Seattle: Firmware Update

Get the firmware package

At the time of writing this, firmware for the Seattle/Overdrive platform was available via the AMD NDA site: https://nda.amd.com
Once logged in, navigate to: All Folders > Server > Family 20h - Seattle > FDK-Software > Platform Firmware to pull down the firmware file(s).

Place the firmware files on a suitable device (e.g. SD card)

The firmware files need to be copied to a device usable by the EFI system. This could be a HDD (including the one from which the O/S boots) or an SD card. For the purposes of this article, we'll assume the use of an SD card.

• Format and SD card with a FAT file system
• Copy the files to an SD card
• Insert the SD card in the socket on the rear of the server

Boot the system to an EFI prompt

• Connect a serial cable to the serial output of the system
• Power on (or reboot) the system
• When prompted, interrupt the boot sequence and drop to an EFI shell (press <ESC> when prompted):

UEFI Interactive Shell v2.0. UEFI v2.31 (American Megatrends, 0x00050002). Revision 1.02
Mapping table
      FS1: Alias(s):HD8b:;BLK6:
          VenHw(5F7068CC-F0E7-4724-8A9E-B3F0DA10C7D7)/HD(1,MBR,0x00000000,0xE1,0xF4B1F)
      FS0: Alias(s):HD6a65535a1:;BLK1:
          PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,44BEBA07-1851-458B-BB8C-BEB8F1C1B29C,0x800,0x32000)
     BLK5: Alias(s):
          VenHw(5F7068CC-F0E7-4724-8A9E-B3F0DA10C7D7)
     BLK0: Alias(s):
          PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)
     BLK2: Alias(s):
          PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)/HD(2,GPT,6FD071A3-BC07-4A9E-AA1B-C3648A31ED00,0x32800,0xC8000)
     BLK3: Alias(s):
          PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,8EDFB203-300D-43DE-9B4C-073FC36641F7,0xFA800,0x3E8000)
     BLK4: Alias(s):
          PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)/HD(4,GPT,02319B08-1AA2-47C4-9D58-5B5B30AED4ED,0x4E2800,0x125C000)
Press ESC in 2 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
Shell>

Switch to the SD card and start FW update

• Switch to the SD card, FS1 in this case (NB, this is case sensitive):

Shell> FS1:
FS1:\> ls
Directory of: FS1:\
01/03/2014  00:07 <DIR>        16,384  DCIM
12/11/2014  17:24          16,777,216  ROD0073C.rom
12/11/2014  17:15           1,309,840  SsiFlashARM64.EFI
          2 File(s)  18,087,056 bytes
          1 Dir(s)
FS1:\>

• Run the update command with no operators to see available options:

FS1:\> SsiFlashARM64.EFI
| Options:                                                                  |
|         /R - Save BIOS into specified file                                |
|         /U - Program firmware by given ROM file                           |
FS1:\>

• Optionally backup the existing firmware using the /R option:

• Update the firmware using the /U option:

FS1:\> SsiFlashARM64.EFI ROD0073C.rom /U
 Erasing ............... done                   
 Updating .............. done                   
 Verifying ............. done  
FS1:\>

NB: The update process can take around 10 minutes to complete