Problem with Saber programming

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:49 pm

Hey guys,

I've got a Motorola Saber III UHF securenet.

I was led to believe due to the ex-government nature of these radios, they were blanked before sale.
They show ERROR 0 81 on the screen and all buttons obviously do nothing.

When i do a read, it reads CORE 5D but shows a warning about a checksum error, but continues on to read internal, then external, but then at the end of it, the software halts the system with something like:
Unable to allocate memory.
Unable to execute COMMAND, system halted.

I put himem.sys on startup, and command.com in C:, C:\DOS, as well as C:\WINDOWS, but to no avail.

I tried a different tactic, to use the CREATE codeplug option. When I write the radio, I choose option F6 for radio's internal tuning parameters, and it reads 198 channels of data, but then fails with a serial bus error.

I am using a genuine Motorola RIB with aftermarket Saber cable, with the RIB operated off a variable bench supply running at around 9V, and the Saber on a fully charged new battery.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get this to work?

Thanks.

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:57 pm

Give us more, much more, detail on the computer setup you're
running. You MUST run pure DOS, and NOT the DOS that runs
under Windows. In other words, you must boot from a DOS disk
such as DOS 6.22. The so-called DOS that runs under windows
will not run a Motorola DOS RSS properly.

There's been a lot written about this subject over on http://www.batlabs.com,
which is our sister site. Looking there may be of some help to you and
will confirm what I've written above.

So, fill us in on how you're trying to do this.

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:07 pm

I'm using an old laptop that is a low end Pentium (maybe 90MHz?, sorry don't have the exact details here with me right now), I always boot into straight DOS, although it also has Win95 on the machine.

I am running the Saber RSS R05.00.00 off the local hard drive.

I hope this helps narrow down the issue at hand.

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:02 pm

so far it sounds like you are doing everything right. just try creating a codeplug with only 1 channel and write that to the radio.

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:20 pm

So would it be normal for me to get the halt error on reading it given the ERROR code displayed?

I guess I will give adding a channel a go this evening, as I basically just created the codeplug, then tried to write the radio.

Thanks HLA, and I will let the board know how it goes.

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:56 pm

that error checksum error means the numbers don't add up right in the radio. when you create a new codeplug it has to match the model number on the radio exactly. and with that error you should just be able to write that new codeplug to the radio and then the error message on the display should go away and you should be able to read the radio correctly. also turn the radio off, press and hold the select, enter, & menu buttons all at once and turn the radio on, see if it gives you a different error message.

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:24 am

Ok, well I tried to add a channel, a second channel in fact as it puts 1 in by default, but I still get Serial I/O Bus error after it reads the channel information during programming to the radio.

Holding down the Menu, Select, and Enter buttons all at once and starting it does not change the message of ERROR 0 81.

I'm at a bit of a loss here...

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:55 am

Sounds like the radio is corrupt, i have had a few like that. You will have to build a radio personality from scratch and when you program to the radio you should select F2 to use the .rpf values, the tuning data in the radio is kaput and causing the write to fail when you tell it to use the radio tuning data F6. Of course this means that after you program it with the default rpf values that you will also need to do a full alignment on it, but at this point your not out anything with an otherwise dead radio!

So try writing to the radio again with a fresh codeplug and select F2 instead of F6 and see what happens.

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 3:00 pm

Hmm, this makes me wonder what sort of brutal method they used to blank these radios (I have a few of them).

I'll give the programming a go this evening using the F2 option. I don't think I have nearly the level of test equipment required to properly align these radios though. Only have basic stuff like oscilloscope, SWR meter, etc.

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:23 pm

Well, still no luck in this Saber saga, I'm sorry to say.

When I choose F2 at the program stage instead of F6, the Serial I/O Bus error appears immediately.

I wonder if a newer version of the software would work any better or not...

BOFH · Post by **BOFH** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:44 pm

Great news to report guys!

Finally got the Saber to program without spitting I/O errors at me.

I had to use RSS R07.01.00, and it worked just fine with the F6 option.

AEC · Post by **AEC** » Fri May 19, 2006 3:00 am

BOFH wrote:Great news to report guys!

Finally got the Saber to program without spitting I/O errors at me.

I had to use RSS R07.01.00, and it worked just fine with the F6 option.

Sounds like the radio was programmed with at least ver. 6, then he would have had reason to move up to 7 as older versions did not work.

Problem with Saber programming

Problem with Saber programming

Saber programming...