Hello all - I'm dismayed to post again with a similar issue to one I had a year ago. In attempting to update my STF-8300M firmware to the latest version, the update process has "paused" indefinitely at about 10% on the status bar. The displayed text is "Updating stf8300usb.bf2", version 2.57". I had an identical issue 1 year ago and had aborted the program at this stage. This time, I have the camera still powered and connected. The camera's red LED is off. The result is indifferent, unfortunately. My process: Download and install the latest SBIGDriverChecker64 (successful) Fresh boot of computer (successful) Update PC drivers via Update button (successful) Fresh boot of computer (successful) Power camera, connect, and read firmware version with SBIGDriverChecker64 (successful) Initiate firmware update via SBIGDriverChecker dialogs (unsuccessful - hanging at 10%) Task manager shows no activity in the Driver Checker program. The PC is a Windows 10 64-bit machine. I have seriously hesitated to update due to my unfortunate bricking last year, but the resolution to the bias drift is one I require in my imaging environment. I am beside myself that the process has failed again. Thank you for your advice on any further troubleshooting steps I can take, or if this again requires service from Bill. Any clues as to why this has happened again would be appreciated as well :-/ Many thanks for your assistance.
Update: I've now received the dreaded "Error: TX Timeout" message. I happened to be at the computer when this appeared, approximately 1 hour after originally launching the firmware update process. For now, I've left the camera on and attached to the PC via USB. Some additional info: Camera is connected directly to PC (no hubs) via a single USB cable, approximately 4ft in length. It's the same port I use in the field. Device Manager still shows "SBIG USB-64 Camera With Firmware" under "SBIG USB Devices". There are no warnings or errors shown here. Over the last year, I've logged 200+ hours on this camera in the field with no communication issues. Driver information from the DriverChecker program is as follows: ======================================================= Computer : ABBIE-PC Processor type : 586 Number of processors : 8 Operating system : Microsoft (build 9200), 64-bit System directory : C:\WINDOWS\system32 Windows directory : C:\WINDOWS User : Abbie ======================================================= Driver Name Version Date Current ======================================================= sbigudrv.dll 4.97 Build 2 01-16-17 Yes sbigu64.sys 2.41.0.1338 01-27-15 Yes sbigpcam.hex 2.46 01-27-15 Yes sbiglcam.hex 2.20 01-27-15 Yes sbigfcam.hex 2.25 01-27-15 Yes sbigfga.bin 2004.11.10 01-27-15 Yes ======================================================= I look forward to expert advice anyone has to offer. In the meantime, I'll wait and post again if the situation changes.
Does the camera still connect and work after the failed firmware update attempt? Have you tried the update with a different computer?
Hi Tim, thanks for your reply! I aborted SBIGDriverChecker this morning. (It was clear no progress was being made after 14 hours!) After doing so, I cycled and reconnected the camera, which no longer connects properly. The red LED does not light, and no connection activity is present on the computer for about 30 seconds. The PC then reports that the USB device was not recognized, and device manager shows an unrecognized device in the "USB Controllers" section. The update attempt was on the same PC (laptop) that bombed out last time, but it is the same I use without any issues in the field. That said, this laptop has also performed successful updates several times prior without any issues. These successful attempts were all prior to firmware 2.48, for whatever it's worth. I do have another PC (desktop) available, but haven't installed the SBIG drivers on it to-date. (I've simply used the same PC I use in the field.) I can try connecting on this alternate machine in a few hours when I can sneak home, if you think it's worthwhile. Does this shed any light on the situation? Thanks again Tim for your reply!
Are you able to manually assign the SBIG driver to the unknown device? How your PC communicates with the camera during normal operation and how it updates the firmware are not the same. So it is not unusual that the camera would work under normal circumstances, but a firmware update is obviously a different story. Yes, it is worthwhile trying a different PC.
Thanks Tim. I will attempt to manually assign the driver. I presume your suggestion is via the "Let me pick the driver..." method via the "Update Driver" dialog? Also, to test on the alternate PC that currently has no drivers installed, am I to run the SBIGDriverChecker64 to install the PC drivers, then manually select the driver in the same manner? Let me know you have something else in mind. I have queued up a repair return with Bill, but will complete all these troubleshooting steps in the hopes I can rescue it. I should be able to do this a few hours from now. Looking forward to your reply - thank you again! -Rick
I've attempted to manually assign the driver without any luck, on both PCs. The only way to locate the driver was through the "Have Disk..." dialog, and specifically selecting the 64-bit driver .inf in the DriverChecker directory. In Device Manager, the camera is listed under "USB Controllers" as "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)". Any other suggestions? Thanks for your assistance. -Rick
Ok - thanks again Tim. I'll have it packaged and sent off to CA tomorrow. As a follow up, it sure seems like I have a camera (or a PC?) that is extremely sensitive to this process. Is there any information I can provide SBIG to potentially help solve this issue for myself and others? Of course, I wouldn't ever plan on updating the firmware unless there's a feature I require (as was the case this time), but I'd be remiss to not expect this to happen again were I to try. The process seems awfully fragile. I like the idea of trying it with another PC if/when the time comes, but I'd still have trepidation. Maybe a remote session with a tech would be of benefit for me and you? I very much appreciate your consideration with the issue. Thank you! -Rick
Updating firmware on any kind of hardware is a risky process, as there are countless things that could go wrong. Which is why most manufacturers do not recommend updating firmware unless necessary. There isn't anything that would really help us here as there is not really any way to determine the cause of the failure.
General suggestions: - Use a high quality, short USB cable. - Never use the front jacks on a desktop PC. They are compromised by the internal wiring. - Do not use a hub. - Do not use USB extenders or extensions. - Make sure your power supply is stable and cannot be interrupted. - Make sure you have a good reliable connection to the camera before starting the firmware update (take a series of pics!). - Use a modern, fast and reliable computer
Thank you very much again for your reply Tim, and Doug as well. The unit will be shipping to Bill in CA today, and as before, I really appreciate the timely repair service that has been arranged. These are all reasonable (with some exception to the vagueness of the last, below), and ones that were followed exactly. I must say that it is suspicious that the process failed in the exact same way in the exact same spot as it did previously. So far as this goes, if there is some minimum requirement for this, it may be worthwhile to state specifics in the update instructions. My machine is an i7 on an SSD with 16 gigs of RAM, and I believe it to meet the spirit of the suggestion. I hope it's not misunderstood for me to express disagreement with this. I just don't think it's a fair expectation that I'll need to send the unit in for service every time I have a reasonable need to update. Certainly, the firmware update risk from "most manufacturers" comes in pulling power from the device during the flash erase/update process. But that mode of error did not occur here, with uninterrupted power applied to the camera for the duration of the process and failure (and as well 14 hours thereafter in the hopes of recovery). The process here failed during firmware image transmission (evidenced by the "TX timeout error"), which would appear to me as an indication that erasure/writing is occurring before the entire image is received by the device. Forgive my black-box analysis, but if correct, this is unique. Other firmware devices receive and validate the entire image prior to erasure/writing, mitigating this specific communication risk. I would definitely have preferred not to update, but the attempt this week was unfortunately necessary due to an error in the camera operation relating to signal drift based on ambient temperature, a symptom and issue I first reported with evidence in the forum post here. This process was therefore necessary nonetheless, and relying on what has proven to be a fragile protocol (for me and some others) is quite frustrating in lost time. I would not at all agree that most manufacturers do not recommend firmware updates. Countless devices (everything from camera bodies and fitness modules to TVs and refrigerators) not only recommend them, but may even do so automatically upon connection. Again, I don't want to be misunderstood -- I've been very happy with the camera's performance in the field (save the drift error, which I'm excited to have resolved and appreciate the attention to it). But it's been very easy to render this high caliber device unusable while following all process instructions/recommendations in an effort to address prior performance errors. Hopefully you can sympathize with my exasperation. Thank you for reading my feedback, and I look forward to testing the drift on the new firmware once I receive the unit back. -Rick
Honestly the "modern, fast and reliable" bit was just to make sure you weren't running some ancient piece of junk that can barely run XP. Any modern PC should be able to flash the camera. I don't know why you are having trouble flashing your camera's firmware. It is unusual. Hopefully there won't be a need to flash your camera again. We've spent a lot of time and effort over the last couple of years improving the firmware and drivers for all of the SBIG models. That effort is now winding down, and our hope is that more firmware updates won't be required any time soon.
Thanks for the follow up Doug. Makes sense about the PC -- I guess you never do know what folks are able pull along on life support. I would certainly be a-ok with not updating the firmware again, and hopefully won't find the need, should another update become available. The patch I'm getting now is fixing the only issue that I've found a real need to address. Should it be necessary again, though, I'll contact you all and will proceed even more gingerly.
