Upgrading Firmware
Background
AWS regularly upgrade the fireware for your car. Often it is necessary to be on the latest firmware to run models that have been recently trained via the AWS console. Normally your car will automatically detect such an upgrade when you login to its web app, prompting you to upgrade.
Manual Upgrade
However, occasionally this doesn't work. If your car isn't automatically detecting the latest firmware releases then you can use the following AWS guide to manually upgrade your car:
Fixing DNS
On some cars there is an underlying issue with DNS and this is the reason the automatic upgrades don't work (the car cannot resolve any URLs and hence can't even use the manual script). But never fear - this can be fixed using the following instructions:
- Enable SSH if you haven't already done so (you'll have to set a password). You can do this via the normal DeepRacer web interface to the car (not the AWS Console)
- SSH to your with the username 'deepracer'
- ssh deepracer@some-ip-address
- Once connected to SSH, run the following command to open an editor:
- sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf
- Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:
- server=8.8.8.8
- server=8.8.4.4
- Exit the editor and save the changes
- Ctrl-X, Y
- Reboot the car:
- sudo reboot
Once the car has restarted it should be able to reach DNS end points just fine. You may now find that the automatic firmware upgrade prompt in the web interface then showed up (and so I didn't have to follow the manual upgrade guide)
Upgrading Ubuntu Packages
While you're connected to SSH, you may as well also update the Ubuntu packages (mine had 436 waiting to be updated, plus 268 security updates!!). This is safe to do. But DO NOT upgrade the version of Ubuntu itself. To update the packages, simply run the following command from the SSH prompt:
sudo apt-get update
