A quick note to people who are wondering if you can skip versions when upgrading the bios of (in my case) a PC Engines APU2
The Answer
YES YOU CAN!
After googling a bit I could not find a definitive answer to this question.
The APU2 was running version 4.12.0.4 and browsing the APU website, I noticed that the latest recommended version was 4.17.x
So after taking a few deep breaths, I decided to take the plunge, skip all versions between 4.13.x - 4.16.x and upgrade in one go to 4.17 using PFSense
Recipe:
- Download the required version (4.17.0.3 in my case) from the pcengines website
- In PFsense make sure you’ve installed the flashrom package using the command:
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pkg install -y flashrom
- Upload the file through PFSense
- Diagnostics -> Command Prompt, Upload File
- to unpack the file:
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tar -xvf /tmp/apu2_v4.17.0.3.rom.tar.gz
- Create a backup of your pfsense config just to be sure (Diagnostics -> Backup & Restore)
- Under “Execute Shell Command” type:
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flashrom -w /tmp/apu2_v4.12.0.3.rom -p internal:boardmismatch=force
- After the bios upgrade, shutdown the box, remove the power and after waiting a few seconds, power it back on.
Done!
More background info on APU machines can be found on the excellent TekLager website.