Anyone have a problem with firmware 2.0 upgrade?

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rsl

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I now have my refurb R-D1, original version, and I've downloaded the 2.0 firmware upgrade. I've done firmware upgrades with several other cameras, but, as usual, the prospect is a sweaty palm kind of thing. If anything goes wrong part way through the upgrade you end up with a trashed eprom, which should be a simple and cheap repair for Epson, but you can depend on being charged an arm and a leg. Anyone have a problem with the upgrade?
 
I had sweaty palms throughout, but everything worked well. Pay attention to the warnings that come with it, which as I recall included an alert to make sure your battery is fully charged when you start.
 
No prob.

No prob.

Just did it 10 minutes ago.
No prob at all.

The way you get into trouble is if the files are corrupted or if your camera shuts off during the upgrade.

Check for correct file length and MD5 sum or similar and make sure the batter is charged.

Good Luck.

Andreas
 
It's really nothing to worry about. Just read the instructions properly, make sure the battery is completely charged and off you go. I've done upgrades before and Epson's was by far the least nerve wracking.
 
Put a fully loaded accu in the camera, copy the ram and bin file on the root level of a correctly formatted sd card, put the card in the camera, switch camera on, while holding the menu and the user button. The update screen should appear, select "OK". Takes about one minute.
Didier
 
Didier, Yes, I have the instructions and I know how to do the upgrade. I've done upgrades on two other cameras, including my D2X, and I've done upgrades on many BIOSs on various computers. But if you don't have white knuckles while you're doing it, you don't understand what's going on. If something goes wrong it's the digital equivalent of completely disassembling the camera and then losing a major part or losing track of how it's supposed to go back together. The worst hazard is that one of the files gets corrupted on the way down or while being copied.
 
rsl said:
It would be great if they'd send a checksum and a checksum reader .exe with the files so you could be sure they're not corrupted.
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True.
I downloaded it several times and verified the checksums agains each other, not great, but better than nothing.
Usually I use one of the simple open source scripts for checksumming - certainly would not trust an .exe file (plus they don't work on my OS).

Totally agree with your concern about doing this. People who just say read the instructions and do it are either relatively careless or lack understanding of the procedure.


Andreas
 
Andreas, Exactly. That's what I do too -- download at least twice and cross-check. It's about all that's available.

I don't think people who just do it are necessarily careless. I think they just don't understand what's involved. Flashing an eprom in something like a camera is far from trivial stuff.
 
LeicaM3 said:
People who just say read the instructions and do it are either relatively careless or lack understanding of the procedure.Andreas
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Neither careless nor lacking understanding. I just don't understand why one can be so sissily afraid that his unzipped file from the Epson server might be corrupted, as I don't see any other significant risk in the update procedure.

I would more take care not to knock the camera because the rangefinder disaligns easily. That's a real world risk! And dropping a Leica lens on concrete ground is another one!

Good luck

Didier
 
rsl said:
I now have my refurb R-D1, original version, and I've downloaded the 2.0 firmware upgrade. I've done firmware upgrades with several other cameras, but, as usual, the prospect is a sweaty palm kind of thing. If anything goes wrong part way through the upgrade you end up with a trashed eprom, which should be a simple and cheap repair for Epson, but you can depend on being charged an arm and a leg. Anyone have a problem with the upgrade?
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I was a little afraid as well but just following the instructions and everything will be fine🙂
 
I just don't understand why one can be so sissily afraid that his unzipped file from the Epson server might be corrupted, as I don't see any other significant risk in the update procedure.
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That's because you don't really understand what goes on when you flash an eprom. If the file is corrupt and the process dies part way through you can't just go back and start over. At that point the eprom has been erased and there's no way to boot the camera. Once that's happened the only thing you can do is send the beast in to Epson and let them install a new eprom. Eproms are inexpensive, and I can't imagine that it's too hard to swap out the card that has the eprom on it, but since these guys are the only game in town you can be sure it'll cost you at least one arm and one leg. Might even cost you part of a cheek along with the leg.

I've done the deed and I have what amounts to an R-D1s, but I'll say again, if you guys just charge ahead with something like this and things go wrong you'll understand why it's a spooky process. I've had more than one failure during a computer eprom flash, though that was with less sophisticated equipment than we have nowadays. It can happen any time.
 
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I've been flashing eproms since 1988. I flash all my DVD drives, cameras, computer firmware, $160,000 pieces of lab equipment, iPods, cell phones and so on.

I completely comprehend the process, never had a problem.

The biggest risk, in my opinion, is loss of power during the process. Always have a full, freshly charged battery.

If you are the type who doesn't understand zip files, get confused by terms such as "root" directory, or file extensions like "bin", can't find downloaded files on your hard drive, then maybe you should be worried about flashing. Others have nothing to worry about.

It's really not a problem. In the Epson R-D1, they have completely automated the process for you. If you're not a computer illiterate simpleton, then don't worry.
 
rsl said:
I now have my refurb R-D1, original version, and I've downloaded the 2.0 firmware upgrade. I've done firmware upgrades with several other cameras, but, as usual, the prospect is a sweaty palm kind of thing. If anything goes wrong part way through the upgrade you end up with a trashed eprom, which should be a simple and cheap repair for Epson, but you can depend on being charged an arm and a leg. Anyone have a problem with the upgrade?
Click to expand...

No problems here. The camera's upgrade SW is pretty smart. It even checks the battery power level before it begins to see if there's any risk of it shutting down mid-load. I wouldn't worry about it. I think the warnings are just discalimers for legal reasons. Not that something bad can't happen, but it is very very unlikely. Just go for it.

/Ira
 
rsl said:
That's because you don't really understand what goes on when you flash an eprom. If the file is corrupt and the process dies part way through you can't just go back and start over.
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ROFL, I studied informatics in the 80ies and am computer user and programmer since then. I absolutely understand what happens when flashing. I even did it for the software of my car. The risk, that the file of the Epson server gets corrupt while unzipping and copying, is around 0%; the second risk would be, as others mentioned, too, and as is warned of in the Epson instruction, the loss of power during the process.

rsl said:
It can happen any time.
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<spooky> yes there's always a risk. Think Murphy's law. You may go out of the house and get hit by a meteor. Take care, brother.</spooky>

Didier
 
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Well, I certainly do understand what's involved and what the risk could be but I'm not easily daunted and scared. At work we upgrade firmware and microcode of high value, high importance, high performance 24/7 online banking IT infrastructure (tape libraries, tape units, AIX servers and clusters, SAN components, etc.) very regularly and we have yet to experience a failure doing so. In my experience, upgrading firmware/ microcode is not as scary or fault-prone as some people like you to believe.
 
I'm sure this point has been made before... but I do think that it's surprising that Epson are not offering any way to roll back the upgrade in case of problems, or even if we just don't like it!
 
I'm with Didier on this one - the procedure is safe, and although Murphy lives, the pitfalls are more likely to be external (power glitch, meteor stirke, knocking the camera off the surface, etc.). I've flashed two R-D1 units now, and while I always feel relieved when the process ends successfully, it has worked both times flawlessly.

While Epson has not provided a roll-back option, I'm sure we could do this if we desired. I've hacked several upgrade processes successfully. The versioning control typically involves using either the date or an internal version number, and hex-editing the fw file to fool the control can be done. That said, I won't be doing it: 1) I prefer v.2 of the fw; and 2) I'm not willing to experiment with either of my R-D1 units!

waldemar
 
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