diff --git a/libfwupdplugin/fu-bios-settings.c b/libfwupdplugin/fu-bios-settings.c
index 2015fb117..d0a692565 100644
--- a/libfwupdplugin/fu-bios-settings.c
+++ b/libfwupdplugin/fu-bios-settings.c
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ gboolean
 fu_bios_settings_get_pending_reboot(FuBiosSettings *self, gboolean *result, GError **error)
 {
 	FwupdBiosSetting *attr;
-	const gchar *data;
+	g_autofree gchar *data = NULL;
 	guint64 val = 0;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail(result != NULL, FALSE);
@@ -532,7 +532,10 @@ fu_bios_settings_get_pending_reboot(FuBiosSettings *self, gboolean *result, GErr
 		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	data = fwupd_bios_setting_get_current_value(attr);
+	/* refresh/re-read */
+	if (!fu_bios_setting_get_key(attr, NULL, &data, error))
+		return FALSE;
+	fwupd_bios_setting_set_current_value(attr, data);
 	if (!fu_strtoull(data, &val, 0, G_MAXUINT32, error))
 		return FALSE;
 
diff --git a/src/fu-engine.c b/src/fu-engine.c
index 114aded2e..8e3df24e4 100644
--- a/src/fu-engine.c
+++ b/src/fu-engine.c
@@ -892,7 +892,7 @@ fu_engine_modify_single_bios_setting(FuEngine *self,
 gboolean
 fu_engine_modify_bios_settings(FuEngine *self, GHashTable *settings, GError **error)
 {
-	FwupdBiosSetting *pending;
+	g_autoptr(FuBiosSettings) bios_settings = fu_context_get_bios_settings(self->ctx);
 	gboolean changed = FALSE;
 	GHashTableIter iter;
 	gpointer key, value;
@@ -931,16 +931,9 @@ fu_engine_modify_bios_settings(FuEngine *self, GHashTable *settings, GError **er
 		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	pending = fu_context_get_bios_setting(self->ctx, FWUPD_BIOS_SETTING_PENDING_REBOOT);
-	if (pending == NULL) {
-		g_set_error(error,
-			    FWUPD_ERROR,
-			    FWUPD_ERROR_NOT_FOUND,
-			    "attribute %s not found",
-			    FWUPD_BIOS_SETTING_PENDING_REBOOT);
+	if (!fu_bios_settings_get_pending_reboot(bios_settings, &changed, error))
 		return FALSE;
-	}
-	fwupd_bios_setting_set_current_value(pending, "1");
+	g_debug("pending_reboot is now %d", changed);
 	return TRUE;
 }