Idenitfy versions of firmwares

[mparnaudeau]

I want to update the firmware of my Talos 2 because the machine is really noisy, with fans are permanently running high (ipmitools shows 2 fans at 8800-8900 RPM) ... and I saw that there was changes (a fix) in firmwares 1.0x.

I would like to know the current version of the low-level elements (BMC, firmware ...). I only found the tool lsmcode (from the package lsvpd) that displays a list of elements with their git hash:

Version of System Firmware : 
Product Name          : OpenPOWER Firmware
Product Version       : talos-v1.20-161-g76f78f4
Product Extra         :        skiboot-bc106a0
Product Extra         :        occ-a8d0767
Product Extra         :        hostboot-884b60b
Product Extra         :        buildroot-2017.11.2-8-g4b6188e0f2
Product Extra         :        machine-xml-221192a
Product Extra         :        sbe-a389a5d
Product Extra         :        petitboot-v1.7.1-p836d356
Product Extra         :        linux-v4.15.9-openpower1-p9e03417

In the page that lists the different update files https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Talos_II/Firmware, archiives for BMC, PNOR and FPGA have an associated hash but I can't make them match with anything that I know.

So, are there other solutions to get the version of these elements?

I access BMC with ssh (using the web interface, it refuses to get even a login page): it is possible to get its version and possibly the firmware version from there?

Before upgrading, I just would like to know from where I start.

Please give me some advices: Maybe you will think that I can only update the firmware directly to the latest version (v2.10) whatever are the current element versions ...

[mparnaudeau]

Analyzing several archives, it appears that these versions reported by lsmcode match with the PNOR firmware V1.05 (from System Package 1.06).

In the OpenBMC shell, dmesg starts with:

Linux version 5.0.7-a8a208fa7346ad643e8f6100c49cb7b8468b6d38 (oe-user@oe-host) (gcc version 8.3.0 (GCC)) #1 Fri Jul 19 13:24:42 UTC 2019

It seems that refers to BMC V2.00, as in its package, I can see:

U-Boot fitImage for Phosphor OpenBMC (Phosphor OpenBMC Project Reference Distro)/5.0.7+gitAUTOINC+a8a208fa73/talos

That seems to be strange because reading again and again several release notes, I understand that BMC V2.xx don't work with PNOR V1.xx ...

[mparnaudeau]

When I tried to update PNOR firmware to V2.00, copying the binary file, I got this error:

$ scp ./talos-ii-v2.00.pnor root@$TALOS_BMC_ADDR:/tmp/
root@192.168.1.xx's password:
sh: /usr/libexec/sftp-server: No such file or directory
scp: Connection closed

Have you already met that?

I don't know what happens ... There is something weird with my config. I don't know what to do.

I looked at the system and its storage organization and capacity:

root@talos:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
dev                     175.9M         0    175.9M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   209.2M     22.8M    186.4M  11% /run
/dev/mtdblock4           19.5M     19.5M         0 100% /run/initramfs/ro
/dev/mtdblock5            4.0M      3.1M    900.0K  78% /run/initramfs/rw

Is it normal to have /dev/mtdblock4 full at 100%?

[Borley]

I have always supplied the full path when using scp

Code Select Expand

scp /path/to/blackbird-v2.10.pnor root@<BMC address>:/tmp/

[ClassicHasClass]

I looked at the system and its storage organization and capacity:

root@talos:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
dev                     175.9M         0    175.9M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   209.2M     22.8M    186.4M  11% /run
/dev/mtdblock4           19.5M     19.5M         0 100% /run/initramfs/ro
/dev/mtdblock5            4.0M      3.1M    900.0K  78% /run/initramfs/rw

Is it normal to have /dev/mtdblock4 full at 100%?

Yes:

root@tim-bmc:~# df -k
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
dev                     180156         0    180156   0% /dev
tmpfs                   214212     80608    133604  38% /run
/dev/mtdblock4           20992     20992         0 100% /run/initramfs/ro
/dev/mtdblock5            4096       400      3696  10% /run/initramfs/rw
cow                       4096       400      3696  10% /
tmpfs                   214212         8    214204   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                   214212         0    214212   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs                   214212         0    214212   0% /tmp
tmpfs                   214212        60    214152   0% /var/volatile

[mparnaudeau]

Thank you, guys .. even if that does not work.

@borley With the full path, also providing a filename in the /tmp destination directory, that changes nothing

@ClassicHasClass Ok, at least that removes one subject of worry.

I see 2 possible next steps: try to upgrade BMC first (to V2.10) or contact someone at Raptor CS.

The BMC Linux version from dmesg made me think it was in version V2.00 as it gives:

Linux version 5.0.7-a8a208fa7346ad643e8f6100c49cb7b8468b6d38 (oe-user@oe-host) (gcc version 8.3.0 (GCC)) #1 Fri Jul 19 13:24:42 UTC 2019

But if I enter "cat /etc/os-version", I get:

ID="openbmc-phosphor"
NAME="Phosphor OpenBMC (Phosphor OpenBMC Project Reference Distro)"
VERSION="2.7.0-dev"
VERSION_ID="2.7.0-dev-523-gc5aa0ec48"
PRETTY_NAME="Phosphor OpenBMC (Phosphor OpenBMC Project Reference Distro) 2.7.0-dev"
BUILD_ID="2.7.0-dev"
OPENBMC_TARGET_MACHINE="talos"

If you are in version V2.XX, can you tell me what you have?

[carlosgonz]

I have Blackbird Pnor v2.10 from v2.0, however your BMC/PNOR v2.7 looks like  a devel version from where else.
When i first started with my Blackbird i was lost, i didnt know where to start, as PowerPC is different with X86, 2 years later having my Blackbird and investing tons of time in PowerPC knowledge, now my Blackbird works like a Charm and i dont plans to go back to x86.

Kudos for Raptor! Special Thanks to Raptor Engineering!

[ClassicHasClass]

ITYM /etc/os-release:

root@tim-bmc:~# uname -a
Linux tim-bmc 5.0.7-a8a208fa7346ad643e8f6100c49cb7b8468b6d38 #1 Wed Feb 19 11:44:38 UTC 2020 armv6l GNU/Linux
root@tim-bmc:~# cat /etc/os-release
ID="openbmc-phosphor"
NAME="Phosphor OpenBMC (Phosphor OpenBMC Project Reference Distro)"
VERSION="2.7.0-dev"
VERSION_ID="2.7.0-dev-571-g67efd9872"
PRETTY_NAME="Phosphor OpenBMC (Phosphor OpenBMC Project Reference Distro) 2.7.0-dev"
BUILD_ID="2.7.0-dev"
OPENBMC_TARGET_MACHINE="talos"

[mparnaudeau]

I am so glad to announce you that the update has been applied successfully! Fans run now at 1800 and 1700 RPM ... so the machine seems so quite!

I was a bit scary and wanted to be sure not making a mistake, so it tool much time but now I can use it without complaints from my wife 

@carlosgonz To be honest, with all these components and various versions (here different versions of BMC but with the same Linux git sha1 ...), I think that's not clear at all. But I applaud Raptor CS for their machines and their work. My Talos 2 is great and I love PowerPC.

@ClassicHasClass Thank you for the feedback

Ah, I was about to forget: the scp transfer worked after I added the option -O, I found that on a forum: "it an issue with OpenSSH client. Since OpenSSH 9.0, the client uses SFTP protocol by default. To use the legacy protocol, the -O option must be specified."

I am impatient to come back to some more productive work with my Talos 2!