[Elecraft] Help! I have bricked my K3.

[Bill Coleman]

I noticed this weekend that Elecraft had updated the firmware (not beta) back in February. So, today, I thought I would try to update mine.

However, it fails during the FPF load EVERY TIME:

17:12:09 K3 boot loader is ready for MCU firmware load. RS-232 38400 bps.
17:12:09 New firmware is available for your K3
17:12:17 K3 boot loader is waiting for MCU firmware load.
17:12:17 OS X Revision 10.9.2 
17:12:21 Sending firmware file "hmcu0483b.hex" to MCU
17:13:49 Loaded MCU firmware revision 04.83
K3 responded with revision 04.83
17:13:49 MCU firmware load is complete
17:13:50 Erasing Flash Memory
17:13:54 Sending firmware file "hfpf0115.hex" to FPF
17:14:16 Send FPF firmware failed at load addresst 43
17:14:19 FPF firmware load failed
17:14:21 K3 MCU revision 04.83. RS-232 speed 38400 bps.
17:14:21 Ready

As you can see, the MCU load works. However, once it gets to the “Sending firmware file “hfpf0115.hex” to FPF, it never makes any progress, and appears to time out after about 30 seconds.

I’ve tried power cycling, and I must I have tried it a dozen times over.

I would really like to be able to use my K3!! I’ve never had trouble with firmware updates before, and I’ve never even tried the beta firmware.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
           -- Wilbur Wright, 1901