Updating Iyonix 5.13 to 5.18

(Apologies if naive question, but can’t find info anywhere)

Struggling to update an Iyonix from 5.13 to 5.18 (softload version).
Have done a boot merge, which appears to have put the relevant !!SoftLoad into PreDesk, and done a power off restart, but altho I get into a proper desktop, I don’t first get the prompt I expected about confirming update to new version, and the switcher still shows 5.13.

Is it perhaps because it is not possible to update direct from 5.13 to 5.18? If so, how do I proceed?

For heaven’s sake do not softload any version newer than 5.16! There was a serious bug in all earlier versions which was fixed in 5.16 which caused the CMOS to report the wrong year for dates in 2010 or later, and because it happens so early in the boot sequence, a softload won’t cut it.

Is there any reason you’re not flashing the ROM? It sounds, from your rather cryptic post, as if you’re expecting some kind of user interface detail from the Castle days to be exactly the same. I don’t know how upgrades worked prior to 5.14 (first ROOL version), but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the procedure completely changed. (Newsflash – IyoUpWtch doesn’t work any more either.) Are you quite sure you’ve read all the instructions?

For heaven’s sake do not softload any version newer than 5.16!

Careful now! Softloading as a permanent solution isn’t advisable (since it won’t provide a fix for the clock issue), but it’s still recommended to try out a softload before attempting a ROM flash.

(In reply to Martin)

For heaven’s sake do not softload any version newer than 5.16

All advice appreciated, but surely this can’t be correct – otherwise why would the ROOL site offer a softload version of 5.18? (And see Jeffrey’s post.)

It sounds [snip] as if you’re expecting some kind of user interface detail …

Yes, I am, because when I recently upgraded another Iyonix from 5.16 (flashed) to 5.18 (softload), as part of the first startup sequence I got a message asking for confirmation that I wanted to install the softload update. Perhaps naively, I rather thought the same might happen when trying to update another Iyo from 5.13 (flashed) to 5.18 (softload).

Are you quite sure you’ve read all the instructions?

Can you point me to some? I could not find any, either in the download itself or by web searching, hence the enquiry here. I’m not meaning to imply criticism of anyone, as I appreciate how we are all benefiting hugely from the time generously given by all the people involved in ROOL’s work and by those offering community support etc in this forum.

My understanding is that Castle updates included an update to the disc structure as well as the ROM but ROOL updates only affect the ROM and so no instructions are necessary.

Castle charged for the USB 2 update and so I stopped at the version before but ROOL now provides the update free of charge.

You can download updates to the disc structure from ROOL, but unlike ROMs, they don’t offer a ‘stable’ version (and I believe the current development version is a bit dodgy), and you have to do all the merging work yourself.

You certainly can upgrade an Iyonix from 5.13 to 5.18, but I’ve never used the softload. My experience is limited to flashing the ROM, which is very simple (although IIRC it does come with instructions), and TBH I can’t understand why anyone would use the softload. If the ROM was going to brick your computer, they wouldn’t distribute it!

Softloading is more complicated, and it seems likely that you’ve misapplied it in some way (whether there were instructions supplied or not), but rather than attempt to provide remote tech support I strongly recommend that you give up and just flash the ROM, which is, after all, surely what you were ultimately intending to do after getting the softload to work anyway. (Don’t forget to make sure you don’t have any unplugged modules first – the CMOS order changed in 5.18, which has been known to cause problems.)