Question re: Understanding RPi4 Bootloader EEPROM Release Notes

ARM Technical Assistance
1

I’m tracking the release notes here: rpi-eeprom/release-notes.md at master · raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom · GitHub

I see that a new critical update has been pushed to enable USB boot on the critical branch.
I’m on the stable Manjaro branch, and according to pacman -Syu, everything is up to date.

However, when I run rpi-eeprom-update, I get the following:

~]$ sudo rpi-eeprom-update
BCM2711 detected
Dedicated VL805 EEPROM detected
BOOTLOADER: up-to-date
CURRENT: Thu Apr 16 05:11:26 PM UTC 2020 (1587057086)
LATEST: Thu Apr 16 05:11:26 PM UTC 2020 (1587057086)
FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/critical
VL805: up-to-date
CURRENT: 000137ad
LATEST: 000137ad

I’m not in any rush, but I realize I perhaps don’t understand how the firmware updates filter to Manjaro.

It is my understanding that the “FW DIR” is on Manjaro’s servers, and requires updating, testing, and validation to be updated when a new firmware is released.

Separately, the rpi-eeprom-update tool/bootloader tools may also need to be updated.

Is that correct?

2

The “FW DIR” is under /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader. This gets updated when you upgrade the package rpi-eeprom but just upgrading the package doe not automatically upgrade your pi4’ eeprom. You have to do that yourself. The latest rpi-eeprom is in the unstable branch right now.

The version you have flashed on your pi4’s eeprom right now will not do a MSD boot.

I am not sure where you have to be to upgrade your pi4 with the version in the stable branch (stable or beta) as I am using the latest from the unstable branch but this procedure should be ok on either:

sudo nano /etc/default/rpi-eeprom-update and change this line to this and exit/save:

FIRMWARE_RELEASE_STATUS="beta"

Then fash the pi4 eeprom:

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a

Reboot and then remove temporary files in /boot:

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -r

Then verify:

[ray@pi4 ~]$ sudo rpi-eeprom-update
BCM2711 detected
VL805 firmware in bootloader EEPROM
BOOTLOADER: up-to-date
CURRENT: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 PM UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 LATEST: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 PM UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/beta
VL805: up-to-date
CURRENT: 000138a1
 LATEST: 000138a1
3