Is there a way to clone an old codeplug into an Astro mobile

[Jim202]

Trying to get a mobile to an older version of RSS.

Is there a way to put an older codeplug into a
800 Astro Mobile and have it work on the old
RSS version?

I do have the current RSS R05.02, but that is not the
issue here.

If the answer is yes, my next problem is an old code
plug for a D04UJF9W5AN. Never saved an old plug
as never though I would run into this issue.

Jim

[Rayjk110]

I believe you read the S-Rec with no unpack with an older version of RSS lab then take the S-Rec into the desired version of the "older RSS" and write it, but I could be wrong. I'm sure someone will correct me.

[fogster]

The "Codeplug too new" problem (the need to downgrade to an older version) drives sooo many of us here crazy. The short answer is that it's technically possible, but a major pain if you don't have everything you need.

I don't think Rayjk110's solution will work, as I think the "old" RSS will give you the exact same error as if you read the radio directly.

The 'solution' is where the fun starts... You're going to need ASTRO Lab (something Motorola does not provide or want you to have) and a codeplug last programmed in the 'old' version of RSS you want (or older).

You also want to write down all your soft pot values, because they'll get overwritten in the 'surgery'.

You then use Lab to "program" the radio, but it's weird in that you never let it make sense of the data. It's been a while, but you essentially read the old codeplug into memory without unpacking it (it's an option), and then write it to the radio. (From personal experience, "cloning" to the radio does the exact same thing... I'm still curious about that.)

(The wisest procedure would be to first read the radio with no pack/unpack and save that to disk, so you have a copy of the 'current' codeplug too.)

Once done in Lab, you can now read/write with whatever version of RSS you programmed it with (or newer).

To make things just a little bit more interesting, this is also how radios are "Frankenflashed," so you're going to end up with the Flash features and serial number of whatever codeplug you put in with Lab. (But the firmware is unchanged, so you're not going to miraculously get IMBE working if it doesn't already.)

It's not too uncommon for people to ask for codeplugs in this forum, presumably for this exact reason. (Make sure to specify that you need it programmed with an old version, and what Flash features you need!) Personally, I don't have the one you're looking for.

[Josh]

Whatever happened to simply loading an old codeplug from DOS and then programming it back into the radio? No need for LAB anything.

-Josh

[fogster]

I've never tried that, but will it work? For some reason I thought that RSS wouldn't touch a radio that was programmed with something newer.

[motorola_otaku]

Whatever happened to simply loading an old codeplug from DOS and then programming it back into the radio? No need for LAB anything.

-Josh

I have a 403-470 XTS that came to me programmed with CPS 04.01.04. I already had a DOS 9.05 codeplug for the exact same radio with the exact same model number and the exact same (1c5e) flash. Only thing different was the serial numbers.

No go. "Feature set does not match the radio to be programmed." Like I said, the flashcodes were identical.

My current theory is that CPS did/does just enough to the codeplug structure to make it unrecognizable to RSS, in order to prevent exactly what you are talking about.


edit: Oh, you're talking about loading an old DOS codeplug read from the radio itself. That works. Unfortunately Jim doesn't have an old DOS codeplug from his radio so he's SOL.