// blog · · by Nathan Baldwin
// New in v1.17.0: AxeOS firmware update alerts. Bitaxe Baller checks your miners against the latest vetted AxeOS release and flags the ones running old firmware — with links to what changed and how to update. Only versions we've checked get flagged, so you're never nudged toward a risky release.
If you run more than one Bitaxe, you already know the firmware problem: AxeOS ships updates regularly, the release notes live in a GitHub repo you don’t check daily, and there’s no good way to know at a glance which of your boards are behind. So most of us don’t find out a board is two releases stale until something breaks or someone mentions it in a Discord.
New in v1.17.0, Bitaxe Baller closes that gap. The dashboard now checks for new official AxeOS firmware and shows a clear, distinct notice the moment any of your miners are running an out-of-date version — with links to what changed and how to update.
On its normal poll, Baller reads the firmware version each device reports and compares it against the latest AxeOS release. Any miner that’s behind gets a visible flag right on its card — not buried in a settings page, not a number you have to remember and cross-reference yourself. You see, at a glance, exactly which boards need attention and which are current.
Each alert links straight to two things: what’s new in the release you’re missing, and how to apply it. No hunting through GitHub tags to figure out whether the update you’re being told about is a bug fix you want or a feature you don’t care about.
Here’s the design decision I care most about: Baller only flags versions I’ve actually checked. A brand-new AxeOS release doesn’t automatically light up every dashboard the hour it drops. New firmware occasionally ships regressions, and the last thing a monitoring tool should do is herd a few thousand people into flashing a bad build the day it lands. So a release only becomes a “you’re out of date” nudge once it’s been vetted. You’re told to update when updating is genuinely the right call — not just because a version number ticked up.
That pairs with a companion piece worth reading alongside this one: not every firmware update is worth taking, and knowing which to skip is its own skill. The alerts tell you when something’s available; that guide covers whether you want it.
One-click bulk updating from the dashboard is in the works — select the boards that are behind, push the vetted firmware to all of them, done. For now the alert does the detection and points you to the update; the flashing itself still happens the usual way. Shipping the detection first means you get the visibility immediately while I make sure bulk flashing is safe enough to trust with a whole fleet at once.
Everyone. This is monitoring, not a Pro hook — firmware alerts show up for every Bitaxe Baller install, free or Pro, the same way the block-found celebration and the fleet health checks do. Update the desktop app to v1.17.0 and the alerts turn on for every miner you’re watching.
