The comBIOS on your Soekris board is old, so you have downloaded a newer version. How do you install it? Is it safe? Will you turn your routerboard into a hightech doorstop?
Relax, it's fast and easy. The only risk is if the power fails during the actual installation; if that happens, your board could indeed be rendered useless. The installation takes a few seconds, so the risk is minute.
First, download the updated comBIOS to your PC from http://www.soekris.com/downloads.htm.
Then, upload the file over the serial link to the Soekris board.
To do this, enter the comBIOS by pressing Ctrl-P before Pyramid boots.
Next, at the BIOS command line, enter the download - command (that's download, space,
hyphen). Then, hit Enter.
Next, press Ctrl-A, S (that's Ctrl-A, release, S, release) to bring up Minicom's download menu. Select Xmodem from the list of protocols. Navigate to the upgrade file by using the spacebar to select any directories you want to change to, and then the file itself. (Sometimes it takes a couple of spacebar hits to change to a new directory.) The file is small, but it takes a couple of minutes to upload. You'll see something like Figure 2-2.
When the file is finished downloading, and you are back at the
BIOS command prompt, type flashupdate:
> flashupdate .Erasing Flash.... Programming Flash......... Verifying Flash.... Done. >
Reboot, and that's all there is to it.
You're using both comBIOS and Minicom commands to perform the upload. Press Ctrl-A, Z at any time for Minicom help.
If you get a "Failure executing protocol" error, you need to install lrzsz on the PC that you're running Minicom from.
If you are too slow, you'll get a bunch of "Retry 0: NAK on sector" errors, and it will time out. It's rather impatient, so don't dink around.
Read the changelog at http://www.soekris.com/downloads.htm for useful information.