I as well as 100?s of others users I see throughout this forum and others, have one of these
Boxes that just won?t flash. There are many great helpful suggestions to make sure you have
the correct Null Modem Cable, Com Port settings, and the correct timing of power up. But like a lot of us?
even when all these things are correct and in the right place?some of these machines will still not Flash.
You have the dreaded ?On? front panel display and the EromUpgrade software always returns with message?
Set stb memory error..
Well being an Electronic Techie guy, I dug in and did hours of research and many experiments on this thing, taking voltage measurements,etc
and Here is what I?ve found.
For those that this is the case and nothing is working?I believe we have bought Clone versions.
Any Legit firmware has Clone killer code in it to prevent these boxes from working.
And it also seems to prevent you from flashing from the EromUpgrade software. I?ve discovered that
any time I tried to boot normally, or use the EromUpgrade program, the Flash IC would remain in a DISABLED mode,
So no communication with the chip was possible. I think out of hundreds of tries, this may have slipped up once for whatever reason!
In the Flash IC PDF literature, it notes all the HEX commands used to control this Chip.
So I ended up using Windows Hyperterm?setting up the proper settings, which are.. Com 1, {This MAY vary}, 115,200, 8Bit Data, Even Parity, 1 Stop Bit
and Flow Control set to NONE! My goal was to try to send commands to the chip, possible erasing it, changing something?whatever it took.
Here?s where it got interesting?When I ran Hyperterm?established a connection with the Com Port?.THEN powered up the Box?
I noticed that the FLASH IC had then gone into an ENABLED mode. Also on the Hyperterminal screen I got a message from the Com Port.
APP Init OK. This told me that the Processor,Com Port, my Cable, etc must be working. But after a few tries doing this?.the Box started showing signs of life.
I got a BOOT display on the panel. It hung there?Trying it some more got me to an INIT display. Seemed letting the thing sit for a while got me a little further.
What I believe was happening, was the BOMB instructions were designed to do something to Interfere with EromUpgradeand normal Bootup. Using Hyperterminal seemed to Bypass this allowing somewhat normal operation. Just a theory.. Haven?t tried it, but this may also work with REALTERM software if you have that.
Anyway?at some point I got it to Boot up?and with Clone Friendly Firmware{New Red GUI} preloaded on a USB stick, I went to the Upgrade Menu as fast as I could and did manage to load the Firmware via USB. This allowed the box to Boot on it?s own everytime. Mission accomplished!!! Well Not Yet!! Lol
This is Part 2 of my fix.
I now had a Bootable machine, but it would only run for a short while and would freeze up?the video would go wonky, etc! Have read about a lot of people
having similar issues on working machines. Letting it sit for a bit, booting up again, it would work for a period and crap out.
When this happens to our Computers?it?s usually due to the processor fan breaking down and providing no cooling. So I decided to try a fan on the processor.
I tapped into the 12v on the power supply and sat a fan on top of the processor. I had a fear of it overloading the power supply, as it?s been noted by others, that these are weak designs and are just providing enough power to run the thing. But running the fan did make it work for a while longer, but still acted up a while later.
Hmmm? Maybe not the processor?.so moved the fan around!! Turns out Cooling the FLASH IC?or at least something near it?gave me glitch free operation. These boards must have heating issues that the designers didn?t address. Again just another guess.
The FLASH IC is located just to the left of the Smart card bay, and sits under the cable from the smart card bay. Small 8 pin IC.
So I installed a fan to the cover?placing the fan so that one corner caught the Flash IC, and the other corner caught a piece of the Processor heatsink, cooling it as well. I moved the Smart card cable aside, tucking it in behind a Capacitor so the the Flash IC had no cooling restrictions. The fan also has to be placed to clear the Smart card board.
So far, this has worked fine. Also some other tests revealed that I can now flash using EromUpgrade no problem. But must be careful though?.if you install Legit Firmware again?your back to where you were. If it ain?t broke?.don?t fix it!!
Have no idea if this will work for others, but it did bring my ?left for dead? machine back to life and in operation..
Curious to hear if this works for anyone else.
Will include pics and software needed. Hopefully this will help some boxes live again.
D.P.
Boxes that just won?t flash. There are many great helpful suggestions to make sure you have
the correct Null Modem Cable, Com Port settings, and the correct timing of power up. But like a lot of us?
even when all these things are correct and in the right place?some of these machines will still not Flash.
You have the dreaded ?On? front panel display and the EromUpgrade software always returns with message?
Set stb memory error..
Well being an Electronic Techie guy, I dug in and did hours of research and many experiments on this thing, taking voltage measurements,etc
and Here is what I?ve found.
For those that this is the case and nothing is working?I believe we have bought Clone versions.
Any Legit firmware has Clone killer code in it to prevent these boxes from working.
And it also seems to prevent you from flashing from the EromUpgrade software. I?ve discovered that
any time I tried to boot normally, or use the EromUpgrade program, the Flash IC would remain in a DISABLED mode,
So no communication with the chip was possible. I think out of hundreds of tries, this may have slipped up once for whatever reason!
In the Flash IC PDF literature, it notes all the HEX commands used to control this Chip.
So I ended up using Windows Hyperterm?setting up the proper settings, which are.. Com 1, {This MAY vary}, 115,200, 8Bit Data, Even Parity, 1 Stop Bit
and Flow Control set to NONE! My goal was to try to send commands to the chip, possible erasing it, changing something?whatever it took.
Here?s where it got interesting?When I ran Hyperterm?established a connection with the Com Port?.THEN powered up the Box?
I noticed that the FLASH IC had then gone into an ENABLED mode. Also on the Hyperterminal screen I got a message from the Com Port.
APP Init OK. This told me that the Processor,Com Port, my Cable, etc must be working. But after a few tries doing this?.the Box started showing signs of life.
I got a BOOT display on the panel. It hung there?Trying it some more got me to an INIT display. Seemed letting the thing sit for a while got me a little further.
What I believe was happening, was the BOMB instructions were designed to do something to Interfere with EromUpgradeand normal Bootup. Using Hyperterminal seemed to Bypass this allowing somewhat normal operation. Just a theory.. Haven?t tried it, but this may also work with REALTERM software if you have that.
Anyway?at some point I got it to Boot up?and with Clone Friendly Firmware{New Red GUI} preloaded on a USB stick, I went to the Upgrade Menu as fast as I could and did manage to load the Firmware via USB. This allowed the box to Boot on it?s own everytime. Mission accomplished!!! Well Not Yet!! Lol
This is Part 2 of my fix.
I now had a Bootable machine, but it would only run for a short while and would freeze up?the video would go wonky, etc! Have read about a lot of people
having similar issues on working machines. Letting it sit for a bit, booting up again, it would work for a period and crap out.
When this happens to our Computers?it?s usually due to the processor fan breaking down and providing no cooling. So I decided to try a fan on the processor.
I tapped into the 12v on the power supply and sat a fan on top of the processor. I had a fear of it overloading the power supply, as it?s been noted by others, that these are weak designs and are just providing enough power to run the thing. But running the fan did make it work for a while longer, but still acted up a while later.
Hmmm? Maybe not the processor?.so moved the fan around!! Turns out Cooling the FLASH IC?or at least something near it?gave me glitch free operation. These boards must have heating issues that the designers didn?t address. Again just another guess.
The FLASH IC is located just to the left of the Smart card bay, and sits under the cable from the smart card bay. Small 8 pin IC.
So I installed a fan to the cover?placing the fan so that one corner caught the Flash IC, and the other corner caught a piece of the Processor heatsink, cooling it as well. I moved the Smart card cable aside, tucking it in behind a Capacitor so the the Flash IC had no cooling restrictions. The fan also has to be placed to clear the Smart card board.
So far, this has worked fine. Also some other tests revealed that I can now flash using EromUpgrade no problem. But must be careful though?.if you install Legit Firmware again?your back to where you were. If it ain?t broke?.don?t fix it!!
Have no idea if this will work for others, but it did bring my ?left for dead? machine back to life and in operation..
Curious to hear if this works for anyone else.
Will include pics and software needed. Hopefully this will help some boxes live again.
D.P.
PAUL
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