Firmware Upgrades

[Astroboy]

While i am at it,
I have a bunch of Xts Astro Specs and Astro Sabers that i would like to upgrade the firmare on,
I have a Srib,
What and how do i do this,
With out going to the M Shop as their support here is not very helpful.
anyone maybe be able to put me on to someone that i might be able to purchase the dongle or device to up grade my firmware,
Cheers

[Fuel4300]

I dont think you are going to be able to get around going back to the shop for this one. The "doggle" is good for only as many flash upgrades as you purchase and before they allow you to purchase them you are going to have to supply them with whatever information they request about the radios you want to upgrade.

Mike

[ASTROMODAT]

You cannot go to the “shop” to purchase Motorola FLASHport firmware uplifts. Motorola Parts does not handle firmware. You will need to go to your Motorola factory salesman. He will open up a full blown factory FO, and will write up a STIC-1 for your order, be it 1 or 1,000 uplifts. BTW, if you order just one FLASHport uplift, he will typically balk at this, unless you are a really big customer. The overhead on a STIC-1 combined with the costs associated with opening up a full blown FO is easily $200+. Motorola ain’t in the business of opening up an FO and writing up a STIC-1 for some Ham who wants to add IMBE to his eBay junk. Anyway, you will need to give him the radio’s model type, its current FLASHcode, serial number, FLASHport current code, etc. In turn, the factory will have a FLASHport administrative Tec enter all of this info into their PC, and it will build a custom load for your specific radio(s). Fake eBay radios won’t cut it, as they will bomb out in Motorola’s all too savvy “Order-Edit” system. Start to finish, it takes about 6 weeks, sometimes less, and often times longer, for you to receive your coveted FLASHport kit at your receiving dock.

You will definitely be impressed with your FLASHport kit when it finally arrives. You’ll feel like a kid in the candy store, only better. It comes in a nice Motorola black box (somewhat akin to a Rolex box), with complete and thorough FLASH load instructions. The instructions are step-by-step, and as thorough and clear as an old Heathkit assembly manual. Follow their recipe precisely to the letter, and everything will work perfectly. The actual load will typically take about 30 minutes to write to the radio. Additional radios will load up in about 25 minutes, as some of the number crunching is retained in your PC's RAM for radios 2 through “n., assuming they are absolutely identical, other than their serial numbers.

Good luck, and enjoy!

larry

[wavetar]

The actual load will typically take about 30 minutes to write to the radio. Additional radios will load up in about 25 minutes, as some of the number crunching is retained in your PC's RAM for radios 2 through “n., assuming they are absolutely identical, other than their serial numbers.

Good luck, and enjoy!

larry

Just a few things. The first load definitely takes the longest (15-20 minutes is what I've typically seen) and subsequent ones load much quicker (approx 6 minutes is typically what I've seen). The reason for this has nothing to do with the Computer's RAM, but rather the memory in the SRIB. It has to be loaded with the information first, before it can pass it on to the radios. It will load it into the SRIB's non-volatile RAM upon the initial radio load, after that it no longer has to do that, even if you power down the SRIB, so the subsequent upgrades are much quicker. If you switch to a different model radio to upgrade, it then has to load the different upgrade package into the SRIB, so again the first unit takes the longest.

MTS/MCS radios can load from any version SRIB, but the Astro Saber/Spectra/XTS3000 requires a 'D' version SRIB. The 'D' version has 2MB of memory compared to the earlier versions with 1MB. The larger memory is required for the larger firmware 'footprint' size in Astro radios.

With the much larger memory capacity in the XTS2500/5000 type radios (8MB), you'd think it would take even longer to do. If the SRIB were still used, this would be true. Fortunately, with no SRIB to load, the process is more direct & therefore quicker. The serial ribless cable transfers data at about 119,600bp/s and the USB cable transfers at about 4Mb/s...according to the radio's display screen during the transfer at least. Typically it takes about 6 minutes using the serial ribless, and between 2-3 minutes for the USB.

Todd

[ASTROMODAT]

Not sure what PC you are using or what features you are flashing, wavetar, but my loads are nowhere near as quick as you 6 minutes. We just uplifted an XTS 5000 from analog to IMBE, and it took nearly 20 minutes to load. This is faster than the 30 minutes for the old XTS 3000, but it's nowhere near 6 minutes. We are using high end IBM ThinkPads with 2 Gigs of internal DDRAM, etc. so I don't think it's an issue with the PC. We are ribless (of course) to the XTS 5000 with a Motorola USB cable. No 3rd party krap, as everything involved is Motorola, except for the IBM ThinkPad. Similar results with a Dell Precision M50.

I suspect your 6 minute experience versus my 20 minutes with the XTS 5000 must be related to the FLASHport feature (mine was IMBE, while yours may have been something a bit simpler?).

larry

[wavetar]

Not sure what PC you are using or what features you are flashing, wavetar, but my loads are nowhere near as quick as you 6 minutes. We just uplifted an XTS 5000 from analog to IMBE, and it took nearly 20 minutes to load. This is faster than the 30 minutes for the old XTS 3000, but it's nowhere near 6 minutes. We are using high end IBM ThinkPads with 2 Gigs of internal DDRAM, etc. so I don't think it's an issue with the PC. We are ribless (of course) to the XTS 5000 with a Motorola USB cable. No 3rd party krap, as everything involved is Motorola, except for the IBM ThinkPad. Similar results with a Dell Precision M50.

I suspect your 6 minute experience versus my 20 minutes with the XTS 5000 must be related to the FLASHport feature (mine was IMBE, while yours may have been something a bit simpler?).

larry

We flashed approx 250 XTS2500 radios, not XTS5000's so maybe that had something to do with it? It shouldn't, since they both have the same firmware platform & size. The computer doesn't make a lick of difference, as long as it meets the minimum specs. We used a couple of DELLs with 1.3 & 1.7GHz processors. I suspect the Analog-to-IMBE must be the culprit, as we weren't doing that.

Todd

[PhillyPhoto]

Does anyone know how long I can expect to be without a radio if I send for the HOST/DSP to be upgraded?

[Bruce1807]

if you send it away a week or two
let the local MSS order it and tell them to cxall you when they can do it.
it should only take about 20 mins.
if you have the software and cable(no smart rib required) just get them to order it, take it home and DYI

Assuming of course its XTL or XTS (not 3000)
otherwise you need a smartrib

[Victor Xray]

If you send it to the depot .....

There's no telling what model radio they will send back to you.


That is, assuming they even have record of receiving your radio....

[PhillyPhoto]

Alright, this was for a radio I was considering getting that 5.x stuff in it, but I'm getting one with 7.x so I'm not worried about upgrading any time soon.