Issue while upgrading firmware

[Mitch Bradley]

Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves wrote:
> On 12/20/07, elw at stderr.org <elw at stderr.org> wrote:
>   
>> Alternating Current -- you really want to be plugged into a wall to
>> upgrade firmware.
>>     
>
> Ha ha, I can't believe the "AC" meant that!  And here I was thinking
> it was some kind of checksum.  Sometimes we try the dangest solutions
> for the simplest problems.
>
>   
>> [Complete loss of power - what you get if your battery runs down - may
>> brick a machine in the middle of its firmware update.]
>>     
>
> Not an issue with me. I'd never upgrade without having the battery
> fully-charged, but I guess I understand the plugging requirement:
> children will be the ones dealing with the machines after all.
>   

It is pretty unlikely that the battery would die during the reflashing 
process, which completes in a few seconds.  But there have been cases 
where people paniced and removed the battery right in the middle of 
reflashing.

Requiring both AC and a charged battery provides some extra safety.  You 
have be pretty quick to unplug the AC and also remove the battery during 
the window of vulnerability.  I'm not saying that it's impossible, but 
it does require enough coordinated steps that a bit of advance planning 
is needed.  Not the kind of thing you're likely to do in a panic.

> -Ivo
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