Reformat your USB disk prior to upgrades please.

[Albert Cahalan]

Richard A. Smith writes:

> If you are having trouble with your upgrade please do the following:
>
> - Reformat your usb key
> - Go here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Autoreinstallation_image
> - Get a fresh copy of all the files you need.
> - Follow the instructions _exactly_.
>
> Any deviation from the above and your XO will probably not activate.
> I've fixed about 10 systems from people who were skipping one of the
> above steps or who had a corrupt USB disk and did not know it.

That won't do the job.

The new script notices that the installed firmware is old, and then
skips writing the activation key. It does flash the firmware and OS
image though. The laptop appears to never write the key.

I've gone back to the stable OS image, which works. I hope that the
laptop is not now forever blocked from upgrading to an OS image that
cares about activation keys.