Firmware/Bootloader Update Raspberry Pi 4

Troubleshooting
1

Hello, I am using latest Dietpi on my Raspberry Pi 4. I often see eeprom updates when I apt-get update/upgrade.
But my current bootloader actually never gets updated after an update/reboot.

Anyone knows, how to update the firmware/bootloader on Dietpi?

Thanks :slight_smile:

root@pi4:~# rpi-eeprom-update
*** UPDATE AVAILABLE ***
BOOTLOADER: update available
   CURRENT: Do 3. Sep 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
    LATEST: Do 29. Apr 16:11:25 UTC 2021 (1619712685)
   RELEASE: default (/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/default)
            Use raspi-config to change the release.

  VL805_FW: Dedicated VL805 EEPROM
     VL805: up to date
   CURRENT: 000138a1
    LATEST: 000138a1
root@pi4:~#
2

Hi,

it is working same way as on Raspberry OS, because DietPi is a Raspberry OS.

Usually there should be a service to update the eeprom during boot.

systemctl status rpi-eeprom-update
journalctl -u rpi-eeprom-update

What could be the case, by default eeprom updates are set to critical. Means you will get critical updates only. This is Raspberry default.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/booteeprom.md

following should show the current setting

root@DietPiProd:~# cat /etc/default/rpi-eeprom-update
FIRMWARE_RELEASE_STATUS="default"
root@DietPiProd:~#

And this is how it is linked usually

root@DietPiProd:~# ls -la /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader
total 48
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root  4096 Jun  5 12:35 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root  4096 Jun  8  2020 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 Jun  5 12:35 beta
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 Jun  5 12:35 critical
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     8 Jan 16 17:26 default -> critical
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     6 Jan 16 17:26 latest -> stable
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26464 May 20 18:17 release-notes.md
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 Jun  5 12:35 stable
root@DietPiProd:~#

default → critical

3

Thanks for your reply. But I can’t use raspi config. How can I change the release and trigger an update?

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 DietPi v7.2.3 : 13:04 - So 13.06.2021
 

root@pi4:~# systemctl status rpi-eeprom-update
● rpi-eeprom-update.service - Check for Raspberry
 Pi EEPROM updates
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/rpi-eeprom-update.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (exited) since Sat 2021-06-12 1
8:06:07 CEST; 18h ago
  Process: 275 ExecStart=/usr/bin/rpi-eeprom-update -s -a (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 275 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]: BOOTLOADER: up to date
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    CURRENT: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:     LATEST: Thu Apr 29 16:11:25 UTC 2021 (1619712685)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    RELEASE: default (/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/default)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:             Use raspi-config to change the release.
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:   VL805_FW: Dedicated VL805 EEPROM
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:      VL805: up to date
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    CURRENT: 000138a1
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:     LATEST: 000138a1
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 systemd[1]: Started Check for Raspberry Pi EEPROM updates.
root@pi4:~# journalctl -u rpi-eeprom-update
-- Logs begin at Sat 2021-06-12 18:06:05 CEST, end at Sun 2021-06-13 13:04:18 CEST. --
Jun 12 18:06:06 pi4 systemd[1]: Starting Check for Raspberry Pi EEPROM updates...
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]: Skipping automatic bootloader upgrade. current 1599135103 >= min 1599135103
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]: BOOTLOADER: up to date
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    CURRENT: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:     LATEST: Thu Apr 29 16:11:25 UTC 2021 (1619712685)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    RELEASE: default (/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/default)
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:             Use raspi-config to change the release.
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:   VL805_FW: Dedicated VL805 EEPROM
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:      VL805: up to date
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:    CURRENT: 000138a1
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 rpi-eeprom-update[275]:     LATEST: 000138a1
Jun 12 18:06:07 pi4 systemd[1]: Started Check for Raspberry Pi EEPROM updates.
root@pi4:~#
root@pi4:~# raspi-config
-bash: raspi-config: Kommando nicht gefunden.
root@pi4:~#
4

DietPi is running with reduced amount of packages, therefore raspi-config is not installed by default

You can change the value inside the file directly

nano /etc/default/rpi-eeprom-update

on next reboot the update should be applied if you change from default to latest. Or you can try to restart the service

systemctl restart rpi-eeprom-update
5

Thank you very much, updated without problems :slight_smile:

 DietPi v7.2.3 : 13:22 - So 13.06.2021
root@pi4:~# rpi-eeprom-update
BOOTLOADER: up to date
   CURRENT: Do 29. Apr 16:11:25 UTC 2021 (1619712685)
    LATEST: Do 29. Apr 16:11:25 UTC 2021 (1619712685)
   RELEASE: latest (/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/latest)
            Use raspi-config to change the release.

  VL805_FW: Dedicated VL805 EEPROM
     VL805: up to date
   CURRENT: 000138a1
    LATEST: 000138a1
root@pi4:~#
6

It’s not clear from this thread, what did you have to change FIRMWARE_RELEASE_STATUS="default" to be to get it to update?

7

You will get update in all cases. It just depends on how often. Following link will give an overview of available setting Raspberry Pi Documentation - Raspberry Pi hardware

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