Resolved Firmware 9 update failed on STC-7

If you power-cycle the camera, it should revert to an old firmware release. Then you can try again.

 

The camera has backup firmware in it to prevent exactly the failure you are talking about.
Check the Windows Device Manager to see if the SBIG Camera is listed under USB devices.
Let us know what you see.
Nobody has every bricked one of the STC family of cameras.

 

Should not be possible to brick it unless you attempted to upload an invalid firmware file.

I'll as @Adam to have a look.

 

Hi John,

Would I be able to log in and take a look? There are only a few ways a camera could become unresponsive after a firmware update, and I need to see what's happening in order to understand it.

-A

 

Hi John,

I had a chat with the production team about the tools they use to program the board before the FPGA's been flashed, and it won't be possible to upload firmware to the camera without our programming environment. There's a required hardware component that we won't be able to get around.

It looks like the only way forward would be to ship the camera back for service.

-A

 

John, Adam and I had an idea. Would you be available Monday or Tuesday for me to remote in, possibly saving a repair trip?

 

Hi John let's schedule for 9:30am tomorrow (Tuesday).
I'll need you to have your computer powered up with the camera attached but powered off.
Please download and run this remote access utility when you are ready:
https://www.realvnc.help/
Send a Private Message with your phone number, by clicking the link under my photo at left.

 

This is now resolved.
Tips to prevent trouble for future firmware updates:
(a) Make sure to use a short USB 3 cable to the BACK of the computer to ensure reliable communication.
The supplied cable works fine when plugged into a USB3 cable on the back; on the front of the PC case, that may add another couple of feet of wire and go beyond USB3 specs.
(b) Make sure the PC is running in a high performance mode so that it does not go to sleep / power saving mode in the middle of a firmware update
(c) Ensure you have latest BIOS updates, device driver updates from the computer manufacturer (eg Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, etc.)
(d) Check the following articles for recommendations:
Fixing issues with Windows:
https://forum.diffractionlimited.com/threads/windows-10-tune-up-fixing-pc-issues.8196/
https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...connects-turn-off-usb-selective-suspend.7848/
https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...talling-microsoft-visual-studio-runtime.9001/

All good now. Camera was updated to latest firmware without coming in for repair.

 

I've been saying this for years, ever since I started working with USB 2.0: Do NOT use the front USB ports on a PC for anything other than memory sticks!!!

The internal cabling is not just adding length, it's adding very bad impedance discontinuities. Almost all computer vendors use cheap wire and cheap connectors that don't maintain a consistent 90 ohm impedance, resulting in signal reflections that degrade the data integrity significantly. You can get away with that when using a very short cable, but not with a long cable at high data rates. That's why a memory stick will work but a camera on a long cable will not.