While documenting the firmware upgrade process for our production department, I accidentally disconnected the BrightSign power adapter from an XD1132 about three seconds into the firmware update process. The Update LED was blinking rapidly at the time. The unit now powers on and displays a solid Power and Update LED. This is with or without an SD card inserted.
I've followed the instructions at the link below three times to force a firmware recovery in Secure Boot mode using the Service button. The unit powers-up and sits with Update and Power LED lit but not flashing. I've waited over 15 minutes on each try and the LEDs do not turn off. The unit still has corrupted firmware after a re-boot.
I've tried a factory reset via hardware with the Service and Reset buttons. That appears to do nothing.
I don't care so much about this engineering unit but about the functionality of the Secure Boot process itself. It does not appear to be functional in this hardware version of the XD1132. (There are other posts in the BrightSign forum where Secure Boot hasn't worked for them, either.) If a unit is permanently bricked by an interruption during firmware update, we'll need to power these devices off a UPS during their initial out-of-the-box update that is always required in these older units that have been on the BrightSign shelf for a while.
There have been random mains drop-outs here on an almost daily basis that only last under or around a second or two at the most. (Most PC's here are paired with a UPS to work through this nuisance.) If we have 25+ players going through their updates on one circuit, that's $13K of bricked XD1132's. Not good. The alternative would be to spec in the work instructions to update only one firmware update at a time to limit the possible damage. That would take a lot of time.
So my question is: Why isn't the unit in front of me entering Secure Boot and recovering it's firmware since I know that only the firmware image is corrupt and there is not hardware problem?
Below is a link to the debug output from the Broadcom CPU while trying to execute a firmware recovery in Safe Boot mode. Maybe that will help determine what the problem is. From my quick review of the output and my limited knowledge of Linux, it looks like the CPU has booted off the embedded boot block and has started the recovery process but runs into a problem.
Is there a manual procedure I can enter through the terminal that could help things along?
http://support.brightsign.biz/hc/en-us/articles/218066197-Updating-FW-using-Secure-Boot-Safe-Mode-
Bootlog from device while booting into Safe Mode: https://goo.gl/3TNhoi