rsp1098 dead after v1.1.6 firmware update

[kneptune]

New member, first posting. Have been a outside observer to this forum for a short time and have been gleaning good information -- excellent forum! Long time Rotel fan and hi-fi addict since high school in the late 70's.

I just purchased a RSP-1098 with version 1.1.4 software and decided over the weekend to upgrade it to v1.1.6 of which everything appeared to upgrade perfectly, ie., the checksum was valid. After powering the 1098 off, resetting the dips back, and rebooting it up, only the blue power led lit
with a click, nothing else happened. The unit will not boot up from the
front panel power switch or from the remote.

I downloaded the v1.1.6 binary file off of the web site a second time, and
tried the upgrade four or five more times, both clearing and not clearing
memory prior to the update (options 1 and 3 from the update menu) each time with the checksum matching, but with no change, the 1098 will simply not boot. I hoping someone might have a solution directly as my local Rotel dealer is a good drive away and I can only visit them on weekends.

Is there an older version of software or diagnostic utility available, or
perhaps a hardware reboot/initialization sequence of buttons that can be
pushed or used to recover the 1098? I had done firmware upgrades several times on my older 1066 and have never had a single problem. The process isn't very difficult to do.

I've contact Rotel tech support and I'm waiting for feedback from them as well.

Signed.. Dead in the water...

[kneptune]

Rotel support responded back and said that they have had reports of firmware upgrades failing using various PCs, but would complete successfully using a different PC on the same pre-pro. Thus the recommendation is to use a different PC and try again.

I will therefore retry tonight with another laptop that I have. The laptop being used tonight (Toshiba 2100cdt running Win2k) will be the one I've used previously on my old rsp-1066 (in which the upgrade worked fine). The laptop used on the failed rsp-1098 attempt was a very old laptop running Win95.

I'll post the results tonight of the newest attempt with the newer PC. A serial connection is a serial connection, but I guess l will see.

[Andrew Pratt]

Different PC's have been known to cause problems before so that could be the problem. Take note that since the new laptop is running win2K the update process is going to take about 20 minutes longer then with win95 so my advise is to make sure there's no screen save running etc that could interupt the sending of the file.

[Azeke]

Kneptune,

Use at least Win'98, I know there were Hyperterminal issues associated with Win'95.

I used Win2k to upgrade my 1098, and the firmware upgrade was completed in less that 10 minutes, however I believe Win'98 works as well.

Good Luck,

Azeke

[kneptune]

Update:

Success!!

The re-attempted v.1.1.6 firmware update with a Win2K based PC and associated hyperterminal went flawless this evening and the 1098 recovered fine and booted up with v1.1.6 firmware. I am back in business.

The only visible difference is that the Win2K update went a dot at a time, that is dot by dot by dot during the approximate 4 minute update. With the unsuccessful Win95 hyperterminal update, the update seems to speed up and slow down, ie., one dot would increment, then pause and then 4 or 5 dots would display. Obviously something is amiss with the older OS/PC/hyperterminal package.

Word to the wise, as everyone has said, use Win2K on a recent hardware architecture PC when updating.

Thanks for the couple of replies...
Kevin

[TonyL]

Any problems reported using Win XP Pro?

[akopperl]

I was also interested in knowing if the software upgrade works with WIndows XP Pro.

Also, is there any way around not having a serial port. Many of the new laptops do not have a built in serial port. I've seen some USB to Serial adaptors that come with software to "create" a COM port (http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...ct%5Fid=26-183). Has anyone tired such a device?

Thanks.

[mazuly]

I upgraded both RSP-1066 and RSP-1098 using Toshiba TECRA 8100 laptop with XP Pro and upgrades went without any problems.

Thanks,
Maziar

[Andrew Pratt]

My notebook is XP pro and it works fine...it just takes awhile.

As for the Serial port there's a variety of USB to Serial adapters available that might work. The one I HIGHLY recomend is from Keyspan as it allows you to tweak the baud rates and com port etc via software that many of the cheaper ones do not.