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TSILiz
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join:2012-08-20

TSILiz to CHRoNiCWiLL

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Re: Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

said by tgunny:

I too got my DCM475 firmware upgraded this weekend at mlord's and I have no more dropped connections. Thank you again mlord! I think mlord and Teddy Boom deserve many kudos for this. And I hope Teksavvy recognize and acknowledge the amount of help they are getting from the community.

+1
Luke_85
join:2008-05-06
Toronto, ON

Luke_85

Member

This just started happening to me too in the last week or so. I posted a Direct topic for it, I hope there's some official communication on how to resolve this though - it seems weird to cover a modem for a year and then it has issues that require you to either manually update firmware on it with a JTAG kit or outright replace the device.

yu130960
join:2005-08-03
Stouffville, ON

yu130960

Member

In digging through some stuff in my basement I found a buffered jtag unit that I wanted to repurpose and do some teksavvy firmware upgrades for the guys north of the GTA. Can Teddy Boom or mlord post the windows software and a copy of the firmware? Just want to give back.

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom

Premium Member

I use a USBJTAG NT, but it isn't really being used as a JTAG in this application. It is just functioning as an SPI FLASH programmer. Is yours a buffered parallel port JTAG, or is it something more sophisticated? I wouldn't be surprised if software was available to use it as an SPI programmer.. However, I'm pretty much certain the USBJTAG NT software wouldn't do you a lot of good. It is downloadable from their site if you want to take a look, and certainly it is helpful to get familiar with how the file systems are organized.

mlord's project may be more useful for you, he has done a lot of the low level work to get his working, and you could use that as a guide to develop something from scratch if you are motivated
Teddy Boom

1 recommendation

Teddy Boom to yu130960

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to yu130960
I just ran into this knitting machine video:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· TrT29HI0

Which uses these instructions to adapt a USB to Serial cable to emulate a Tandy floppy drive:
»learn.adafruit.com/elect ··· it/cable

The Serial cable includes an SPI flash, and the company has released utilities for using the cable itself to reprogram other copies of the cable. So, it looks like these might be a great inexpensive SPI programmer for our purposes
»www.ftdichip.com/Support ··· ties.htm

And who knows, maybe even other USB to Serial cables that are even cheaper than $20:
»www.adafruit.com/index.p ··· 1b0259d6

yu130960
join:2005-08-03
Stouffville, ON

yu130960 to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
Yes, I have a buffered parallel port jtag. I tried it last night and it worked well, but I take your point that it may not work as the SPI FLASH programmer. I will keep digging as I do recall seeing some rudimentary schematics on how to build your own SPI Flash programmer.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

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I have a DCM 475 too and recently it's been kind of slow and unresponsive at times, either that's a issue with my routers or the disconnections are caused from some sort of switch because it ONLY happened when I played Heroes & Generals and immediately had the game crash, AND as a bonus, I saw the network actually showing that it's not connected to the internet.

Either games can trigger internet loss, or the modem/isp can detect or react to something that triggers it.

Now on the other hand if Teksavvy and the other small isp manages to convince Google to bring their fiber network construction to Canada, it'll be a whole other ballgame.

That is, if my country isn't so stuck up about everything politically.
These days, Canada isn't so much as different as America in terms of the good and bad stuff happening.

Oh right my pingplotter's being going on for almost half an hour and there's no one at home using it, so why is it at 400ms in ping?!


Target Name: www.google.com
IP: 74.125.226.51
Date/Time: 12/4/2012 3:14:09 PM to 12/4/2012 3:33:40 PM

Hop Sent Err PL% Min Max Avg Host Name / [IP]
1 1156 0 0.0 0 327 21 [192.168.1.1]
2 1156 0 0.0 0 330 22 [192.168.0.1]
3 1156 1 0.1 7 818 352 [10.125.32.1]
4 1156 1 0.1 9 849 360 [24.156.150.121]
5 290 0 0.0 7 831 364 wolfedale1.cable.teksavvy.com [24.246.55.126]
6 1156 2 0.2 8 906 356 wolfedale4.cable.teksavvy.com [24.52.255.117]
7 1156 3 0.3 8 875 354 gw-google.torontointernetxchange.net [206.108.34.6]
8 1156 1 0.1 8 844 351 [216.239.47.114]
9 1156 5 0.4 8 872 354 [64.233.175.132]
10 1156 9 0.8 7 891 351 yyz06s06-in-f19.1e100.net [74.125.226.51]
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to yu130960

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to yu130960
Yeah, the cheapest, easiest way to assemble a rig, is to clone my setup.

The SPI portion is the simplest -- just need a 3.3V Arduino compatible chip (eg. Atmega328p, cost $3.50). that by itself will do everything needed that any JTAG rig would otherwise do at greater cost.

Where the expense comes into it, are the clips ($3/each, need 6), and a 12VDC to 3.3VDC power supply (simple tab regulator + 2 high-grade capacitors, about $5), a breadboard ($4), some "dupont cables" for the clips ($5-20, depending on the source), an SD-card socket (to hold the new firmware) ($10), a couple of LEDs, resistors, and that's mostly it.

I'm more than happy to provide the code, or even a programmed Atmega328p chip. Or even the fully assembled rig. But when I add up the itemized parts list for the full rig, it's in the $40-$50 range. Stuff adds up.

But this rig does have a huge advantage: turnkey. No PC, or PC software required. Just hook it up, plug in the power, and it flashes the modem.

pulp46
Premium Member
join:2003-01-28
canada

pulp46

Premium Member

Hello mlord, could you provide a couple of stores in the Ottawa area that sell those items?
resa1983
Premium Member
join:2008-03-10
North York, ON

resa1983 to dra6o0n

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to dra6o0n
said by dra6o0n:

Oh right my pingplotter's being going on for almost half an hour and there's no one at home using it, so why is it at 400ms in ping?!


Target Name: www.google.com
IP: 74.125.226.51
Date/Time: 12/4/2012 3:14:09 PM to 12/4/2012 3:33:40 PM

Hop Sent Err PL% Min Max Avg Host Name / [IP]
1 1156 0 0.0 0 327 21 [192.168.1.1]
2 1156 0 0.0 0 330 22 [192.168.0.1]
3 1156 1 0.1 7 818 352 [10.125.32.1]
4 1156 1 0.1 9 849 360 [24.156.150.121]
5 290 0 0.0 7 831 364 wolfedale1.cable.teksavvy.com [24.246.55.126]
6 1156 2 0.2 8 906 356 wolfedale4.cable.teksavvy.com [24.52.255.117]
7 1156 3 0.3 8 875 354 gw-google.torontointernetxchange.net [206.108.34.6]
8 1156 1 0.1 8 844 351 [216.239.47.114]
9 1156 5 0.4 8 872 354 [64.233.175.132]
10 1156 9 0.8 7 891 351 yyz06s06-in-f19.1e100.net [74.125.226.51]

Please tell me you don't have your VoIP SPA before your router........
It should be:
Modem -> Router -> SPA
                -> Computer
 

Having your SPA before the router is probably the cause of the increased ping from hops 2 & 3, not to mention the fact that you're seeing spiking to your router... If you're hard wired into your router, something's seriously wrong with either the cable itself, or a setting on your system.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to pulp46

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to pulp46
said by pulp46:

Hello mlord, could you provide a couple of stores in the Ottawa area that sell those items?

There aren't any. But overnight delivery ($7-8) is possible from robotshop.ca (Montreal) and digikey.ca (North Dakota/Manitoba).

I'm also in Ottawa, so if you need an upgrade, you might just drop by instead.
I also have a second rig all assembled here.

Cheers

pulp46
Premium Member
join:2003-01-28
canada

pulp46

Premium Member

Thank you for the information.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n to resa1983

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to resa1983
I changed my network yesterday with a new router and switch.

The switch links the desktops in the living room and ties it to the router in the basement that has a dual band wireless network and gigabit ethernet speeds.

The VOIP connects to the Netgear router directly this time.

Before it was two routers and this caused some issues on latency because the routers were slower and placed together so they delay the packets a bit, with the VOIP on the basement router.

The new router I got I can configure the QoS priority on the VOIP so it uses less bandwidth most likely.

Gigabit routing also works from this desktop to the modem.

Kaloni
Premium Member
join:2006-02-21
canada

Kaloni to CHRoNiCWiLL

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Seems they just upgraded my area to 8 downstream and 4 upstream bonded channels, and now it seems my modem's rebooted at least once on its' own. I'll keep an eye on it, but that being said, the DCM475 has a 1 year warranty, correct?

If that's the case, I'm starting to think it's just easier to get it exchanged.

TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

TwiztedZero

Premium Member

said by Kaloni:

the DCM475 has a 1 year warranty, correct?
If that's the case, I'm starting to think it's just easier to get it exchanged.

Be nice if one could get an extended waranty from TSI if you bought it from them.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to Kaloni

Member

to Kaloni
I do hope to visit Toronto for a few days in a week or two. And if/when I go, I will bring one of my flashing rigs along for the ride.

This opens up a couple of possibilities..

1. If somebody there wants to organize/host a 2-3 hour get together, with others who need their modems reflashed, then we could all meet up and get the job done then.

and/or

2. I could leave a flashing rig behind with someone at cost ($30-$40), who might then provide the service to others, or do whatever / however they want really.

Ideally, this would happen in an area away from where Teddy Boom (downtown) already provides this kind of help. Somewhere (just) North of the 401 might be ideal, to help people in North York, Scarberia, etc..

But I'm not organizing it. Somebody who needs help should volunteer to get things rolling. Think of it as a Christmas Charity activity or something.

Cheers
Mark

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom

Premium Member

said by mlord:

2. I could leave a flashing rig behind with someone at cost ($30-$40), who might then provide the service to others, or do whatever / however they want really.

For a long time I didn't think so, but recent evidence suggests that firmware upgrades to SB612x are just as important as upgrades for DCM475. If you could set it up so that swapping the flash card would allow you to upgrade different modems, and include a flash card for each of the SB612x and DCM475, that would be ideal. I can get you a donor SB612x if you want...

Kaloni
Premium Member
join:2006-02-21
canada

Kaloni to TwiztedZero

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Unfortunately that doesn't answer whether or not TekSavvy offers the year warranty on the DCM475.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to Teddy Boom

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to Teddy Boom
said by Teddy Boom:

If you could set it up so that swapping the flash card would allow you to upgrade different modems, and include a flash card for each of the SB612x and DCM475, that would be ideal. I can get you a donor SB612x if you want...

Yup, could do that. I forget, does the SB612x also use SPI flash? If so, then I'll make it so both images can just be on the same card. The rig can auto-detect the kind of modem it is attached to, and choose the correct file based on that. Easy.

A donor SB612x would be good. If you can arrange one, I'll drop by and pick it up some time before Christmas. Should be able to make the programming changes while I'm there (Toronto), too.
mlord

mlord to Kaloni

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to Kaloni
said by Kaloni:

Unfortunately that doesn't answer whether or not TekSavvy offers the year warranty on the DCM475.

On the units they sell, yes, they advertise / provide a full year warranty, with replacement. This covers incompatible firmware (like 02.08) as well. But only for the year, possibly plus a little bit.

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom to mlord

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to mlord
said by mlord:

I forget, does the SB612x also use SPI flash?

Ya, for sure SPI flash. It is an 8MB chip though. The biggest concern is that you have to over wright both firmware images, because on the Motorola there is no dependable way of predicting which image will be booted.

I've got to run now, but more info to follow
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

Peachy. My current automatic rig for the DCM475 flashes both images regardless now too. Also does readback/compare to ensure reliable flashing.

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom

Premium Member

said by mlord:

Peachy. My current automatic rig for the DCM475 flashes both images regardless now too. Also does readback/compare to ensure reliable flashing.

Well, that's an entirely different issue, which might become an issue for us... The SB6120 pulls about .5A through the 3.3V supply, and there are sometimes issues getting the flash to ID properly... Basically, a lot more read/write issues on the SB6120. Nothing that causes bricks for me, but sometimes a lot of hassles.

Really have to go
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

Yeah, even with the DCM475 I noticed flashing became much more stable when switched over to a custom 0.8/1.0 amp 3.3V power supply in the rigs.
seal
join:2012-12-18
Kanata, ON

2 recommendations

seal to CHRoNiCWiLL

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Thanks mlord, the modem you flash for me tonight worked perfectly. Kudos!
mario9999998
join:2000-08-25
Canada

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mario9999998 to CHRoNiCWiLL

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I'd just like to add that I visited mlord to perform an upgrade for my modem, and everything works great. It only took about 10 minutes too. Thanks again!
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

2 recommendations

mlord

Member

Last chance for Toronto folks.. I'll be visiting for a couple of days soon, and nobody has gotten back to me asking for modem updates. If nothing gets arranged, I may not bother making the flashing rig available.

vaughanman
@teksavvy.com

vaughanman to mlord

Anon

to mlord
called TekSavvy complaining about the droppouts. They sent rogers to check the lines - no issue found. I called back Teksavvy, and asked about modem swap despite warranty date passing. They send me a (free) new DCM476 modem and now problems all resolved ! My 1 year was up in august so they gave me service despite 4 months over the purchase anniversary...I'm happy with Teksavvy !!!

TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

TwiztedZero to CHRoNiCWiLL

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+1 @ vaughanman.

TSI Jonathan
Premium Member
join:2011-08-24
Chatham, ON

TSI Jonathan to vaughanman

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Glad the modem fixed the issue, if you have any other questions you know where to find us.

Cheers,

TSI Jonathan