E-DOC-CTC-20071119-0003 v1.0
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3| Firmware Upgrade
and Configuration Upda
te
Conclusion
The firmware upgrade process has following characteristics:
Robustness: this firmware upgrade process is not robust.
Things can go wrong, for example due to a power failure, between the point in time when the active
firmware image is deleted and the new firmware image is completely downloaded and written to Flash.
When, for example at power up, the Thomson Gateway detects the absence of a valid firmware image,
the Thomson Gateway sets e.g. the “Flashing Failed” prozone bit and reboots in Bootloader mode. This
mode is also indicated by the LEDs.
The problem can only be solved by a local (LAN-side) firmware recovery. In Bootloader mode, BOOTP is
a “mini” bootloader, which can be used by the Thomson Gateway upgrade wizard, executed by the end-
user.
It is a service provider decision whether or not the LAN-side firmware recovery is an acceptable risk. For
a firmware upgrade mechanism that rules out any end-user involvement, a dual memory bank firmware
upgrade mechanism is recommended.
Service interruption: step 4, when the Thomson Gateway reboots to load and run the new firmware, is
the service interrupting step. Up till that point, all services are running and active.
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