O Canada! > Canadian > TekSavvy > Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

reply to mlord

Re: Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

said by mlord:

The final version of the flash rig. Pretty darned simple.

I've now got a simplified flashing rig on the breadboard.
Simpler? How?

Well, this one doesn't require a PC at all. I've coupled a raw Atmel ATMega328 chip (aka. "arduino") with an SD Card socket. Put a firmware.img file onto an SD Card and the "arduino" reads it and flashes the modem with it.

No PC, no slow serial connection. So the flashing now takes under three minutes for a 2MB image. Still glacial compared with the theoretical speeds, but 2X the speed of the earlier setup!

I'll probably solder up a board with this one on it, to free up the breadboard for other uses. Some pix coming later.

-ml

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-26 22:50:01 ·

mlord

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reply to mlord

said by mlord:

Heh, looking under the heatsink, one can see that it covers the flash chip when centred on the CPU chip, so one can understand how it might get placed that way.

One repair I got to do the other day, was replacing the heatsink inside a DCM-475 modem. The original ceramic heatsink was cracked, and as a result probably not cooling as well as it ought to.

After much cracking and prying, the rest of it came off in a hundred little bits, and then the incredible double-stick mounting tape was peeled off in strips, revealing the Broadcom chip under it all.

And.. revealing a smaller silk-screened outline for the heatsink as originally designed: a standard aluminium block with a multitude of fins, similar to what one might see covering the southbridge chip on a PC motherboard, or an older low-end video card. There are even two small mounting holes on the PCB for the heatsink spring clips.

I had some salvaged heatsinks of the right size on hand, but no clips, so the replacement got glued in place with "heatsink glue". Looks much neater and tidier than the ceramic monolith did, and the modem survived a 24-hour smoke test without complaint.

No pixs (forgot).

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-23 10:14:57 ·

mlord

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reply to mlord

Reinforced USB micro-B jack

I've now seen several more of the "cost reduced" modem versions in here for upgrades. They seem to work as well as the fully populated boards, so I guess it's not a cause for concern.

As far as I know from people who've contacted me afterwards, the firmware updates do seem to cure the "intermittent connection" issues, so I guess it's worthwhile to keep doing them for a while longer.

I've abandoned the "generic clips" for the flashing rig and gone back to 100% E-Z-Hook XKM Grabbers for hooking up the wires -- they're just so much easier to connect, and they don't let go until I want them to.

The Sparkfun "Pro Micro" board is still going strong, though it did need a repair after a couple of upgrades this evening -- the surface mounted USB connector predictably finally came off it's moorings. So I've soldered it back into place, and beefed up the attachment to prevent a recurrence of that particular issue.

Cheers
-ml

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-22 22:51:12 ·

mlord

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reply to mlord

Macronix flash chip
Cost-reduced version of board

I just finished updating yet another DCM-475 modem here today, and this one was different from the others. Firstly, it is one of the "cost reduced" versions, with some shielding, capacitors and ferrites omitted, presumably to save money.

But it also sports a different brand/model of flash chip: Macronix MX25L3205DMI-12G.
Here's a link to the datasheet: »www.macronix.com/QuickPlace/hq/P···25L3205D

Fortunately, this chip implements a superset of the instruction set of the original chip, so the same erase/program/read logic still works fine on it. The only reason I noticed is that the program code checks the flash chip ID before proceeding, so it saw the different chip and refused to continue until I updated the code.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-21 12:45:05 ·

mlord

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reply to mlord
Did another modem update tonight (must be close to double digits by now, but I'm not keeping an exact count of them).

This one was strange. The insides of the modem were a little different from the others: Same PCB layout, routing, pads, etc. But no RF can around the tuner area, only one electrolytic capacitor populated, instead of the usual four, and no ferrites on the power input.

So a "cut cost" edition of the insides.
After an initial goof by me (clip on wrong pin of chip), we got the modem updated fine, and then I soldered in another large electrolytic capacitor to keep the original one from getting too lonely.

Forgot to get a pic of it though.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-18 23:07:00 ·

mlord

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reply to Teddy Boom

Re: Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

Heh, looking under the heatsink, one can see that it covers the flash chip when centred on the CPU chip, so one can understand how it might get placed that way. But covering the flash chip is a big no-no IMHO. Perhaps a deeper and less broad heatsink could have done as well without preventing access to other components.

Cheers

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 15:20:13 ·

Teddy Boom
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reply to mlord
The heatsink is sometimes placed very very badly, like covering more than half of the flash chip. On the other hand, the heatsink is made of a composite material that doesn't leave all kinds of metal shavings behind when you Dremel it.
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to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 15:07:49 ·

mlord

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reply to mlord

E-Z Hook XKM vs. generic

said by mlord:

I really like these EZ-Hook XKM grabbers.
...
I've got a shipment of very similar looking clips on the way from China, with proper solder tabs.

My first pack of "generic clips" arrived today ($4.60 for 20, compared with $3/one of the XKMs). They are shorter, and fatter than the XKM grabbers. Still (just) small enough to use for flashing the modems, but too fat to fit under the heatsink when needed. They do have the advantage of accepting directly soldered wires, rather than requiring a mating female clip as with the XKMs.

So I'll continue with the XKMs on the flashing rig, but these new clips will replace most of the other test clips and alligators on my bench -- I like the dual grabber action compared with the normal single-hook style of mini-clips.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 14:59:49 ·

nbinont

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reply to mlord

Re: I wonder what the cause of the 02.08 problem actually is?

said by mlord:

So no direct guaranteed connection there. That really just leaves a couple of possibilities then: (1) signal levels, except many people with issues report excellent signal stats, and (2) it depends upon the brand/model/version of equipment Rogers deploys at the local node (most likely) or at the CMTS (less likely).

Possibly also (3) the upstream modulation used for the upstream bonded channels. I have 16QAM up, but others have 64QAM up. 64QAM is a bit more work and a different code path on the modem.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 13:43:41 ·

dissilusion

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reply to Teddy Boom
I first waited for about a month to see if it would clear up, it didn't. Multiple daily reboots. As well I also waited to see if TS was going to announce a company wide directive for the issue. As none was forthcoming, and as the modem was purchased and still under warranty through TS, the exchanged it for a modem with the 2.16 firmware.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 11:35:01 ·

mlord

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reply to chrisl83

said by chrisl83:

My modem was perfect before 8/4 bonding. The day rogers changed it over the modem flaked out on me.

Mmm.. okay, so some people show a pretty direct connection between 02.08 flaking out on 8/4, whereas others have no issue.

So no direct guaranteed connection there. That really just leaves a couple of possibilities then: (1) signal levels, except many people with issues report excellent signal stats, and (2) it depends upon the brand/model/version of equipment Rogers deploys at the local node (most likely) or at the CMTS (less likely).

I'm not sure if there's a good way to determine the brand/model of gear at the local node -- maybe nmap could figure it out if we had an IP address for it. But I think (?) the first IP we see in a traceroute is the CMTS, not the local node. Or is it?

traceroute teksavvy.com
traceroute to teksavvy.com (206.248.155.70), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 tomato (xx.xx.xx.xx) 0.419 ms --- my local router/firewall

2 10.124.5.1 (10.124.5.1) 7.628 ms --- CMTS ??
3 69.63.255.189 (69.63.255.189) 15.282 ms --- Rogers router ??

4 fallowfield3.cable.teksavvy.com (24.52.255.78) 8.195 ms
5 fallowfield3.cable.teksavvy.com (24.52.255.77) 13.828 ms
6 2120.ae0.agg01.tor.packetflow.ca (69.196.136.77) 14.127 ms
7 206.248.154.117 (206.248.154.117) 25.048 ms
8 206.248.155.70 (206.248.155.70) 24.025 ms

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-02 09:30:49 ·

chrisl83

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reply to dissilusion
My modem was perfect before 8/4 bonding. The day rogers changed it over the modem flaked out on me.

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-01 23:46:31 ·

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reply to bbbc

Re: Firmware on Shaw provisioned Thompson DCM475

said by bbbc:

Is the blocking of a cable modem's stats page controlled by a custom firmware (from Shaw) or is the DOCSIS provisioning from the cable ISP responsible for this bullsh*t?

I'm pretty sure it is in the configuration file, along with what speed of service you are getting, and what priority on the network you should get.

Whether the firmware flash sticks or not depends entirely on whether Shaw is actively pushing the firmware version they want you to be using.
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to forum · permalink · 2012-10-01 22:44:01 ·

nbinont

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reply to mlord

Re: I wonder what the cause of the 02.08 problem actually is?

said by mlord:

We've got documentation in this very thread of a simple firmware update to 02.16 on the same physical modem clearing up this kind of issue.

I'm (much) more interested in what triggers the issue. Increased channel-bonding is a definite clue, that has been cited many times by many users. It's not clear to me if it's the channel bonding itself though, or the lowered DHCP lease times that accompany it in most (all?) areas. Or some other factor perhaps.

???

I've got DCM475 with STAC.02.08 and 8x4 bonding (+5dBmV)256QAM down/ (45dBmV)16QAM up. 60 min leases. I don't have a disconnect issue here (anymore).

to forum · permalink · 2012-10-01 22:33:31 ·

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reply to CHRoNiCWiLL

Firmware on Shaw provisioned Thompson DCM475

Any chance this firmware update could stick and not be superseded by Shaw's sh*tty firmware? Is the blocking of a cable modem's stats page controlled by a custom firmware (from Shaw) or is the DOCSIS provisioning from the cable ISP responsible for this bullsh*t?

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to forum · permalink · 2012-10-01 22:08:05 ·

mlord

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