Creative Ways Around Codeplug Too New?

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:16 am

I've got an AS3 (H04RDH...) coming up with Codeplug Too New in RSS 09.03.00.

I know the 'normal' answers are to dump in an older codeplug, or to upgrade RSS. But if I don't want to do either, do I have any options? (I do have an old S-Record that can be read, but I'd lose all flash features, since that's a super-basic flash.)

What I tried doing was blowing in the old, featureless flash, reading it with 09.03.00 and saving an archive, putting back the 'normal' (has features) S-Record, and then trying to write the archive with no unpacking. This just results in a FAIL 01/92

So much for that idea.

I also looked at ways of 'editing' the good S-Record to report that it was programmed with an older version of RSS, but with no information on the structure, I was helpless.

I'd tend to believe that it's entirely possible to work around this, but I've never seen mention of doing it. Has anyone tried anything?

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:26 am

(It also looks like the 'archive' saves all flash features... I was under the impression that it did not, hence my procedure trying to mix one S-Record with another archive.)

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:36 am

So I tried doing what the main Batlabs page mentoins... I blew in an S-record that Lab could read, read it in and saved the codeplug normally, blew in the 'good' S-record, and tried to clone the normal archive into the radio. It mentions that it's unclear what happens if you try it with different flashcodes.

It looks like I ended up with the flash features that were in the codeplug I cloned in...? Does this make sense? (It doesn't to me, actually.)

compuman81 · Post by **compuman81** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:30 pm

that's impossible...

otherwise you could just buy one nice radio and all basic ones and then just clone them all. The actual archive that you speak of, that the CPS deals with is a PART of the s-record. The s-record itself is raw data that contains other information addition to what an archive might contain, such as Flashcode, etc.

What it comes down to, is:

Newer CPS. Whatever was used to write the radio whose S-record that you "blew" in, is what you need, if you want your features.

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:27 pm

compuman81 wrote:that's impossible...

That's what I thought. In fact, it's what I hoped for. I wanted to keep the good Flashcode, but clone in the personalities, so I could actually manipulate them. But doing the clone in Lab RSS did, indeed, copy over the Flash features. Here's what, uhh, someone did:

- Pull up the S-Record in Lab (Archive, actually, not an S-Record... But in the F6 - Archive/Srecord Disk Files screen) from the super-basic (000001-002000-5) flash. Write it to the radio with Read/Write with No Unpack. Radio now has an 000001-002000-5 flash.

- Pull up an archive from a different radio, not using any special lab features, using F3 - Get Codeplug Data from Archive Disk File, and selecting it with F8 - Get Archive.

- Cloned it, using F5 - Clone Radio, and programmed it with a double F8. (It's worth nothing that the archive was for an H04SDH instead of the H04RDH that it really is.)

- Brought up normal RSS (09.03.00), and did F3, F2 - Read Data from Radio Codeplug. It gets read in without error.

- F9 - Radio Programming History there shows that it's an H04SDH... with a Flashcode of 840101-8F0000-4. (And Labtool as a programming source.) The radio, for whatever reason, has never shown a Flashcode in the Service menu, so it can't be verified what the radio itself shows. It does, however, do MODAT, which certainly wasn't in the basic Flashcode that it should be showing.

It's worth noting, though, that the radio has trouble transmitting many places. For example, attempting to transmit in the 462 MHz range results in a constant error tone; down in the 452 MHz range, it works. It may well have to do with alignment data. Since I have no reason to desire the configuration it's in, I'm not going to try to align it.

- The old, basic S-record was put back in. (With No Pack/Unpack, rather than a clone.) Reading it into normal RSS, it's back to an H04RDH, with the basic flash. Was able to transmit to 467 MHz (didn't try higher), and as low as 446 MHz. (Didn't try lower.) Thus the transmit errors are not hardware-based. I fully suspect that it's based on either the radio thinking it's an S-split rather than the R-split it really is, and/or the tuning data being all wrong.

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:42 pm

I should note that a clone with normal RSS fails: "The feature set of this codeplug does not match the feature set of the radio. Program Radio Failed."

The Pager Geek · Post by **The Pager Geek** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:45 pm

compuman81 wrote:
Newer CPS. Whatever was used to write the radio whose S-record that you "blew" in, is what you need, if you want your features.

HAHAHA

one buzzed tpg

compuman81 · Post by **compuman81** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:53 pm

The Pager Geek wrote:
compuman81 wrote:
Newer CPS. Whatever was used to write the radio whose S-record that you "blew" in, is what you need, if you want your features.
HAHAHA

one buzzed tpg

I'm not sure why you're laughing and not correcting me if i'm wrong but...

what's the point in putting in an s-record that's full of features, but contains codeplug data constructed by CPS that he doesn't have? There is none, he can't program the radio = useless

The Pager Geek · Post by **The Pager Geek** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:23 pm

fogster... keep on it..

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:25 am

The whole reason I was asking, though, is to see if there were any 'creative' ways around the inability to program without upgrading CPS.

I'm out of ideas, though... I thought I might have had it with the cloning, but cloning in with Lab seems to copy over the flash features, and cloning with 'normal' RSS complains if the flash features aren't the same.

I've looked at editing the S-records / archives, but I really have no clue how the file's structured.

Post by **wavetar** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 9:32 am

fogster wrote: I'm out of ideas, though... I thought I might have had it with the cloning, but cloning in with Lab seems to copy over the flash features, and cloning with 'normal' RSS complains if the flash features aren't the same.

Exactly, now you've got it. Regular RSS will not allow cloning if the flashcode doesn't match. LAB will allow you to 'force' it in, but you end up with the forced flashcode as well.

The only way I know of that's easy & reliable is to find an identical codeplug (both model & flashcode must match) which can open in the RSS version of your choice, and clone it in. That will effectively revert the radio back to the earlier RSS version.

Most of the newer Windows CPS will not even allow you to do that...it checks the target radio's codeplug before writing the codeplug to the radio.

Todd