Efika SmartFirmware 1.3 20070122 Update

Just found a OpenFirmware update for the Efika5k2 board with version number 1.3 and build on 2007-01-22 here. Normaly your board should have this build date (20070122), but there is also a 1.3 version with this build date: 20061107.

To check which version you have you have to enter the following on the openfirmware:

1) cd /
2) cd /openprom
3) .properties
4) look at the build-on value

To install the new version you have to get the file and enter the following like described on the site:

1) Put the extracted file onto a USB-Stick and insert it into the Efika PPC
2) Type on the openfirmware promt "boot scsi:0 update_e_20070122"

Efika PPC board battery problems

My Efika board had a quite long time no power supply, so the onboard battery (CR2032, 3V) was empty when i tried to install the brand new MorphOS 2.5. So i got a wrong MAC address, the date was in the year 2105, and so on... Also registering MorphOS (application under MorphOS-Partition:Tools) will not work correctly (the personal Key-File is bound to the MAC address).

The solution was simple:
1) Power down the Efika5k2
2) Remove empty Battery and wait for a few seconds
3) Power up Efika and stop on the openfirmware SmartFirmware
4) cd /
5) cd /builtin/ethernet
6) .properties
7) There you see the original MAC address - write it down, just in case
8) boot
9) After MorphOS booted open a new shell and check the MAC with ifconfig
10) If the MAC is ok insert a new CR2032 Battery into the running system, if not, repeat from step 1).