Bootloader EEPROM on a Raspberry Pi 5: step 6, read it back¶

You are upgrading a locked Raspberry Pi 5, and the two minutes at the end of step 5 are over: now you read it back and find your result.

Do the three reads again, then find your result in the chart at the end of this step.

Three reads: the bootloader date should be 2026/09/25, the boot order BOOT_ORDER=0xf2, and the flash lock SR1 0xbc

Open the web site of the place the Pi is at (for the Welland fleet, https://welland.fpgas.online), find this Pi in its list of boards and open the Pi’s page. The web terminal on that page logs you in as user pi. (With ssh instead: ssh pi@ followed by the address on that page; the same page shows the password.) Run:

$ vcgencmd bootloader_version
2026/09/25 15:59:09
version 1accd6659983613cd104973ce2432da14f1a7682 (release)
timestamp 1790351949
update-time 1791022751
capabilities 0x0000007f
$ vcgencmd bootloader_config
[all]
BOOT_UART=1
WAKE_ON_GPIO=1
POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=0
BOOT_ORDER=0xf2
NET_INSTALL_AT_POWER_ON=0

That is what a Pi that is done prints. Read 1 is the first line of the first command. Read 2 is the BOOT_ORDER line of the second.

Read 3 needs a small script on the Pi (a fleet Pi forgets it at every restart, so put it there each time). In the terminal on the Pi, type cat > read_flash_status.py, press Enter, paste the text below, press Enter, and then press Ctrl-D on that empty line. Nothing is printed when it worked.

# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
"""Print the part and the status registers of a Pi 5's bootloader flash.

    sudo python3 read_flash_status.py

Read commands only (9Fh JEDEC id, 05h SR1, 35h SR2, 15h SR3):
nothing on the flash changes.
"""
import array
import ctypes
import fcntl
import os
import struct


def xfer(fd, tx):
    txb = ctypes.create_string_buffer(bytes(tx), len(tx))
    rxb = ctypes.create_string_buffer(len(tx))
    msg = struct.pack("QQIIHBBBBBB",
                      ctypes.addressof(txb), ctypes.addressof(rxb),
                      len(tx), 1000000, 0, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
    # SPI_IOC_MESSAGE(1)
    fcntl.ioctl(fd, 0x40206B00, array.array("B", msg), True)
    return rxb.raw


fd = os.open("/dev/spidev10.0", os.O_RDWR)  # the Pi 5's bootloader flash
print("jedec", xfer(fd, [0x9F, 0, 0, 0])[1:].hex())
for name, cmd in (("SR1", 0x05), ("SR2", 0x35), ("SR3", 0x15)):
    print(name, hex(xfer(fd, [cmd, 0])[1]))

Then run it. It only reads. (With ssh from a computer that has the script as a file, downloaded here, one command does both: ssh pi@ADDRESS sudo python3 - < read_flash_status.py.)

$ sudo python3 read_flash_status.py
jedec ef4015
SR1 0xbc
SR2 0x2
SR3 0x60

Read 3 is the SR1 line: 0xbc is locked, 0x0 is not locked. If the jedec line is anything other than ef4015, this is a flash chip this page does not cover: stop, and write nothing to that Pi.

Do not use sudo rpi-eeprom-update for this check: it prints “up to date” on Pis that are not on the fleet’s bootloader.

Your result:

What step 6 can read and what to do: all three as wanted, done; the old date, nothing was written, go back to step 2; the new date but another boot order, make the card again; the new date and boot order but SR1 0x0, not locked: pull the network cable, plug it in again on the Pi's normal port, wait 2 minutes and read again, and if still 0x0 unplug the Pi and tell whoever runs the site; no answer after five minutes, go back to step 2 with a checked card

The steps the chart sends you back to: step 1, make the card, and step 2, network cable out.