Manual Firmware Install
Note: Many firmware pages transclude this page to provide installation instructions, providing a version in place of VERSION_NUM; see e.g. OLPC Firmware q2e15.
Installation
When installing new firmware, you need a well-charged battery and the AC adapter must be plugged in. The firmware update code will not proceed otherwise.
Unsecured Machines
(Please note that most developer machines are "unsecured". To unsecure your machine, follow the instructions at Activation and Developer Keys.)
First download the firmware from http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/VERSION_NUM/VERSION_NUM.rom.
You can download on another computer with the above link. To download on the XO, start the Terminal Activity and in root type something like
cd /versions/boot/current/boot/ wget http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/VERSION_NUM/VERSION_NUM.rom
If you want to use a USB or SD drive to store the firmware before installing, replace the first line above with:
cd /media/disk mkdir boot cd boot
Copy the VERSION_NUM.rom file you downloaded to the XO NAND FLASH filesystem as /versions/boot/current/boot/VERSION_NUM.rom, or to a USB flash drive as /boot/VERSION_NUM.rom.
Power cycle the system and press the Escape (top left key) during boot to get to the ok prompt. Then type one of the following commands
- if the file is on a USB flash drive
ok flash u:\boot\VERSION_NUM.rom
- if you are copying the firmware from a Windows machine, 1)Make sure the USB flash drive is formatted for FAT and not FAT32, and 2)don't use a \boot directory. Just u:\VERSION_NUM.rom
- if the file is on the NAND FLASH filesystem
ok flash n:\boot\VERSION_NUM.rom
- if the file is on the NAND FLASH in the alternate boot filesystem
ok flash n:\boot-alt\VERSION_NUM.rom
- if the file is on an SD card
ok flash sd:\boot\VERSION_NUM.rom
(Use the "dir" command if you need help finding the file.)
This will only work if the XO has a well-charged battery AND is plugged in. "AC not present" means you need to plug it in.
Secured Machines
Pre-mass-production machines were almost all unsecured. Secure-mode machines can only use flash firmware that has been signed. All mass-production machines had the latest signed firmware at the time of manufacture installed.
Upgrading firmware describes how to upgrade to a newer official (signed) firmware release.
See also
- Cheat codes for information about how game buttons control startup options.