Upgrading HT750, HT1250 etc.
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 10:47 am
Here are some solutions to problems I encountered when upgrading the firmware in the Pro model portables.
Generally there likely won’t be any problems when the instructions are followed. But one of the computers here, a Toshiba laptop, does not always complete the upgrade process. When that happens, it shows that an error has occurred with some hints about resolving the problem and a final suggestion that if these hints fail, the radio needs to be returned to Motorola.
Here are two methods that let me recover from these types of failures. None of these are the Motorola suggested ones. Motorola’s suggestion always seem to result in a dead radio stuck in the bootstrap mode. When stuck, it shows a message telling that a time out occurred while sending the SBEP command. This SBEP command likely causes the radio to identify itself to the upgrade software.
Here is what I do when the upgrade fails. I remove the battery, replace it after several seconds and click the “Program” button in the upgrade screen again. This will re-attempt the procedure without trying to issue the SBEP command and perhaps fail again and again and again. I did this several times to the same radio and walked away in frustration. When I came back, it completed the upgrade to my surprise and all was well.
The other procedure will return a dead radio that was stuck in bootstrap mode back to life where the upgrade software cannot issue the SBEP command according to the message displayed.
This requires you have an identical model radio on hand that has not been upgraded yet. It is strictly used to read the info that the upgrade software expects to read from the stuck radio. This info should be identical to what the defective radio would have told the upgrade software.
To recover from a stuck radio, connect the identical working radio to the programming cable and initiate the upgrade procedure by clicking the “Program” button in the upgrade screen. Stop right here and disconnect the good radio and replace it with the turned on stuck radio. Continue the upgrade process by following the instruction on the screen.
What happened here is that the upgrade software did read what it needed to know and now is content in upgrading the defective radio connected to the programming able.
Unfortunately if you have a failure with the last radio in a batch that needed upgrading, you are still stuck because the software will no let you upgrade the same radio twice to the same version and perhaps not downgrade it either. So you cannot pull the above trick by reading a good radio that was previously successfully upgraded.
In the end, it looks like that some computers have problems with upgrading radios and should not be used for upgrading. Only use computers that have proven not to cause these problems to start with. Trial and error I guess.
Nand.
Generally there likely won’t be any problems when the instructions are followed. But one of the computers here, a Toshiba laptop, does not always complete the upgrade process. When that happens, it shows that an error has occurred with some hints about resolving the problem and a final suggestion that if these hints fail, the radio needs to be returned to Motorola.
Here are two methods that let me recover from these types of failures. None of these are the Motorola suggested ones. Motorola’s suggestion always seem to result in a dead radio stuck in the bootstrap mode. When stuck, it shows a message telling that a time out occurred while sending the SBEP command. This SBEP command likely causes the radio to identify itself to the upgrade software.
Here is what I do when the upgrade fails. I remove the battery, replace it after several seconds and click the “Program” button in the upgrade screen again. This will re-attempt the procedure without trying to issue the SBEP command and perhaps fail again and again and again. I did this several times to the same radio and walked away in frustration. When I came back, it completed the upgrade to my surprise and all was well.
The other procedure will return a dead radio that was stuck in bootstrap mode back to life where the upgrade software cannot issue the SBEP command according to the message displayed.
This requires you have an identical model radio on hand that has not been upgraded yet. It is strictly used to read the info that the upgrade software expects to read from the stuck radio. This info should be identical to what the defective radio would have told the upgrade software.
To recover from a stuck radio, connect the identical working radio to the programming cable and initiate the upgrade procedure by clicking the “Program” button in the upgrade screen. Stop right here and disconnect the good radio and replace it with the turned on stuck radio. Continue the upgrade process by following the instruction on the screen.
What happened here is that the upgrade software did read what it needed to know and now is content in upgrading the defective radio connected to the programming able.
Unfortunately if you have a failure with the last radio in a batch that needed upgrading, you are still stuck because the software will no let you upgrade the same radio twice to the same version and perhaps not downgrade it either. So you cannot pull the above trick by reading a good radio that was previously successfully upgraded.
In the end, it looks like that some computers have problems with upgrading radios and should not be used for upgrading. Only use computers that have proven not to cause these problems to start with. Trial and error I guess.
Nand.