serial cable for XTL radio programming

[NIFOG291]

I have gone through 4 cables trying to program my fleet. the cables work for a dozen or so programming sessions and then go dumb. Has anyone else had problems with these? The last few have been replaced under warranty but it's still a pain to send them back through our parts vendor.

[escomm]

I have not had any problems, the serial GCAI cable I have has upgraded over 250 O5 control heads without any troubles.

[tvsjr]

Are you using OEM Motorola cables or cheap eBay knockoffs?

[NIFOG291]

I have been using OEM parts. Occasionally the software tells me it's found new hardware and loads the radio head. This dosen't always happen. But that occasionally fixes the problem, confusing me more. I ordered a OEM USB cable and I'll see if the problem persists. Ive used the serial cable with 2 different laptops and gotten similar results.

[tvsjr]

You shouldn't be seeing the "New Hardware Found" message if you're using a serial cable.

[jackhackett]

Are you connecting the cable before turning on the radio? You can't power up the radio and then plug the programming cable in like you could do with most of the older mobiles.

[akardam]

Are you connecting the cable before turning on the radio? You can't power up the radio and then plug the programming cable in like you could do with most of the older mobiles.

Eh?

I have XTL's on the bench all the time that are powered up before the programming cable is plugged in, and it works just fine. Hittin' the duck a bit hard there, ain't ya, fader?

[jackhackett]

Okay, maybe it's just me... but I've had problems with the CPS not communicating with the radio when plugging in while powered up, I had to then turn the radio off and back on. As long as I power up after plugging the programming cable in I don't have any problems.

I should have a few on the bench soon... I'll have to experiment a bit.

[alex]

NIFOG:

Are you using a USB to Serial Converter to program/upgrade the radios? You start this post off saying your using serial, but as tvsjr points out from before that you should not get the added new hardware messages...

-Alex

[NIFOG291]

I know that it seems weird but occasionally I got the new hardware message with a serial cable. We have a jumble of different firmware versions and generations of heads. I was using a serial cable up until last week when my USB cable was delivered and the problem came back with USB!!!!! I did the close the software, unplug the cable, power the radio off and on again and the found new hardware message came back. I went through the load new hardware thing and it worked. So now I'm really confused. I'm using version 12 of the software. Soon, I'm upgrading firmware on all of my portables and mobiles. A fix? or more problems, we'll see.

[jackhackett]

A little update... it looks like the problem I was seeing sometimes happens after programming the radio, disconnecting the cable and connecting a mic for a TX test, and then reconnecting the cable and attempting to program again (such as you would do when adjusting the TX power), the CPS then fails to see the radio until power is cycled.

After having this happen a few times I got in the habit of just always turning the radio off and back on after connecting the programming cable.

[MSS-Dave]

I had programmers doing new XTL2500's a few weeks ago. They had some problems with the serial cable as well. Their response..... oh well, just a fluke. They did the same thing, power cycle the radio and in some cases had to exit the program and restart. The USB cables ( both the GCAI and the rear connector) have worked flawlessly and seem to be faster to program as well. This was on CPS 12.01.00 to 12.00 firmware radios FWIW.

Another thought... are you using a computer with a "real" serial port? Know it's been asked but I ran into a problem last year I never even thought of. My desk computer is actually a Dell 620 in a docking station. The serial port on the dock is a USB to serial conversion. Had all sorts of problems in another application (Anritsu) trying to use that serial port. The computer has a real serial on it and the app will work fine direct connected and not through the dock. I don't think I will try it on CPS, I just plug the USB directly to the port on the side of the laptop and not the ones on the dock. Got the serial cable on a dedicated programming desktop now.

Dave

[jackhackett]

I've got 'real' serial ports, using 12.01 CPS and 12.00 firmware. I have also had a few problems flashing the firmware, it loses the connection and tells me to cycle the radio power, it then goes on and finishes the update okay. This happens maybe once every 5 or 6 radios.

[escomm]

Serial cable for firmware upgrades? Does your shop charge labor on those by the hour/day ?

[NIFOG291]

My problem was evident with 2 separate laptops;a Dell and a Motorola 900. Both had real serial ports.

[wa6ylb]

I have gone through 4 cables trying to program my fleet. the cables work for a dozen or so programming sessions and then go dumb. Has anyone else had problems with these? The last few have been replaced under warranty but it's still a pain to send them back through our parts vendor.

Your not crazy. I have a whole box of Motorola OEM cables that are going back for warranty. Odd, as I haven't seen any service bulletins on this issue. We first started off with XTL5000's with W7 control heads and the HKN6155A serial cable. No issues with this serial cable. Solid as a rock. Then the first O5 series heads came out. We'd get about 2 months use out of the serial cable before it totally gave up. We then tried USB cables, and once we found out how to power cycle the radios, most of the problems (but not all) went away. We still had USB O5 cables dieing.
On the USB cables, the thing to listen for, is when you plug the cable into the radio / PC, listen for the USB sound
of "found usb device" (bee bong sound) to be heard. If you don't hear that sound, it isn't going to work.
I've had a hand full of USB cables that stopped working too. I see that now Motorola is shipping USB cables with a retangular blob in the cable line vs the flat oval versions. (we've gone though 10 cables programming 650 radios this last year alone)
In any case, most of all the flat oval blob cables have died. And before I get several comments that this isn't the case, and we must be doing something wrong, I can assure you they died. I've seen the cables be intermittant, where you have a pile of radios to program, and after several radios, the cable stops working. We've tried 5 different laptops, of various makes and they all won't work on these bad cables.
When I get a new cable out of the bag plug it in, and right away it works.

Other issues - make sure that you visit "View>Options" and change the port to USB or to Serial depending on what
cable you have. It makes life much simpler.

Also if you see "NO USB", this means you've plugged in your USB cable into the TIB interface connector (face of the trunk radio portion), on a remote mount radio, which doesn't support USB. You can use a serial cable at this point here, or go back to the control head itself with a USB or Serial cable. If your flashing an 05, you must use the control head GCAI connector to flash the radio.
I suspect Motorola knows about the problem but doesn't want to start a warranty influx of cables.

B.

[alannerd614]

I just started a similar thread (that can be closed if so desired, due to this thread).

We are having the same issues.

We have used USB cables for front programming, but we have mostly used rear cables that we made ourselves.