OLPC Firmware q3a39

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OLPC Firmware Release q3a39 2010/05/08

Works on XO-1.5 A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, C1 ,C2 and C3 systems, but does not work on any XO-1 machines.

Download: q3a39.rom

Changes since q3a38

Open Firmware is svn 1806

  • OLPC XO-1.5 - checked in some commented-out code to restore additional display register state in resume-from-S3. That new code is unnecessary because the Linux driver does it now.
  • Windows support - checked in some experimental code for declaring two different "disk" devices as BIOS HDD device numbers - 0x80 and 0x81 instead of just 0x80. The new code is guarded by "[ifdef] two-bios-disks", which is not defined, so the new code is not active. The experiment was a failed attempt to solve a Windows installation problem that ultimately turned out to be a registry issue rather than a BIOS issue. The code might be useful some day if we ever tried to boot DOS.

EC code is version 1.9.28

  • Make trickle charge update the SOC
  • Stop battery error SCI repeat
  • Make LiFe critical level also set battery low
  • Make LiFe trickle charge set battery low
  • Add hysteresis to the LiFe critical level indicator
  • Fix assign to u8 that lost upper 8 bits of SCI
  • EC API version 0x5f
  • fix and simplify OEM_Put_SCI_Queue(), and declare it and Put_SCI_Queue() as void.
  • Fix 8-bit SCI mask write
  • Add invalid battery voltage check
  • Increase hard poweroff timer to 4 seconds.

WLAN firmware is 9.70.7.p0

<same as in q3a14>

Which Firmware Do You Have?

If your machine is not in secure mode, the firmware version is displayed in the startup banner, as in: 

 OLPC XO 1.5, 1 GiB memory installed, S/N SHF7250024D
 OpenFirmware  CL1   Q3A04 Q3A
                     ^^^^^

If your machine is in secure mode, you can go to the Terminal activity and type 

 cat /ofw/openprom/model

If your machine is in secure mode but the OS will not start, just go ahead and try to upgrade the firmware anyway. The procedure is safe and will not do anything if you already have up-to-date firmware.

You can see the firmware version in secure mode by powering up with the "check" game button held down.

You can also go to the main Sugar screen, click on the little man and select "about this XO"


Installation

When installing new firmware, you must have a well-charged battery and the AC adapter plugged in. The firmware update code will not proceed otherwise. Possible error messages are:

error message how to fix
AC not present plug in the power cord, check the battery LED is on, then try again.
No external power plug in the power cord, check the battery LED is on, then try again,
No battery plug in the battery, check the latches, then try again, or try another battery,
Battery low allow more time for the battery to charge, then try again, or try another battery.

Unsecured Laptop

This section is for unsecured laptops. Most XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 laptops are unsecured. Most developer XO laptops are unsecured. To unsecure your laptop, follow the instructions at Activation and Developer Keys.

You may install using either:

  • a USB drive or SD card,
  • the laptop's internal drive,
  • a network.

Choose one.

Using a USB drive or SD card

  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • insert the USB drive or SD card,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if the downloaded file is on a USB drive, type:
 flash u:\q3a39.rom
  • if the downloaded file is on an external SD card:
 flash sd:\boot\q3a39.rom
  • wait for the laptop to reboot itself,
  • remove the USB drive or SD card.

(Expert users may remove the USB drive after the message "Got firmware" ... at this stage the file has been read and closed.)

Using the laptop internal drive

An alternate method is to download the firmware file to the laptop internal drive and then install from the internal drive.

  • start the laptop,
  • connect to a wireless or wired network,
su
cd /versions/boot/current/boot/
wget http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/q3a39/q3a39.rom
  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if the downloaded file is on an XO-1, type:
flash n:\boot\q3a39.rom
  • if the file is on the internal SD card of an XO-1.5 or XO-1.75:
flash int:\boot\q3a39.rom

Using a network

You will need a compatible USB to ethernet adapter, or an open or WEP wireless access point, connected to the internet.

  • check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • turn on the laptop, and get to the 'ok' prompt. See Ok for more detail. You should see:
ok
  • if using wireless, type the essid of the wireless network:
essid mynetwork
  • if using a WPA wireless access point, type the WPA key for the network:
wpa passphrase
  • type the flash command using the download link above, but change all slash characters so they are backwards, for example:
flash http:\\dev.laptop.org\pub\firmware\q3a39\q3a39.rom

Secured Laptop

Secured laptops can only use flash firmware that has been signed. All mass-production machines had the latest firmware at the time of manufacture.

Upgrading firmware describes how to upgrade to a newer signed firmware release.

See also

  • Cheat codes for information about how game buttons control startup options.
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