New pi-topOS release — June 2021 (C790 2021-06-11)

pi-top Software pi-topSIRIUS
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#6

As for why, this is outlined in the docs:

Raspberry Pi 4 boards earlier than the 1.4 PCB revision (All 8GB models have this, and this is now also the default for 2GB and 4GB models) require a modified EEPROM to power off correctly.

These newer boards hold the external reset until it is released by software (SPI bootloader) when the watchdog/soft reset occurs.

This means that the 5V rail on the USB bus will be off until the second stage bootloader has initialised or if halting it will stay off. On previous board revisions, this was not under software controls so 5V would be initialised when the XHCI/VLI automatically initialised, which could happen before halt.

Therefore, it is necessary to update the Raspberry Pi’s internal EEPROM firmware to behave correctly. The following changes are made to the EEPROM:

WAKE_ON_GPIO=0
POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=1

If this automatic behaviour is not working for you, then you can simply manage this yourself. It would appear as though you have a different partition structure or boot up sequence to other users, so that would explain why you are having this issue.

#7

Ahhh! thx for the quick reply. … mine is indeed an early kickstarter board … I thought I (attempted to) made the changes to the EEPROM as suggested … but I will now confirm. … and report success / fail - tomorrow - it is late here at the bottom of the world. thx again

#8

I too have a Kickstarter Pi-Top[4], when I installed the new release June 2021 (C790 2021-06-11), I received the notification that the Raspberry Pi EEPROM Requires Reconfiguration. I moved the mouse over the Update and Reboot in the bottom right corner of the windows and single clicked on it, the entire window repositions itself to the top right corner of the display and disappears. Nothing happens! No reboot and evidently no update. Waited 10 minutes, performed the reboot was met with the same Warning Message. I guess your Update and Reboot field doesn’t work, after it re-positions itself.

Up until now I have not experienced any problems with this Pi-Top[4]. I have read the Knowledge Base concerning the EEPROM. Typed in the WAKE_ON_GPIO=0 & POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=1 using a terminal window and rebooted - same Warning Message appears.

“If this automatic behaviour is not working for you, then you can simply manage this yourself.” What do I need to enter to get rid of the Warning Message on start-up or reboot?

#9

@nannerbm60 I’m intrigued, where is the “bottom of the world”? :grin:

#10

I have a Kickstarter version and another pi of the same model and both are fine both are v1.1. I don’t get this issue at all.

Both of them have been updated prior to the new OS update with the RPi EPROM updates to boot from USB first and fall back to SD if no bootable USB HDD is not detected.

@Korbendallaz and @nannerbm60 can you guys try running pi-top support health-check there is a part that checks the EPROM firmware and if it’s up to date. When you run it, it should be somewhere at the beginning of the health check. I’m not at home so can’t show you a screenshot of where to look.

@pi-topMIKE is the health check script a Python script or something else. It gives some nice info and some would be perfect for 1 of my projects. Just wondering how ya done it. If it’s Python, where is the file located, would be nice to have a peek at the code to help with a couple things :slight_smile:

#11

Started my Pi-Top[4] received the same display as yesterday:

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When I click on the Update and Reboot, the alert window jumps up to the top of the display and disappears immediately and nothing happens.

Ran the pi-top support health_check and took a screen capture of the EEPROM area of the report:

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.

I was trying to create a file of the output, but everything I tried failed with “Error on pitop.run: [Errno 25] Inappropriate ioctl for device”.

#12

Looks like the boot loader EEPROM has an update available, you can update the boot loader via micro SD card, if ya have a spare SD card you can make a boot loader flash on an SD card via raspberry pi imager think it’s under misc.

There is different options you can choose and see if that helps.

When you start it up with the boot loader flashed it takes only a few seconds, a green screen means success or fast flashing of one of the LEDs

#13

Australia … not quite the bottom

#14

I believe I have found (and “fixed”) the problem. I have slapped my forehead and awarded myself a gold star. … I think this might be @Korbendallaz’s problem

To check I was updating the EEPROM correctly, I googled pi-top EEPROM update and returned

even though mine isn’t DIY - I simply copy pasted the commands for laziness … on the small pi-top screen … and therefore operated on the old: pieeprom-2020-09-03.bin … did the GPIO and power off on halt and rebooted. … I will now rebuild - It is clearly got the system into a “state” … however, now, by clicking the “I” in the warning message - the message clears.

Mine is up and working but rough

You might want to edit that knowledgebase reference to reflect a generux pieeprom-YYY-DD-MM.bin format.

#15

Successfully updated the EEPROM it is now at Thu 29 Apr 2021 04:11:25 PM UTC (1619712685)

Booted the Pi-Top[4] - same message appeared informing me the EEPROM requires reconfiguration. Still unable to click on Update and Reboot to get it updated.

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Reference the uploaded image the EEPROM current date is the same as Latest.

I go back to my first message - What needs to be updated and how do I update it? Why bother displaying a warning message with an option that can’t be used. Why not just update it with the other updates?? I don’t understand.

Can’t wait to try updating my other Pi-Top[4] system.

#16

It isnt a solution, but you can remove the message blocking the top of the screen by moving the mouse over the read exclamation mark (LHS of message box) and click once top dismiss … pi-top continues as before

#17

I’m in the same spot … are you running the operating system from a USB SSD or SD Card (I use a solid state drive)?

#18

hey @nannerbm60 & @Korbendallaz !

Sorry to hear about the issues… sometimes clicking the notification button won’t trigger the associated action, and will just dismiss the message; you need to move the cursor to the button and wait until it gets into an “activated state”, where the button changes it’s color, like in the picture:

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Also, clicking in any other area of the notification will dismiss it.

Based on the images you posted, I think the message keeps showing up because even though you have the latest EEPROM (Thu 29 Apr 20201 ...), the configuration is wrong: WAKE_ON_GPIO should be 0 and POWER_OFF_ON_HALT should be 1.

If clicking the notification still doesn’t do anything for you guys, you can run the commands that the button triggers directly in your terminal:

sudo /usr/lib/pt-system-tools/pt-eeprom -f
sudo reboot

The first command will patch the EEPROM with the correct values, and the second one will reboot your pi-top to apply the changes.

1 Like
#19

@pi-topJorge Waited 20 minutes for Warning Message to do something, it will look like your image when I hover my mouse over the Update and Reboot. I click it and the warning message repositions itself to the top right corner of the display (relatively the same position as System Update would be). I performed the steps you recommends , reference image:

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The WAKE_ON_GPIO is a 0, but I don't see a POWER_OFF_ON_HALT` anywhere in this image. I use a 500 GB SSD instead of an SD card.

I rebooted the Pi-Top[4] and the warning message has reappeared. Ran pi-top support health_check reference image:

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Notice WAKE_ON_GPIO is back to a 1.

#20

I have updated the EEPROM page of the knowledge base to reflect the current state of pi-topOS EEPROM handling, and the commands that people use to update (thanks @nannerbm60).

#21

I would say that the issue is that you are missing the POWER_OFF_ON_HALT parameter. I think the best course of action here is to ensure that it’s always there when we patch. The checking still seems to be fine.

#22

Mike >> All | Thx all for assistance - I will sort on Saturday (the system runs the house UniFi Controller and we are working from home Friday so action today is “unwise”) and report steps to success here

Regards

Mike (bottom of world)

#23

Can I manually add the POWER_OFF_ON_HALT parameter? If so please provide instructions.

I also tried the same logic I used for the Expansion Plate Update, I thought it might work, but it didn’t. Although when I clicked on the Update and Reboot it didn’t reposition itself like previously and the Pi-Top[4] rebooted immediately, but the EEPROM Update warning message reappeared - ran health_check and the POWER_OFF_ON_HALT parameter wasn’t there and WAKE_ON_GPIO=1.

1 Pi-Top[4] 8GB updated and 1 Pi-Top[4] 4GB not so much.

#24

It’ll be easier for us to just modify the updater to account for this case. I’ll try and get that out for you tomorrow!

#25

If you want to try this out for me, replace /usr/lib/pt-system-tools/pt-eeprom with the contents of this: https://github.com/pi-top/pt-os-core/blob/force-config-entry/src/pt-eeprom

This should ensure that the value is included in the configuration file. You can see the diff here