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Tyreman
join:2002-10-08
Cambridge, ON

Tyreman to CHRoNiCWiLL

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to CHRoNiCWiLL

Re: Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

Its really good that these forum members have figured this out.

Its really bad that a firmware update can't be sent thru the system to upgrade existing products
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to Lothario

Member

to Lothario
said by Lothario:

Thanks Mlord,
Everything working fine so far. I think Teksavvy owes you a free month of service for what you are doing for some of their customers.

A gesture from TSI would be nice, but they definitely cannot afford my usual hourly rates. My wish is that the pain endured figuring out this fix can help keep others going on TSI Cable. That's why I do the upgrades almost for free.

As much as I'm among the first to criticize their lack of great customer support these days, there's really no good alternative to TSI.

Cheers

Lothario
join:2009-09-30
Ottawa, ON

Lothario to mlord

Member

to mlord
Thanks Mlord,
Everything working fine so far. I think Teksavvy owes you a free month of service for what you are doing for some of their customers.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

1 edit

mlord to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
I really like these EZ-Hook XKM grabbers. They latch onto SMD pins quite solidly and without shorting on neighbouring pins or clips.

Expensive, though. And very difficult to solder wires onto. Not an issue for the Logic Analyzer, which has the proper mating connectors, but for this rig.. somewhat fragile.

I've got a shipment of very similar looking clips on the way from China, with proper solder tabs. I plan to switch this rig over to those once they arrive, assuming they can latch onto things as well as the XKM grabbers do.

EDIT: there is a variant on the genuine XKM hooks that might work better: XK25SS hooks are designed for easier attachment of patch cables, and look like they could be soldered onto as well.

Cheers

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

Teddy Boom to mlord

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to mlord
Very annoying.. I guess it is Dremel time

I might have to break out the individual test clips actually. It is only a few connections, and those big all-pin test clips aren't that easy to attach, so I might be better off with your setup anyway..
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

1 edit

1 recommendation

mlord to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
Click for full size
Close quarters
Mmm.. The last two modems I've upgraded here now both had the processor heatsink rather close to the flash chip -- too close for the full IC test clip that Teddy Boom uses.

The latest one actually overhung the flash, preventing easy access to the pins. I managed to slide my grabbers under the heatsink onto two of the pins, but the third pin on that side was not accessible. Fortunately, this was the +3V power pin, so I used the closest pin of the nearby white header instead. Worked fine.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

4 edits

dra6o0n to HiVolt

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to HiVolt
said by HiVolt:

Rogers has the capability and should have no problems to send firmware updates to modems that are accepted to use on its network.

They did it before, I don't get why they wont do it again.

Basically it's not really mentioned but, if a company stop or refuses to give customers a service for something, it really shows how much Rogers dislikes Teksavvy (unofficially of course). Heck for some reason I get vibes that they brainwash all their employees to hate competition.

Because the way I theorize this is:
If Rogers didn't have competition, more people would have to 'resort', that's the keyword, resort, to their plans and cough up a larger amount of dough. Now with Teksavvy and third party internet, they feel that they are 'losing potential profits' now that they can sell usage to Teksavvy, etc. but not keeping the customers so they can't milk them. They think that causing distress (but they obviously won't admit to that) is a way to make people leave third party back into their milking game.

The thing about Canada, is that almost every large position of power, be it corporate or government, is into 'milking' or abusing something to it's non-existent. Today, you are starting to see the cracks of the social system, with unions and such at war with government on 'wanting to be spoiled with more money', and government wanting to pay off the debt but can't seem to 'stop spending money'...

Just recently I read that the construction industry was corrupted by a Canadian line of Mafias and was only figured out and publicly testified this week.

Slowly, but surely, all things 'power' is heading to the direction of corruption.

----

As for this thread, I have a DCM 475 also but I don't see any changes on it, other than weird packet loss and lag spikes that occurs randomly every other day...

I totally check all my network and none of them are causing the huge 600ms latency spike across outside from my home. Could be the 'peak' hour thing, but I find that strange because it's not like Teksavvy's own nodes are hitting max capacity that easily right?

Lothario
join:2009-09-30
Ottawa, ON

Lothario to Kelwynne

Member

to Kelwynne
Do you have channel bonding yet? My modem has been relatively ok but am still getting it upgraded.
Kelwynne
join:2012-09-16

Kelwynne to mlord

Member

to mlord
Been running the updated firmware for a week now with no problems. It also appears to have resolved my periodic disconnect/reconnect problem which was my impetus for getting the upgrade done in the first place.

Thanks again for the help mlord.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to Shoeman1975

Member

to Shoeman1975
Lothario & Shoeman1975,

Allow about 30 minutes, start to finish, for updating the modem.
If you (or others) want this done, then PM me (click on mlord at left, and send me a Private Message aka. "PM").

Cheers
Kelwynne
join:2012-09-16

Kelwynne to Shoeman1975

Member

to Shoeman1975
It takes about 20 minutes but you may want to plan to be there for a half hour, just in case.
Shoeman1975
join:2011-08-03
Canada

Shoeman1975 to mlord

Member

to mlord
Mlord, I'm in Ottawa, in Orleans. How long does the flash take if I'm able to drop it off to you?
Thanks for all your work on this one!

Lothario
join:2009-09-30
Ottawa, ON

Lothario to mlord

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to mlord

I am interested but I am not having any major issues with the modem atm.
Kelwynne
join:2012-09-16

Kelwynne to mlord

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to mlord
said by mlord:

said by mlord:

Same deal. I replaced image0 at first, but the modem came up as 02.08 still. Then I flashed the exact same firmware into image1, and.. presto!

Okay, I've just now upgraded a second modem. This time, we tried the second image location first, and it worked. So no need to overwrite both images, just the second one.

Cheers

And I am connecting with no problems so the flash was good.

Now to see if it has resolved the periodic disconnect problem.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

said by mlord:

Same deal. I replaced image0 at first, but the modem came up as 02.08 still. Then I flashed the exact same firmware into image1, and.. presto!

Okay, I've just now upgraded a second modem. This time, we tried the second image location first, and it worked. So no need to overwrite both images, just the second one.

Cheers
mlord

mlord to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
said by Teddy Boom:

said by mlord:

Once I've reprogrammed my own modem a few times (also not subscribed), I will likely borrow a subscribed stac 02.08 modem from a different buddy, and try it on that one. That should be the acid test, I think.

To be honest, if it boots it is good. I'm just a little paranoid

I plugged my upgraded modem into the cable line just a few minutes ago, and it sync'd up with 4 downstream 1 upstream channels just fine. Of course it is still an unprovisioned modem, so it got an internal 10.69.x.x IP address rather than a "real" internet address. But still nice to see it actually works.

damir52
SFRJ
Premium Member
join:2003-05-24

damir52 to mlord

Premium Member

to mlord
ok. tnx
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to damir52

Member

to damir52
said by damir52:

How much would you charge me to do this for me if i ship you the modem?

I plan to only do local modems in the Ottawa area for now.
Perhaps you might contact user Teddy Boom (send him a PM from this site) and inquire there?

Cheers
Nemo888
join:2005-12-25
Canada

Nemo888 to CHRoNiCWiLL

Member

to CHRoNiCWiLL
said by TSI Gabe:

Trust me...we are working on this. On many different levels. Including looking at hacks like in this thread.

Gotta call bull sh!t on this. Three months and the best you can do is say we are working on it in a message board thread. Teksavvy just lost me as a supporter.

Will Teksavvy be giving me a credit for the cost of flashing the modem they sold me? Had a perfectly good Motorola that you said was too old to use. More BS.

damir52
SFRJ
Premium Member
join:2003-05-24

damir52 to mlord

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to mlord
How much would you charge me to do this for me if i ship you the modem?
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to TSI Gabe

Member

to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:

Well...I do live in Ottawa

:) you are quite welcome to check it out, if you like.
Just PM me (you or anyone else who is interested).

TSI Gabe
Router of Packets
Premium Member
join:2007-01-03
Gatineau, QC

TSI Gabe to mlord

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to mlord
Well...I do live in Ottawa
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

So.. anyone else in Ottawa need/want their DCM-475 upgraded to Stac 02.16 firmware?
mlord

1 recommendation

mlord

Member


Sparkfun Arduino Pro Micro 3.3V
The final version of the flash rig. Pretty darned simple.
mlord

mlord

Member

Click for full size
Up-to-date, at last!
Same deal. I replaced image0 at first, but the modem came up as 02.08 still. Then I flashed the exact same firmware into image1, and.. presto!

Also verified that the MAC address is still the original, and it is.


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:

Once I've reprogrammed my own modem a few times (also not subscribed), I will likely borrow a subscribed stac 02.08 modem from a different buddy, and try it on that one. That should be the acid test, I think.

To be honest, if it boots it is good. I'm just a little paranoid
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

1 edit

mlord to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
said by Teddy Boom:

Not very thoroughly tested yet, because the upgraded modem is not subscribed on an account, but it certainly did the basics.

Once I've reprogrammed my own modem a few times (also not subscribed), I will likely borrow a subscribed stac 02.08 modem from a different buddy, and try it on that one. That should be the acid test, I think.

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:

Which of the two flash images did you replace, the first one, or the second?

I ripped 02.16 from another modem this afternoon, and found it in the first partition. The second partition had 02.08. So perhaps the "factory" image is the one at 00200000 rather than the one at 00010000.

Cheers

I found the same thing. On the 2.16 modem it was 2.16 in image0 and 2.08 in image1. On the 2.08 modem it had 2.08 in both locations. I replaced both on the 2.08 modem. I had to erase and flash the entire firmware at the time, because I didn't have a proper USBJTAG xml file for the DCM475. I've now created that xml, so I could experiment, but I don't have any modems to play with any more

I don't know if my theory about the two images works. It seems to mostly work, and on the DCM425 it seems to always work that way, but... I guess there must be an environment variable that chooses which fw to boot from. Annoying.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
said by Teddy Boom:

A fellow Teksavvy reseller brought over a couple of DCM475s this morning. I've now got a copy of 2.16

Peachy. Which of the two flash images did you replace, the first one, or the second?

I ripped 02.16 from another modem this afternoon, and found it in the first partition. The second partition had 02.08. So perhaps the "factory" image is the one at 00200000 rather than the one at 00010000.

Or more likely, it doesn't matter.. bootloader just picks the newest valid image (?).

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to TSI Gabe

Premium Member

to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:

Trust me...we are working on this. On many different levels. Including looking at hacks like in this thread.

Good to hear.