[TenTec] FW Update Problem w/O2

Ron Castro ronc at sonic.net
Mon Mar 2 09:31:19 PST 2009


This still sounds like a COM port problem in the computer.  I have been 
using a USB to serial port converter for a couple of years and it has worked 
perfectly on the my Orion II, a friend's 'original' v. 1x Orion, my old 
TS-870, plus numerous other devices.

FWIW, I found that all USB-to-serial converters are based on two different 
chips...one seems to work all the time and the other is flakey, but I don't 
know which one is which!  What I do know is that the one made by "Cables To 
Go" works for me every time, so I bought four of them and keep one 
everywhere I think I might need one.

BTW, I use this on a Sony P-4 laptop with XP Pro.

         Ron  N6IE
      www.N6IE.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Giacobello" <k2xx at swva.net>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Cc: <jmiller1706 at cfl.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 6:40 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] FW Update Problem w/O2


> Jim and Billy, thanks for your inputs, but I'm continuing to have both an 
> exasperating and mysterious series of problems with the FW installation.
>
> Apparently, those messages that I was receiving on the Orion screen were 
> indicative of the FW code being loaded albeit at a very slow pace.  I went 
> back and tried it again several times and on some occasions the transfer 
> would stop at an early line and the update software would close.  The 
> furthest I got before the transfer stopped was program flash 266.  The 
> speed seemed to be erratic, but it was generally quite slow.  It made 
> little difference whether I used hardware flow control or none and 57.6K 
> speed or slower.  Even though I usually received the error message that 
> there was no communication between update software and the Orion, the 
> Orion display showed
>
> I am currently using a multi-serial port PCI card for serial ports.  It 
> has worked flawlessly for several years with a number of different 
> applications.  I tried Jim's suggestion of using a USB-to-serial adapter 
> and his port settings, but there appeared to be nothing happening based on 
> no info being displayed on the Orion screen.  I went back to the PCI 
> serial port and now, unlike my earlier experiences, saw no info displayed 
> on the screen that indicated data transfer (or anything else for that 
> matter).  (So Jim's remedy may have been working, but I couldn't tell.)
>
> Finally, I ran a serial port analyzer program and it showed that 
> communication between the port and the Orion was established practically 
> instantaneously, but then the data transfer slowed to a snail's pace when 
> the update software started transferring code.  (This is when the error 
> message about loss of communication is generated.  Apparently, it has 
> slowed, but it has not stopped.)  One line of code was being transferred 
> every 6-7 seconds.  I decided to allow the transfer to continue overnight 
> and by this morning about half the code had been loaded and there are 
> still no messages on the orion screen.
>
> I haven't the vaguest idea why I'm having this problem.  It seems that 
> most users have had no problems, although a small minority have had 
> problems similar to mine.  I never had any problems loading Orion I FW 
> with the same setup.  Really mysterious.
>
> 73, Joe
> K2XX
>
>
>
> /I had the same problem, others have mentioned it also.  I finally had to 
> buy
> a cheap USB to serial converter and use it.  I suspect that something in 
> the
> latest indows version doesn't like the older serial card I was using.  I
> think some folks think it may be a Windows XP or Vista problem.  But also 
> be
> sure you have your serial port set to 57600 bps, no parity, hardware flow
> control.  You do this in the Windows Device Manager, under COM and LPT
> ports.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Joe Giacobello
> Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 5:35 PM
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: [TenTec] FW Update Problem w/O2
>
> I have just been trying to install FW 2.041XL and have major problems.
> After starting the update, I first get an error message indicating that
> there's no communication with the radio.  If I repeat the update one or
> two more times, I finally get a message on the Orion screen that says
> "Erase Flash" which then switches to "Program Flash 1."  The number in
> that message continuously increments every 10 seconds or so, but nothing
> else happens.  I can stop the numbers from incrementing by just shutting
> down the update software.  So there must be some communication between
> the software and the O2.
>
> I've tried both master resets and RAM clears w/o any effect, and I also
> re-downloaded the FW file.  I can't even re-install the original FW.
> Never had problems updating the original Orion.
>
> Anyone seen anything similar or have any thoughts on what might be going 
> on?/
>
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> 


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