Firmware upgrade

[jbelanger]

For upgrading the firmware, you need to use a Windows PC and CAN passthrough with an MS with either MS2/Extra or MS3. And you need to use the downloader: http://jbperf.com/io_extender/firmware/ioedl.exe.

So, with the PC connected to the MS and the I/O Extender connected to the MS, you need to put ioedl.exe and io_extender.s19 in the same directory, open a command window, go to the directory where the files are and type:

Code: Select all

ioedl COMx 115200 io_extender.s19

where COMx is the COM port used to connect to the MS.

Also, make sure to disable CAN polling on your MS before upgrading the IO-x firmware since there could be conflicts between the 2 message streams which would make the upgrade fail.

Jean

EDIT: Due to the change in the serial protocol starting with MS3 1.1, the loader linked above doesn't work. You need to use this one instead: http://jbperf.com/io_extender/firmware/ioedl_ms3.exe. Also, due to a bug in the MS3 firmware you need to use the latest MS3 code: either 1.1.3beta or later or 1.2alpha2 or later. If you're using 1.0.x, use the previous loader above.

Important note: You need to disable any CAN polling and CAN broadcasting done by your MS2 or MS3 before starting the firmware upgrade. Failure to do so will likely result in some sort of error and a partial upgrade that will disable the IOx until a successful firmware upgrade.

EDIT (2015-09-10): The new preferred method for upgrading the firmware is to use the latest version of the port scanner. This is valid for the IOx (all versions), TinyIOx and CAN-EGT.

[turbo bob]

i don't have everything permenantly installed at the moment, and was going to just use my stim to power everything up and upgrade the firmware on my MS2 & IO-X, so simply said, all I you need to do is hook up 12V, GND, CANL & CANH and should be good to go right?

[jbelanger]

That's all you need to communicate with the IOx.

Jean

[turbo355]

Be sure to short the boot pin , before you try to load the firmware.LOL

[jbelanger]

Be sure to short the boot pin , before you try to load the firmware.LOL

Actually, this is usually not needed. It will only be needed if the code has been corrupted for some reason.

However, if that happens these are the pins on JP4 you need to short before powering up the IOx (it can be removed after):


Jean

[Rod S]

Interesting,

I certainly didn't need to use the jumper on my IOx-OEM when I reloaded the firmware, and that was in a case where the firmware was "possibly" corrupted.

The only mistake I made was not properly following the instructions - I tried double clicking on the ioedl.exe file instead of typing it into a command window......

(too used to MS2, just double clicking the bat file)

Rod.

[jbelanger]

I've tried to design the code, both on the IOx and on the PC, such that it minimizes the need for the boot pins. So some corruptions and partial/failed code upload will not need the jumper. However since it would be unlikely to come up with a completely foolproof way of doing away with it, I have provided the boot pins which will always work (unless there is a hardware issue/failure).

I've only needed the jumper when I was testing new code and there were major bugs. But it was needed in Tony's case.

Jean

[Rod S]

Jean,

As I said, I didn't need the boot jumper despite "possible" firmware problems.

The only suggestion I would offer is write us a nice little .bat file to do the installation, like the MS2-Extra downloads.

And yes, I'm just being lazy

Rod.

[aarc240]

a nice little .bat file to do ...

'.bat', what's that?
Script me boy, lot's more powerful. Ahhhh, that's right, you need to be using a real OS for that!
I hate having to resort to M$ Windoze.

[Rod S]

a nice little .bat file to do ...

'.bat', what's that?
Script me boy, lot's more powerful. Ahhhh, that's right, you need to be using a real OS for that!
I hate having to resort to M$ Windoze.

Yes, I should really use a real OS but I'm too old for it.

I tried Linux 12 years ago and gave up - I was too old then......

and now I'm 12 years older.

So I'm afraid I do have to rely on MicroS****e

[piledriver]

Linux usabilty changes more in ~1 year than Windows has in 12.

Give Mageia2 a shot, you can even use the livecd.
(or dump the iso to a usb stick, generally much faster (to the point of fully usable OS) if it's a decent USB stick)

Using Linux on the Desktop since 1994.

[aarc240]

Ubuntu is another sound option.
Again, you can try it with a liveCD or a USB flash drive for a better result.
With most any Linux distro these days it's possible to run Windoze software on wine (or equivalent) and get more stable performance than on Windoze itself!
For the more adventurous there is the choice of a virtual machine also.

Essentially, anything you can do on Windoze you can also do on Linux at a lower cost, although you may have to do some research to find which of the various solutions available for any given problem is the most suitable for you.

Dang, I've got a disfunctional Win7 install on this laptop (moved partitions and Win7 didn't like it) that hasn't been either fixed or looked at in 3 or 4 months. That tells me it's about time to dump it.

Unix sys admin (about 35 years), Linux server & desktop admin/support (about 20 years). Was (still am??) a MCSE for years. Currently trying to be retired.

[jbelanger]

I have updated the first post to add a link to a firmware loader that will work with the MS3 protocol used on 1.1+

Jean

[killer_siller]

I am having trouble with my IOx keeping settings, so decided to update firmware.

I am trying to update firmware through my MS3-Pro, and got the following error:

Parsed S-record lines: 465 Bytes total: 14779
Source address range: 0x2200-0xFFFF

Racket contains error code 0x8a
Unrecognized device

thoughts?

[jbelanger]

With the MS3Pro and any MS3 running the firmware version 1.1 and later, you need to use this executable to perform the update: http://jbperf.com/io_extender/firmware/ioedl_ms3.exe.

By the way, this is also needed with MS2/Extra running the pre 3.3 beta code.

Jean

[killer_siller]

With the MS3Pro and any MS3 running the firmware version 1.1 and later, you need to use this executable to perform the update: http://jbperf.com/io_extender/firmware/ioedl_ms3.exe.

I tried the executable listed at the top of the page for MS3 1.1+. Gave me the above error. Is the one quoted any different?

[jbelanger]

That's the same one. Why firmware version are you using on the MS3Pro? And can you communicate with the IOx from TS? Can you capture the screen where you sent the command; I'd like to see the command and the response. Also, which OS are you using?

Jean

[jbelanger]

Actually, checking things out here I realized that I have seen this with pre 1.3 alpha 3 code. However, it started to work after a few tries and I'm not able to reproduce this error any more. You could try again making sure the MS3 is not doing anything else; try the upgrade after a power up.

Jean

[slinger2519]

Hi, working with killersiller on this project.
I'm getting these errors occasionally also, then it returns to the 0x8a error

problem.png (48.1 KiB) Viewed 13693 times

[jbelanger]

Those look like serial communication problems. The first error means that the serial port is busy with something else. The other errors mean that something went wrong with the serial comm at some point.

The downloader has very simple serial communication handling and it tries to get the transfer done as quickly as possible. If something is marginal it will generate an error. Since the firmware upgrade should not be done often, it should not be a big problem but it will be inconvenient for those who don't have perfect serial comm because they will need to try many times. I will see if I can improve this in some way.

Jean