.5. sudo fastboot flash dbi sdi.mbn

ls fp2-gms-19.11.2-manual-v2/images
boot.img           MD5SUMS       recovery.img  sbl1.mbn    splash.img  tz.mbn
emmc_appsboot.mbn  NON-HLOS.bin  rpm.mbn       SHA256SUMS  system.img

There is no sdi.mbn file.
Can I flash it anyway?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51044https://forums.ubports.com/post/51044Sat, 22 May 2021 10:39:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Sat, 22 May 2021 09:59:17 GMT]]>Where can i find the current firmware? Cos i already did an update in the past..

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/51042https://forums.ubports.com/post/51042Sat, 22 May 2021 09:59:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Fri, 21 May 2021 16:22:02 GMT]]>Hi, I have moveds that article to the FP2 subforum now, pinned it and updated the link: Now it points to 2 optins, either use the 7.1 or the 9.0 firmware, I maybe recommend to start with 7.1 - Can anyone tell me if the downloads maybe contain the same images, so we can point only to one?

As of today there will be no more firmware releases for the FP2, so its safe to assume that will be the last update of this article πŸ˜‰

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/50996https://forums.ubports.com/post/50996Fri, 21 May 2021 16:22:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Wed, 10 Feb 2021 08:10:53 GMT]]>If someone of you would write me a text to replace my initial post with the new instructions feel free ^^

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46359https://forums.ubports.com/post/46359Wed, 10 Feb 2021 08:10:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Tue, 09 Feb 2021 19:13:01 GMT]]>@emphrath you're welcome πŸ™‚

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46317https://forums.ubports.com/post/46317Tue, 09 Feb 2021 19:13:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 20:08:04 GMT]]>@luna great ! i'll do that as soon as I can. Thanks for the update

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46247https://forums.ubports.com/post/46247Mon, 08 Feb 2021 20:08:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 18:31:35 GMT]]>@fla yes they are. But as previously said, I don't know how those firware images are linked with the Android kernel. You can flash them with the kernel you currently have, but maybe they won't work as reliably as with the kernel in the zip folder... that is what I tend to think. I hope that I'm wrong and it's just my FP2's top module that shows its age, but maybe you're safer with the full image and a clean reinstall of UT.

That implies a backup of your data - a backup of /home/phablet is sufficient for me.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46237https://forums.ubports.com/post/46237Mon, 08 Feb 2021 18:31:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 17:35:46 GMT]]>The download URL in the first post is definitely outdated.

Edit: taking the archive from https://github.com/WeAreFairphone/modem_zip_generator/releases/tag/19.11.2 contains the corresponding images. The naming is slightly different as the image files are called like the partion they're supposed to be flashed to.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46235https://forums.ubports.com/post/46235Mon, 08 Feb 2021 17:35:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 15:45:22 GMT]]>@luna are the instructions in the first post still up-to-date?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46229https://forums.ubports.com/post/46229Mon, 08 Feb 2021 15:45:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 15:02:09 GMT]]>@fla I did it. It works well ! In fact I flashed the entire FP Open OS image before installing Ubuntu Touch, because with Lineage OS making calls was becoming trickier and trickier and I suspect the gap between the firmware and the image is the culprit.

But yes, it works well : I can call reliably, the battery life is longer (but I'm not a heavy user, so does it really count ?), and random reboots are really rare (like, once in six months or so). By the way do you have any news on Android 9 for FP2 ?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46227https://forums.ubports.com/post/46227Mon, 08 Feb 2021 15:02:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:26:21 GMT]]>There is a new firmware at https://github.com/WeAreFairphone/modem_zip_generator/releases since February 2020, did anyone flash it? How did it go?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/46223https://forums.ubports.com/post/46223Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:26:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 19:25:45 GMT]]>@RedXXIII Well if you had a recent Android version with all updates then probably not.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/27894https://forums.ubports.com/post/27894Wed, 29 Jan 2020 19:25:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:40:18 GMT]]>I flashed my FP2 from Android to UT in January 2019. Do I still need to do this manual firmware update?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/27885https://forums.ubports.com/post/27885Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:40:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:42:56 GMT]]>@flohack thnks πŸ˜‰
[edit] Update worked flawlessly. I had to change usb-port, because fastboot gave a message: waiting for any device... Changing usb-port worked.

My experience so far: no significant improvement. phone still reboots

  • if typing a text takes a while (half an hour) in browser, signal, sms, etc.
  • after a while if to many apps are used simultaneously.
  • Also, sometimes (a couple of times in a month) I find my phone rebooted in the morning.

Don't know if this is FP2-behaviour.

Now, I used the update package as given by @flohack. @Ingo said above that "The most recent real change was included in the April 2018 update." So I expect no improvement from using another more current update package.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/16654https://forums.ubports.com/post/16654Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:42:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 20:27:05 GMT]]>@tommiedom No, I think the firmware update was still held back due to concerns about stability. We cannot risk flashing devices to their digital death πŸ™‚

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/16527https://forums.ubports.com/post/16527Fri, 11 Jan 2019 20:27:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 09:33:35 GMT]]>@flohack nice work! I got the OTA-7 update now. Again a more stable and faster FP2!

Is a firmware update included in this and/or previous OTA updates, or is it still worth it to flash new firmware manually and follow this howto?

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/16513https://forums.ubports.com/post/16513Fri, 11 Jan 2019 09:33:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:35:23 GMT]]>The most recent real change was included in the April 2018 update.

One of the next updates will likely include a change to fix a bug about not being able to turn the phone on while charging.

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/16314https://forums.ubports.com/post/16314Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:35:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Thu, 03 Jan 2019 09:09:12 GMT]]>Just want to leave two possibly useful links here:

Firmwarefiles of current FP2 OS release:
https://github.com/WeAreFairphone/modem_zip_generator/releases
Explanation:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fp2-modem-firmware/35374

But I am not sure, if the firmware did really change from one release to another...

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/16311https://forums.ubports.com/post/16311Thu, 03 Jan 2019 09:09:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Fri, 02 Nov 2018 07:45:32 GMT]]>@stefano On Pro5, all drivers seems/are stored in the Android Container File System whereas the FP2 and N5 have some dedicated partitions for drivers.
That might explain why an Ubuntu reboot during a call on FP2 do not close the call (modem running on its own or something in that direction!).

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/14327https://forums.ubports.com/post/14327Fri, 02 Nov 2018 07:45:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [HowTo] Update baseband & other firmware on Thu, 01 Nov 2018 22:03:33 GMT]]>Hi,
After the upgrade from 15.04 to 16.04 (OTA 5 on FP2), great improvement!
With 15.04, I had many reboot with the browser, this was almost unusable.
After around 3 weeks of use with the 16.04, I did not have any reboot when using the morph browser and the battery consumption is far better when mobile data is enabled (it seems similar to consumption with mobile data off).
I do not known if this improvement is due to 16.04 or to the FP2 firmware upgrade (or both).
I am very happy to use the 16.04, Thanks to all the UBports team !

]]>https://forums.ubports.com/post/14318https://forums.ubports.com/post/14318Thu, 01 Nov 2018 22:03:33 GMT