APC: Firmware recovery using TFTP

Introduction

Starting with firmware version 5.93, DLB APC devices will be equipped with firmware recovery functionality. Only newly purchased products with firmware version 5.93 or later will have firmware recovery via TFTP functionality. APC upgrades from older versions to 5.93 will not support the recovery feature. As of firmware version 5.94-6, the recovery feature is introduced with the firmware upgrade. This applies only to the APC 5M V2 and 2M series.

Contact our support team at [email protected] to find out whether your APC unit supports firmware recovery via TFTP.

Products that may need a firmware recovery procedure:

  • DLB APC 2M series
  • DLB APC 5M V2 series

Other new products (the APC Propeller, APC Button, and APC ECHO 5) have dual-firmware image support, so it is very difficult to damage both firmware images.

When is recovery required?

Recovery is required when the firmware installed on the device’s flash memory becomes corrupted. This happens when the device is turned off during a firmware upgrade (e.g. power cuts, cable problems, etc). When the device cannot boot, it goes into recovery mode.

If the device is not accessible over the web, there is no ping response, and the Reset Tool cannot find the device, perform the firmware recovery procedure.

Firmware recovery using TFTP

Step 1. Download, install, and run a TFTP server on your PC.

TFTP for Windows:

https://www.solarwinds.com/free-tools/free-tftp-server
 

TFTPD-HPA for Linux:

Use a command from the Linux shell:

 sudo apt-get install tftpd-hpa

Step 2. Download the newest appropriate firmware from the LigoWave website here.

Step 3. Rename the downloaded firmware file to fwupdate.bin and move it to the TFTP server directory.

It is important to change the file extension from .img to .bin. Otherwise, the device will not download the file from the TFTP server.

Step 4. Turn the device off.

Step 5. Connect the device to a PC directly or through a switch using a cable.

Step 6. Set the PC network adapter IP address to 192.168.2.1 (it must be a TFTP server address).

Tftp-1

Step 7. Turn on the device. If everything is configured correctly, the TFTP server will notify about the firmware transfer.

Tftp-2

Step 8. Wait 5 minutes or less until the firmware is properly flashed.

Do not turn off the device during firmware recovery.

Step 9. Once firmware recovery is complete, the device should respond to a ping under its configured IP address.

During firmware recovery, all of the device’s system configurations will be preserved, so there is no need to reset the device to its default settings.