GP380 write error - now reads "Test 2 Failed"

[photodiarist]

Hi all, new to the forum - hope this is the right place to post. (I am crossposting this to Motorola-Radio-Support forum, and will update this thread if I find a solution there)

I'm working for a medical NGO in the DR Congo and we've got a few GP380s and a GP340. Today I programmed them all to change one of the channels on each in the CPS. All went well, until I plugged one of the 380s in again to show a colleague how to change the frequency of a channel. We changed the text of the alphanumeric display for channel 6, then chose "Write Device" as usual, and it gave an error message that it couldn't write to the device. Tried again, same error.

Closed the CPS, reopened it, now it wouldn't even recognize the radio. Turned the radio off, disconnected the USB-to-serial cable, reconnected and turned back on and got a loud tone and "Test 2 Failed" message on the radio. This message now comes up every time we turn this radio on, along with the loud tone.

The following error message came up when we tried again to read the device and hoped we might be able to set things right: "The Radio Codeplug is corrupted ! Accessing this Radio may crash the CPS. Do you want to try it anyway ?"

Decided to risk it and hit Yes, the CPS didn't crash, but the following message then came up: "Total block checksum failed for block Channel Aliases. Can not unpack"

I was hoping to find a hard reset on the back of the radio to restore the defaults like on network routers/switches, but sadly it doesn't exist. Looking around online, I've not been able to find a solution to this problem other than sending the handset to a Motorola repair shop, which is a bit difficult due to my current location. Hoping maybe someone on this forum can either guide me to some potential solutions, or tell me if my only option is to send it in for repair, or if it's definitely toast. Also, if anyone has an idea why this happened, it would be great to know so that I can avoid doing it to any other units in the future. The same software on the same laptop with the same serial-to-USB cable worked with the same GP380 about an hour earlier and with several other GP380s and a GP340.

Thanks in advance for any help!
-Chris

Radio Info:
TANAPA: PMUD14908
VER. NO: R03.04.00
TYPE: PW302F

PS Not sure if it may have been part of the problem, but we're using a generator for our power here, and the only protection for the laptop to which the radio was connected was a Belkin in-line surge protector and the multiplug extension cable has a fuse in it. Though we've had no problems with any of our devices, there's always a chance that the current into the laptop may have spiked.

[bezking]

Hi Chris,

Well, it looks like when you wrote the radio the second time, CPS corrupted the codeplug that is now in the radio. The error message you received after allowing CPS to read the radio is consistent with what you described doing when the codeplug became corrupted. Fortunately, there are things you can do to try to fix this.

If you have saved a copy of the original codeplug, or any known good codeplug for that radio, try writing it back into the radio. Otherwise, if you have a radio of the same model number, try reading it's codeplug into CPS then writing it into the broken radio. Note that it may take several tries at either of these before it works, so don't give up right away!

HTH

[photodiarist]

Thanks Ben for the quick reply!

So far I've not succeeded. Sadly, I had not backed up the codeplug of the "bad" radio before the problem came up - a lesson learned! So here's what I tried:

1. I took another GP380 which is working perfectly, connected it to the computer, saved the codeplug to the computer, disconnected the good radio.

2. I connected the bad radio, opened the good codeplug, and tried to Write Device. I got the error message: "Model Number mismatch. Radio Model number: H25KDF9AN5. CPS Model Number: H25KDH9AN6" and on clicking Ok, got a warning message: "The device is not supported by this application"

3. I disconnected the bad radio, opened the .cpg file in Notepad (I'm on a WinXP SP3 computer) and found the model and serial number on the first line of the file. I changed the model and serial number in the file to the ones of the bad radio, but now the CPS says the codeplug header is corrupted.

4. Tried saving a good codeplug again, opening it in Notepad, saving without making any changes, and even that file then said the header was corrupted - apparently the act of saving the file in Notepad screws up the file.


So... still stuck. My guess here is that I could get the good codeplug onto the bad radio if I were able to edit the file to change the serial and model number - does this sound possible? If so, any advice on how to edit the .cpg file without corrupting the header? I've googled around a fair bit and not found any info on software that can edit the .cpg other than the CPS, which doesn't seem to allow me to change the model and serial numbers.

[bezking]

If it is possible to modify the codeplug, I don't know how to do it. If anybody on the board knows if that's possible, please chime in!

The issue there with that error is the last digit of the model number is different between the two radios - 5 vs 6. That is simply the revision number of the radio, which does change over time as Motorola updates the platform. If you can find another radio with *exactly* the same model number (i.e. one purchased at around the same time as the brick radio), my process should work.

HTH

[photodiarist]

Thanks for the tip. I've checked our other radios here, and sadly none are the exact same model number as the paperweight. I'll contact our bases in other parts of the country and see if I can find one somewhere. Otherwise I guess I'll be stuck sending it to Motorola...

Thanks a million!

[kkong]

2. I connected the bad radio, opened the good codeplug, and tried to Write Device. I got the error message: "Model Number mismatch. Radio Model number: H25KDF9AN5. CPS Model Number: H25KDH9AN6" and on clicking Ok, got a warning message: "The device is not supported by this application"

Seems one of your radios thinks (or is!) a GP360 rather than a GP380.

Part numbers decoded...

MDH25KDF9AN5AE
GP360 136-174MHZ 5W LK/P PW302F

MDH25KDH9AN6AE
GP380 136-174MHZ 5W K/P PW302H

[kkong]

The issue there with that error is the last digit of the model number is different between the two radios - 5 vs 6. That is simply the revision number of the radio, which does change over time as Motorola updates the platform.HTH

That is not correct for these radios.
The 5 indicates a GP360 radio (limited keypad).
The 6 indicates a GP380 radio (full keypad).

[photodiarist]

Thanks Kkong. Very interesting - both the F and the 5 should make this a 360. The two radios are definitely both 380s, both with full keypads and the GP380 marked on them.

The radio that "thinks" it's a 360 also has that model number with the 5 on its label when you remove the battery pack. Very strange... have you ever heard of this before? Is it possible that the company we bought this unit from simply put a 380 case on a 360 radio? If that's the case, should I start looking at our 360s for one with the same model number to try Ben's suggestion of writing a good codeplug to the problem radio?

[bezking]

Thank you KKong for clearing that up. It is possible and even supported by Motorola to do that to the GP's American counterpart, the HT1250. There is a selection in CPS to change the radio from limited -> full keypad, and I guess if you wanted to do the reverse it would work as well. I see no reason why the same would not hold true with the GP series.

Regardless of the casing and label, my trick should still work as long as the model number (look at it in CPS) is exactly the same...

[photodiarist]

Regardless of the casing and label, my trick should still work as long as the model number (look at it in CPS) is exactly the same

Yep, the model number in the CPS which is the same as the label shows that it's apparently a 360 despite the case, so I'll check our 360s and probably find one with the same model number as the brick, I'll try your solution, and hopefully all will be well in the world. I'll post an update once I've tried.

Thanks to both of you for your help so far, quite a learning experience!