[Freedombox-discuss] HELP! The dist-upgrade bricked my FreedomBox and new images don't boot.

[A. F. Cano]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2025 at 10:18:37PM -0700, Sunil Mohan Adapa wrote:
> On 9/14/25 14:09, A. F. Cano wrote:
> > > On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 08:14:38PM -0700, Sunil Mohan Adapa wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > New Images not working
> > > > ----------------------
> > ...
> > 
> > I suspect the apu2's BIOS is not smart enough to detect the monitor and
> > keyboard.  If anyone knows to the contrary, please let me know.
> 
> I took a second look at the APU specs and just realized that APUs don't
> actually have any display output ports. I wonder if this USB to DVI setup is
> actually supported by them. However, I found that in order to do UEFI based
> booting, PCEngines offers a different firmware altogether[1]. Installation
> instructions for the ROM show that it can done using any running Linux OS[2].
> Please see if you can perform this.
> 
> Links:
> 
> 1) https://docs.dasharo.com/variants/pc_engines/releases_uefi/
> 
> 2) https://docs.dasharo.com/variants/pc_engines/initial-deployment/

While I could read these pages, many of the links therein point to
something-or-other.3mdeb.com and that domain seems not reachable. No
DNS: nslookup returns ** server can't find https://dl.3mdeb.com.
Same for shop.3mdeb.com and listmonk.3mdeb.com.  The browser says:
  "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site."

So, can't DL the rom image, can't subscribe to the release notification
newsletter, can't subscribe to whatever vague subscription they appear
to be pushing.

Is this a local issue (to me) of connectivity? can anyone else reach
these sites?

If running Linux on the APU2 is a pre-requisite to upgrade the boot rom,
how do I do that on hardware that doesn't recognize a display or
keyboard?

I did upgrade the firmware from an old FreedomBox image (that actually
booted) via ssh.  The recommended firmware at the time was apu2_v4.17.0.3.rom
so that's what I upgraded to, but it didn't solve the problem of the
internal SD card slot not booting.  I've been booting from an external
USB port using an SD to USB adapter, while the FreedomBox images still
booted the old-fashined way, without UEFI.  

I can't seem to find old images of FreedomBox (without the UEFI boot) at
freedombox.org, so it looks like the APU2 is now a brick.

What caused the decision to make FreedomBox images not boot the
old-fashioned way? Is it possible to restore that way of booting to the
new images?

There was a mention of using the debian installer and then from there
boot the FreedoMBox image.  How would I do that?  Some special image
would have to be prepared since there is no access to screen or
keyboard, right?

Hoping that there is a way to salvage the apu2 and praying that the
bootable image currently running on the apu1d4 doesn't fail.  If that
happened, I'd really be dead in the water.

Eagerly awaiting further suggestions.  Thanks a lot for reading this
far.

Auguetine