Upgrading the firmware

In progress. Rough outline

How you update the firmware depends on what method you can use and what board type you have.

Finding your current firmware version

The version of the firmware is displayed by OpenFirmware when the laptop boots and prior to loading the kernel. The version number is a series of 5 digits after the text OpenFirmware CL1 An example would be 'Q2B74'. The last 3 digits of this string (B74) are the most important. The 'B' stands for BTest and indicates the target board for the firmware. We try hard to keep backwards compability so it will (with a few exceptions) run on an ATest board. The 2 digits are the revision number of that firmware. Higher numbers equal more recent firmware versions.

BTest Upgrade

This is the procedure for B1 and B2 boards. The ATest procedure is here

Via Auto Updater

If your firmware version is earlier than the version in Auto Install Image then you can just use that procedure for the update. Note: that this procedure will also upgrade the image in your nand flash. This means it will ERASE what is in your nand and re-wite it. You will loose any data you have stored on the filesystem unless you back it up. If you do not want your nand erased then please see the notes on the Auto Install Image page.

Manual upgrade

Before you manually upgrade your firmware you should first insure that your battery is charged and that you have good AC power. If the firmware upgrade is interrupted by a power loss the result will most likely be a laptop will not power up anymore. The only recovery method from a failed flash requires disassembling the laptop and using special equipment to reprogram the hardware.

• Upgrade steps

1. Download the latest firmware image from here. See above for decoding the version numbers. You can also just pick the firmware released on the latest date.
2. Copy this image to a USB disk. The filesystem can be ext2,ext3, or FAT. If you choose FAT then you may want to rename the .rom file to adhere to FAT 8.3 filename conventions. OpenFirmware does not support long filenames.
3. Insert this key into a laptop that is turned off.
4. Plug up the laptop to AC and make sure it has a good battery
5. Turn on the laptop
6. When you see the prompt "Type any key to interrupt automatic startup" press the enter key.
7. You should now be at a prompt that says 'ok'
8. At the 'ok' prompt type flash disk:\<path_to_rom> where <path_to_rom> is the path to the firmware rom file. An example would be flash disk:\olpc-Q2B74.rom
9. When the upgrade is complete the laptop will power off.

ATest Upgrade

Comming Soon