FIRMWARE UPDATE PROBLEMS!

[Resthome]

I had a heck of a time with an update today, to the latest and greatest. It crashed the panel and I had to do the jumper reboot.... but for two hours, i was really panicking, as the controller is our source of juice now that we're off-grid.

The VMM was useless....

and I am now fearful of turning the controller off (not that it's off very often.)

Define "crashed the panel".  Did the MNGP stop with a bunch of number showing or what?

Also what version where you updating from?

[Vern Faulkner]

Vern, what did you use to do the install?

I had a bearcat of a time for awhile, but once I got the first install of V 2074 in, loose wire?

After I couldn't get the installer to function in wine (under Ubuntu linux), I assembled the energy-pig windows vista tower of my other halfs, the same machine used to do previous installs... and did everything as I have done before. I even uninstalled the latest and tried to backgrade to a previous version (a stable one from 2014 that had been on the Classic for a year and change).... no dice.

Changed cables, did it with no other electonics in the area (ethernet off, etc.) .....

[Vern Faulkner]

I had a heck of a time with an update today, to the latest and greatest. It crashed the panel and I had to do the jumper reboot.... but for two hours, i was really panicking, as the controller is our source of juice now that we're off-grid.

The VMM was useless....

and I am now fearful of turning the controller off (not that it's off very often.)

Define "crashed the panel".  Did the MNGP stop with a bunch of number showing or what?

Also what version where you updating from?

Can't remember old firmware version, but it was a stable one from July/august (IIRC) 2014.

The system locked up after going through the basic post VMM menu tree - after setting time, it barfed with the code

SENDING DATA
4136 502

[Resthome]

I had a heck of a time with an update today, to the latest and greatest. It crashed the panel and I had to do the jumper reboot.... but for two hours, i was really panicking, as the controller is our source of juice now that we're off-grid.

The VMM was useless....

and I am now fearful of turning the controller off (not that it's off very often.)

Define "crashed the panel".  Did the MNGP stop with a bunch of number showing or what?

Also what version where you updating from?

Can't remember old firmware version, but it was a stable one from July/august (IIRC) 2014.

The system locked up after going through the basic post VMM menu tree - after setting time, it barfed with the code

SENDING DATA
4136 502

That's occurred in the past when the jump between versions of firmware where large and boB had made some Modbus register changes.

I tend to try to do the firmware version in the order they are release, although it should not matter. Looks like it stuck trying to write the ModbusTCPPort 502.

[Westbranch]

Vern, if you try it again, after the install,  disconnect the battery power as well as the PV input to the classic, then, while holding down the 2 soft keys  < and >, reconnect the battery followed by the PV, ....
I found that helped.  Don't know why but...??

hth

[phxmark]

Well, finally got the firmware updated on my Classic and MNGP.

It took several times of power cycles and quitting and starting the Classic updater. I found it was easier to run a command prompt in Administrator mode and run the update line from the batch file manually.  That way I could ctrl-c the command when it didn't find com8, repeat the command and power on the Classic.

Another issue was updating the MNGP. For some strange reason, the update would not work unless I plugged the MNGP into the middle port on the Classic. Once I updated the MNGP, I plugged it back into the top port and all is good now.  I still had to do the power on-off-ctrl-c, etc. bit to get it to go into firmware update mode.

I was using Windows 10 to do this. I had the same issues of the updater not recognizing com8 on XP and 7, too and having to do the same as above.

[Westbranch]

Another issue was updating the MNGP. For some strange reason, the update would not work unless I plugged the MNGP into the middle port on the Classic. Once I updated the MNGP, I plugged it back into the top port and all is good now. 

Phxmark, what made you try this plugging into the middle port on the Classic? 
I don't recall anyone ever mentioning it...

[phxmark]

Another issue was updating the MNGP. For some strange reason, the update would not work unless I plugged the MNGP into the middle port on the Classic. Once I updated the MNGP, I plugged it back into the top port and all is good now. 

Phxmark, what made you try this plugging into the middle port on the Classic? 
I don't recall anyone ever mentioning it...

I didn't think about it. I pulled the cover off to clean and re-seat the connection and accidentally plugged it in to the middle connector. The MNGP still powered on and communicated through the middle port with the Classic.  I didn't screw the cover back on.  I performed the MNGP update not knowing it was in the middle port. Once it was done, I realized it was in the wrong port I plugged it back into the top port.

[Westbranch]

Hmm, that 'dirty contact' may be a part of the Upgrade issues  some of us are having...
mind you I have removed and replaced that RJ cable several times of late on mine, just cant remember if it was before or after the successful upgrade. 
I took the cover of to access all the connections , USB, Cat5, WBjr and RTS, just to be sure they were seated properly...

[phxmark]

Hmm, that 'dirty contact' may be a part of the Upgrade issues  some of us are having...
mind you I have removed and replaced that RJ cable several times of late on mine, just cant remember if it was before or after the successful upgrade. 
I took the cover of to access all the connections , USB, Cat5, WBjr and RTS, just to be sure they were seated properly...

I read somewhere that the top port and middle port are basically the same except the middle port does not have a couple of the LED pins running to it. Maybe I have a bad pin on the top connector. Oh well, I am happy to get it upgraded, whatever works.

[crunnells]

I was really hoping this would work, after trying to update my Classic 150 about 12 different ways with no success. Are there any tips to get this buggy process to work? I've tried:

- three different laptops
- 4 different USB cords
- every permutation of plugging things in and turning on the Classic

As always, the USB driver installs fine, and setting the port to COM8 always works, but it *always* fails with a "Bad USB cable" error. The only thing, at this point, that I can say is that my Classic is broken. There's no other explanation for my it won't take firmware updates. The last time I was able to successfully update the firmware was back at the end of 2013.

Any suggestions? Should I send it in to Midnite to see if they can update the firmware?

[Resthome]

I was really hoping this would work, after trying to update my Classic 150 about 12 different ways with no success. Are there any tips to get this buggy process to work? I've tried:

- three different laptops
- 4 different USB cords
- every permutation of plugging things in and turning on the Classic

As always, the USB driver installs fine, and setting the port to COM8 always works, but it *always* fails with a "Bad USB cable" error. The only thing, at this point, that I can say is that my Classic is broken. There's no other explanation for my it won't take firmware updates. The last time I was able to successfully update the firmware was back at the end of 2013.

Any suggestions? Should I send it in to Midnite to see if they can update the firmware?

What OS are you using on the laptops?  I've seen someone post with the "Bad USB cable" message. I've never seen that error (maybe I just missed it), just usually times out for me with a COM8 message IIRC.

Are you updating the Classic or the MNGP? 

[Westbranch]

Also:
have you tried a different USB port?
Have you re-seated the USB cable in the Classic?
I had one occurrence with a poor contact just from the cable moving when I adjusted the laptop...

[crunnells]

Resthome: Windows 7 on all 3 laptops. I'm not sure what difference the OS would make, but maybe? Last time it worked was on a Windows 7 machine (well, a Macbook running Fusion with Windows 7 installed, but I digress). The way the problem occurs is that it detects COM8, starts uploading the update, but never gets past 0% and drops out with a "bad usb" error. It fails on both the Classic update and the MNGP update.

Westbranch: I used 4 different USB cables, on all available USB ports on the laptops. Pretty sure it's not the USB ports or the USB cables, since they work just fine for other devices.

[Resthome]

Resthome: Windows 7 on all 3 laptops. I'm not sure what difference the OS would make, but maybe? Last time it worked was on a Windows 7 machine (well, a Macbook running Fusion with Windows 7 installed, but I digress). The way the problem occurs is that it detects COM8, starts uploading the update, but never gets past 0% and drops out with a "bad usb" error. It fails on both the Classic update and the MNGP update.

Well there are different instructions for different OS. But I've had mostly good luck with Win7 but better luck with Win8.1 and no luck with Win10. I'm at a lost since you say it starts the update and shows the 0% and then the bad cable message. Usually if you get that 0% the connection was made. All my failures have be Com8 busy or not available.

Maybe boB can decipher what is being checked when the "bad cable error" is displayed. 

Ryan had said the new Beta Updater for Win10 was suppose to work with all OS but I'm not sure that is the case. It would be nice if it was and you could give it a try. I think you have to contact Ryan to get a copy of it anyway so you might PM him and ask if it will work with Win7 (maybe - maybe not).

http://kb1uas.com/mnsforum/index.php?topic=2753.msg26052#msg26052