Common VCI-100 Firmware Questions

[EanGolden]

Thats a great suggestion! I need to confirm that is a fix- thanks for contributing that indo colbourne

[lullabybeatz]

How to adjust FDT to work with USB to Serial cables. In the directory which you installed FDT, there will be a file called "FDTAdvancedSetup.exe". You can use this file to adjust the delays sent by FDT.

Essentially, a USB connection is way quicker than a serial connection and as such, sometimes your connection will be too quick for the software. The connection gets ahead of the instructions and the instructions get lost resulting in time outs.

So, back to FTDAdvancedSetup... go into this, you will see two boxes you can click on: "connection settings" and "configure serial port...". Click the "configure serial port..." box. In here, you will see a box "enable serial port delay fix". You want to make sure that's checked. Then where it says delay value, enter 1000 or something (1000 worked for me, you may need to go higher depending on the cable). Disregard where it says the lower the value the better, that doesn't really apply to us as we're just downloading the file, not doing live programming.

This should fix all those time outs and connection errors when using a USB to serial adapter.

the folks on this forum really rock ... i used a dynex usb to serial cable and had all the time out messages. posted in this thread. then i came across this post. thanks to all.....gotta go rock some tunes.

[sYn0ptik]

Anyone having erase timeout issues?
I cannot complete the firmware upgrade because my device doesn't respond to the erase command within the 21 second timeout.

here is the output.



Clock Frequency (External) = 24.0000MHz, Clock Mode = 0, CKM = 1, and CKP = N/A
Connecting to device 'H8/3052F' on 'COM3'
Configuration:
'BOOT Mode' connection - using emulated interface
Opening port 'COM3' ...
Loading Comms DLL
Loaded Comms DLL
Initiating BOOT SCI sequence
Attempting 9600
Received immediate response from device: 0xAA
Using micro-Kernel : 'C:\Program Files\Renesas\FDT4.02\kernels\ProtB\3052\Renesas\1 _2_00\uGen3052.cde'
Downloading and verifying micro kernel...
Device is erasing...
Erase Timeout value set to 21 seconds
Error No 15068: Error while reading timed response
Error No 15047: The device has not confirmed its erasure
Error No 15019: Download() failed

thx
sYn

[rcolbourne]

Hi sYn,

Are you using a USB to Serial cable? The timeouts are a common problem with those. Look at the sticky thread in the forum for a fix if so.

[sYn0ptik]

Yeah, I am using usb to serial.

But unfortunately I made all the described changes to the config of the firmware program before even trying the upgrade.

I'm hoping someone here has some serious magic programming juju because I'm afraid I am the first one who has a "didn't go great" story.

As of now my VCI is dead... will not update, will not operate normally.

anyone have any suggestions?

I'm on a MBP running winXP in bootcamp mode.
I have a VCI-100 first revision.
the USB to serial dongle I'm using is a belkin f5u409.

any help would be great.
sYn

[soulpixel]

hi, it seemed I couldnt join the club of the happy fellows either :-(
This is what I got, using a serial cable not USB to serial.
================================================== ===========
Clock Frequency (External) = 24.0000MHz, Clock Mode = 0, CKM = 1, and CKP = N/A
Connecting to device 'H8/3052F' on 'COM1'
Configuration:
'BOOT Mode' connection - using emulated interface
Opening port 'COM1' ...
Loading Comms DLL
Loaded Comms DLL
Initiating BOOT SCI sequence
Attempting 9600
No immediate response from device. Assuming erase in progress...
Erase Timeout value set to 21 seconds
Error No 15068: Error while reading timed response
Error No 15024: Boot failed
================================================== ===========

It appears that the serial cable i was using was faulty, so with a different one upgrade went all smoothly...

[sYn0ptik]

Success!

Apparently while most usb to serial adapter users can get away with setting the "enable serial port delay fix" value to 1000, the 6 year old belkin adapter I was using needed the delay fix to be upped to 5000(even then it took 3 attempts).

Cheers to HW designers who understand the need to separate boot firmware from user runtime areas, Ean Golden for understanding the need to get vci-100 v1's upgraded to stop that annoying ass wah issue and to the DJTT userbase who keep propelling controllerism and digital dj's to new heights.

Thanks!
sYn

[Abyrne7]

I did all the steps in the video no problem and i hit program flash and this is the error i get:

OS: Windows Vista/Server 2008 [Non-Admin]
Clock Frequency (External) = 24.0000MHz, Clock Mode = 0, CKM = 1, and CKP = N/A
Connecting to device 'H8/3052F' on 'COM3'
Configuration:
'BOOT Mode' connection - using emulated interface
Opening port 'COM3' ...
Loading Comms DLL
Loaded Comms DLL
Initiating BOOT SCI sequence
Attempting 9600
Error No 15064: Failed to write the data byte(s)


Attempting 4800
Received immediate response from device: 0x55
Attempting 2400
Received immediate response from device: 0x55
Attempting 1200
Received immediate response from device: 0x55
Error No 15024: Boot failed

Im using dynex dx-ubd89 usb to serial cable, anyone have any reccomendations?

[nosnun]

I just finished installing the SE firmware. HooRay!!!!!!!!

I followed all instructions in the forum, but i still couldn't get the installation to work.

same messages:

Attempting 4800
Attempting 2400
Attempting 1200

Error No 15024: Boot failed

Someone else in the forum stated you must use USB power, not the transformer, so I speculated there could be a power issue with my setup. In my case, I was using an older Windows machine to do the installation, but my Vestax always runs off USB power on my Mac. It appears my Windows machine doesn't possess enough juice to satisfy the Vestax. My problem was solved by unplugging the Vestax from the PC and plugging it into the Mac for power. So here is the setup that saved me: Simultaneously a USB from the Mac to the Vesax (power), and a "USB to Serial" from the Vestax to the PC (firmware upgrade). It was smooth sailing from that point on.

POWER THE VESTAX WITH YOUR USUAL USB PORT ON YOUR USUAL COMPUTER TO INSURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH POWER!!

Good Luck..........

[EanGolden]

thats creative- thanks for sharing!