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Firmware updates via Wi-Fi

Started by Agent88, September 17, 2013, 04:43:47 PM

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Agent88

Seems as though the ObiHai support team is so confidant that there is nothing wrong with attempting a F/W update via Wi-Fi that they stomped on my post about my fail.  And I don't consider my Wi-Fi "lossy".... it ran solid without any issues until this came up.

When I attempted to update via Wi-Fi, everything seemed to go well until the end.  Then I got the unsuccessful update warning and slow blinking green light.  I was stuck.

No phone attached to my Obi202 would give any report of IP (***1) or provide f/w update (***6).  After trying everything else, I then attached an ethernet cable and WALLA.... problem solved.  My question was "how would the unit know its IP address without a LAN connection?"  Once the f/w was changed during the update process, it did not appear that the Wi-Fi connection got the DHCP assignment from the router.  To me, that meant that Wi-Fi does not handle this well.

So, if you want to tempt fate, go ahead and try updating via Wi-Fi.... but as for me, I learned my lesson.  Just sayin'..........

Rick

Two comments.

First - firmware on any device doesn't need to be updated if your device is functioning properly.  Don't update for the sake of updating.

Second - nearly everyone recommends doing firmware updates via ETHERNET, not WiFi.  Firmware updates that fail, in many cases, make devices into bricks.  You're not supposed to power off, or break the connection.  If you lose your WiFi signal as the update is being sent to the device, you can have a brick.

I strongly agree with doing ethernet only updates.

LeoKing

I agree with Rick, I never attempted to update the firmware on any device via WiFi. I did the updates via either Ethernet or USB.

drgeoff

Any properly engineered update mechanism first downloads the new firmware into RAM, then calculates a checksum over that download and compares it with a value included in the firmware header.  Only on a valid match does it then proceed to write that firmware to the flash memory.  Thus, only in the rare case of a corrupt download still yielding the same checksum should a bricked device be the result of an unreliable connection to the download server.

I don't know if OBi implement such an update mechanism.