[Elecraft] K3 Firmware Update.

[Dave & Jeanne Robertson]

Thanks Guy I appreciate the support. Elecraft Listen to your customers. It 
is best to be safe and don't play with your computer while updateing your K3 
firmwhare. It is only 15 minutes max.

73
Dave KD1NA
K3 #934
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Guy Olinger K2AV" <olinger at bellsouth.net>
To: "Dave & Jeanne Robertson" <darjar at comcast.net>
Cc: "Dick Dievendorff" <dieven at comcast.net>; "Elecraft" 
<elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Firmware Update.


Sorry, Dick

Plenty of others have had that "killed it by starting a browser"
experience, including myself.  It WAS a P4 with memory being stretched
by security patches, etc.

I now have a PC based on a quad-core Intel I7 920 with 6 gig of almost
cache speed 3 channel memory.  I don't worry about it now.

If you are running a PC with a single core processor and/or limited
memory (as in an older PC which you have kept to use for logging
programs), better to not tempt fate.  PC's and Windows can do strange
things when swapping a lot of memory in and out to disk, which could
not be blamed on the utility, apparently including overwriting memory
in use by the utility.  It's Windows blowing the multitasking, not
Elecraft.

73, Guy.

On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 5:29 PM, Dave & Jeanne Robertson
<darjar at comcast.net> wrote:
> Dick,
>
> Thanks for the input and I stand corrected. I myself have never had a
> problem with an up-date. However, I still maintain that be safe when
> up-dating by leaving the system alone during the process. Having worked on
> software operated atomic particle accelerator systems and having the
> software people assure me that there is no way to lock the system up while 
> I
> am at the customer's site with a 4 million dollar tool that is off line 
> with
> locked up software.
>
> 73
> Dave KD1NA
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dick Dievendorff" <dieven at comcast.net>
> To: "'David Robertson'" <darjar at comcast.net>; <phystad at mac.com>
> Cc: "'Elecraft'" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 11:36 AM
> Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3 Firmware Update.
>
>
>> There should be no data corruption caused by using other programs while
>> the
>> K3 Utility is sending firmware to the K3. Closing the K3 Utility during a
>> firmware update (which should cause an "are you sure" sort of dialog) 
>> will
>> require that you send that firmware file again, and if it's the MCU, the
>> MCU
>> goes into a "boot loader" state which looks different and may require a 
>> K3
>> power cycle by removing the power plug.
>>
>> The protocol used during firmware update doesn't have really tight timing
>> requirements. There is a checksum test and an acknowledgement on each
>> block
>> sent.
>>
>> Most Windows systems are sharing time with a whole lot of processes even
>> when you're not actively doing anything on the desktop.
>>
>> I routinely go through e-mail or compile other programs while firmware is
>> loading, and I probably load firmware more often than anyone except
>> perhaps
>> Wayne and Lyle.
>>
>> Dick, K6KR
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Robertson
>> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 5:54 AM
>> To: phystad at mac.com
>> Cc: Elecraft
>> Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Firmware Update.
>>
>> Phil,
>>
>> It is very important that you be certain that whatever you use to get a
>> RS232 connection from your computer to the K3 is good.
>> Running HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) is a good test. Have your K3 set at the
>> highest baud rate it can do because that is what the K3 utility is going
>> to
>> use.
>>
>> When upgrading your firmware do not do anything on the computer until the
>> up-date is finished. Clicking around your Desktop or going to other
>> applications in your computer during the up-date can result in a time
>> slice
>> in the process which can corrupt data.
>>
>> Enjoy your K3!
>>
>> 73
>> Dave KD1NA
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