Programming instructions

Chapter 6 165
Boot Console Handler
Obtaining and Updating System Firmware
Obtaining and Updating System Firmware
To update a system’s firmware, obtain the firmware patch from the patch server website at
one of the following URLs:
http://us-external_support.hp.com
http://europe-external_support.hp.com
The patch file is a combined shar’ed file that contains an ASCII cataloging file, a
readme
type ASCII file, and the firmware LIF binary file. The LIF volume is bootable to ODE,
which in turn runs the UPDATER utility to download the firmware image files.
To identify the current version of the firmware on the system to be updated, re-boot the
system and do the following:
1. Interrupt the boot process and, from the Boot Console Handler prompt, type
<
information
> and press
Enter
.
2. Identify the firmware revision. The last two digits in the patch name indicate the
revision.
To install the firmware update, follow the directions in the
readme
file.
A new method to update the PA8500/8600 workstation system firmware is available
January 2000 as an OS patch. The initial patch is
PHSS_19794
on HP-UX 10.20 ACE 9912
and
PHSS_20146
on HP-UX 11.00 containing revision 3.1 system firmware. It will be
superceded with higher revision firmware patches as they are released. You can find the
patches by searching for
firmware patch
on the OS patch site.
Perform the installation by using
swinstall
and following the installation process. This
will cause a reboot to flash the firmware update and then another reboot to initialize the
system hardware with the new firmware revision. This process has the advantage of
starting the installation from the operating system, requires no special hardware such as a
DAT tape, and requires no user intervention other than waiting for the two reboots.