[Elecraft] MCU LD

[Doug Joyce]

Hi Tom:  After having built my K3 (s/n 2432) back in Jan, I agreed to build
one for a good friend last month and ran into somewhat the same problems.

The build went well, the unit received on the three bands from the XG2 at 1
microvolt and the K3 Utility would do the 5 and 50 watt TX Gain calibration
as well as the filter set up in both the main Rx and  the KRX3 sub receiver.

The new K3 unit (s/n 3288) came with MCU Ver 3.14 and DSP Ver 2.16 installed
and I decided to do an firmware upgrade to 3.19  / 2.17.  The K3 Utility
(Ver 1.2.8.10) is installed on a Dell D830 notebook and I'm using a native
serial port directly to the K3 - this configuration has been used to do
about  12 updates to my own K3 since I built it in Jan/09 all with no
problems.  When the K3 Utility was used to check the Firmware in the new K3,
it confirmed the MCU, FPF and DSP1, but not DSP2.  It acted as if the Aux
DSP board for the KRX3 wasn't there.  I tried to upload a full new Firmware
vers set and it would load correctly the new MCU and FPF but would not load
the new version of either DSP1 or DSP2.   At the end of the load attempt the
new MCU and FPF would remain but it would revert back to the original DSP1
Ver 2.16.

I contacted K3Support and had prompt replies from both Dale and Gary and we
tried various things.  After checking and rechecking the connectors between
the RF board and the Front Panel board, as well as the connectors between
the DSP boards and the Front Panel board they asked me to measure the
voltage at U1 pin 8 on the KIO3 board.  It needs to be at least - 5 V DC.
Mine was ok so then they sent me replacement Main and Aux  DSP boards to
try.   Unfortunately the results were the same with the new Main DSP board.

At this point Dale asked that I return the K3 to Aptos, which I did.  It's
there now and scheduled to be checked out Tues or Wed of this week.

Good luck in getting yours fixed.  I'll update you once I find out anything
further with this one.

73,  Doug  VE3MV

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Georgens, Tom" <Tom.Georgens at netapp.com>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 5:20 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] MCU LD


> Hello -
>
>
>
> I am building a K3 kit and all was going well with the checkout and test
> when I decided to download the latest version of the firmware.  The
> download failed and now the K3 displays "MCU LD" whenever it is turned
> on.  The K3 utility programs no longer can talk the to the K3.  My
> original PC was using a USB to serial cable and worked fine through all
> the calibration steps.  I used another USB to serial adapter that was
> compatible with the K3 USB to serial software but it did not work
> either.  I tried yet another PC that has a native serial port, but no
> luck with that as well.
>
>
>
> In verbose mode, the utility program says it is sending ";" at various
> baud rates and I presume it is getting no response.
>
>
>
> I suppose it is possible that the serial port failed after working for
> about 10 minutes, but it seems unlikely.  All the boards seem to be
> seated well and I doubt it is a connection problem
>
>
>
> At this point, the K3 seems to have corrupted firmware, but it can no
> longer talk to a PC in order to do a new download.  Not sure what to try
> next.
>
>
>
> Any suggestions welcome
>
>
>
> 73, Tom W2SC
>
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