SABER II Program Help - Bricked?

[eddiev]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for some help on how to fix my SABER II. I believe I was using too fast a PC and something went crazy during programming and not the display lights up completely and the icons above the Alpha display flash on and off constantly. I have been trying to upload a copy of the original codeplug back to the radio from other suggestions using a 386 PC now but no luck. RSS times out trying to communicate with the radio. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

EddieV

[N6LAU]

What version of RSS are you using and on the 386 are you running pure DOS?

Joe

[mike m]

Use version 7 RSS and use the create codeplug option of RSS but do not add anymore channels or zones than the default create codeplug configuration.

By this I mean when you create a new codeplug using RSS you need to select your radios model number and frequency range axactly as the radio is, then with only one channel and only one channel, go ahead and try programming this limited small single channel codeplug to the radio.

If this works then you can build on this smaller simpler codeplug by adding in additional channels and zones, but add things slowly, add new channels and new zones slowly at a time and then program the radio with each new addition of zones.

Large codeplugs take a long time to program and when you add channels and zones in small steps to the codeplug and then program the radio, if the programming still fails at some stage, then you know that there is still some type of timing problem going on with your programming setup.

Remember that once the radio has crashed trying to program in a full sized codeplug just will not work you need to start small and build up slowly.

Also make sure your radio is operating from a good capable fully charged battery or a good 8 volt external supply and by all means I hope you are using true DOS, none of that windows PIF crap.

Mike

[eddiev]

Hey guys thanks for the info! I appreciate it..... I will give your suggestions a try and post back. I am using true DOS 6.2 and Version 7 on the 386 machine. No worries there..... I am using a DOS boot disk because the Hard Drive is not functioning.

Thanks again and I will post back later this evening once I get a chance to sit down with it again and give it a whirl....

Ed

[eddiev]

No luck on any of the above suggestions..... Ugh.... Any other ideas? I just keep getting the dreaded I/O serial error regarding it not being able to communicate with the radio.

Thanks again!

Ed

[mike m]

You could also try this recovery method that came from the saber service manual.

Since I don't have my manual handy you will have to go back in time to this old thread for the procedure.

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=79147

if you are using the original saber cable with the accessory connector on it then this is worth a shot, it has worked for me with stubborn crashes in the past.


Mike

[eddiev]

Hey Mike!

Great suggestion..... When I follow that procedure, The screen then comes up with an ERR 0 81 on the display now. If I turn off the radio and turn it back on it goes back to the orginal symptom of all the characters lit up with the top row of icons flashing. To me that is progress to see ERR 0 81 but I still cannot upload a fresh codeplug I created with only one channel and nothing else enabled. I still get the I/O error that it cannot communicate with the radio. Ugh.... I tried reading my buddies SABER (same model) so my RIB and cable are okay. To me it seems like a step in the right direction but worries me the RIB and radio are not playing nice......

Thanks again!

Ed

[Andreas]

I had such problem some years ago.I had a couple of MX1000 and only one had this problem.You should try another PC(or another RS232 card)!
A PC,with a RS232 ISA card,often works better than the internal RS232,on Sabers and MX1000/2000/3000.

Andreas

[N6LAU]

Hey Mike!

Great suggestion..... When I follow that procedure, The screen then comes up with an ERR 0 81 on the display now. If I turn off the radio and turn it back on it goes back to the orginal symptom of all the characters lit up with the top row of icons flashing. To me that is progress to see ERR 0 81 but I still cannot upload a fresh codeplug I created with only one channel and nothing else enabled. I still get the I/O error that it cannot communicate with the radio. Ugh.... I tried reading my buddies SABER (same model) so my RIB and cable are okay. To me it seems like a step in the right direction but worries me the RIB and radio are not playing nice......

Thanks again!

Ed

And you're certain you are creating a new codeplug with exactly the same model number as the original? Again, what version of RSS are you using?

Joe

[mike m]

Ok I see that this doesn't work if you make up a simple single channel codeplug like I mention then recover the radio and program it after ERR 0 81 comes up on the display.

Huh, let me see if I have some older notes on this problem.

I lost contact with the original Saber RSS guru in Shamburghwhen I switched jobs so I'll need to revert to old e-mails on another PC.

Like he says make sure the model number matches but be extra sure that the radios model number wasn't changed using the old RSS trick to change the radio into a low power model so that it could be programmed across the entire band ?

If so then you need to make the simple codeplug matche what it was last programmed for, not what the tags say.

[eddiev]

Hey guys,

Yeah, still no luck. I tried different PCs (Old Ones of course) and it is almost like the radio has a problem. I cannot for the life of me to get it to even try to communicate with the radio. I verified everything was working with the RIB and RSS with a known good radio and I can read and write a good working radio. As soon as I try to program anything into this radio in the ER 0 81 state, it bombs out with I/O Serial error. I have been trying everything I can think of but no go still.....

You think it can be fixed still?

Thanks again for all who have been offering suggestions! I wish I had better news to report.....

-Ed-

[mike m]

stuborn radio huh,

try this, make or open the simple codeplug that I mentioned then try and see if you can get the radio to go into service mode by pressing F2 service then F4 align channel parameters and tell us what if any error is displayed.

If there is an error try the service mode communication but before pressing F2 service, use the recovery method outlined from my procedure and see if you can get it to go into service mode.

if you can get service mode to come up then try writting the radio.