1st Time Update Installer … Lining Up My Ducks B4 Pulling the Trigger

w1smc

Background: I’ve been in the IT business for 45+ years and a Ham for 33+ years. I’ve operated large mainframes, written more code than God ever intended, and spent the last 20 years testing software. So, I know how to install, execute & test systems.

Currently I’m running a 6600M, PGXL, TGXL, & AG. This is recently purchased hardware. SSDR Software is 3.2.39.

This Current Install:

I’ve read the release notes 5 times and I have some questions …

This install involves updating the radio and then the SSDR software.

The update to the radio seems very straight forward. 

Start the radio, select the 3.3.29 (first) entry listed and allow the update to (successfully) complete. 

Once the radio has been updated, perform a “Cold Boot” of the radio?

The update to the SSDR 3.3.29 software is more interesting. In my case from release 3.2.39 to 3.3.29.

It looks like I can get away with NOT performing an uninstall of 3.2.39. So, I will NOT uninstall 3.2.39. However, I have some concerns regarding DAX & CAT and the existing drivers during the initial install of 3.2.39. Will the SSDR 3.3.29 install cause issues with CAT & DAX (drivers) since they already exist?

Then run the install of the SSDR 3.3.29 software.

Because I have the M model, it appears that after I run the (successfull) install of the SSDR 3.3.29 software I will need to exit the software and cycle the radio (again?) and then select the 3.3.29 version. This will start the final portion of the upgrade and complete the update? Then I will launch SSDR 3.3.29 and all should be right with the world?

Seems cut & dry … Are there any holes, misunderstanding of information or the sequence of execution in the above, please let me know?

Thanks, de Steve / W1SMC  

Erika - KØDD

You do NOT want to Uninstall previous version of ssdr and cat and dax. The previous version of the three needs to be on there. Follow the release notes to a "T". I do not have an M radio but I have . A fresh or clean boot for beginning the process is restart the radio... and a cold boot is from power removed the running... I had zero fear, and brought it up on my windows computer and then highlighted my 6500, and pushed the update button, if I did have a maestro, I'd then have updated that unit to 3.3.29 just let the thing restart. Even though it seems to be taking a long time,, it should be ok.. I believe mine restarted twice. And the fans did go to full speed once. In the end was a cold boot and tada... imported my profiles and preferences as I had previously exported them. And just looked things over and all was good. Erika DD

Mike Steventon

To be on the safe side, I chose to turn off my pc, load 3.3.29 into my 6600M, connected directly via LAN into my router, see it working as a stand-alone. Then, separately, with the 6600M off and disconnected, went to Flex website and uploaded Windows SSDR 3.3.29 software onto my pc. Then shut down the pc. Then started life again as my usual, with Smart Control connection. Everything works a dream!. I uninstalled on my pc the 3.2.39 SSDR so that I cannot make the mistake of selecting it. (If you do accidentally select 3.2.39 on the pc,, I noticed it started asking awkward questions like "you will have to revert to 3.2.39 on the rig if you want to go ahead and use this software". That was good enough reason for me to delete it! Cheers. Mike.

bahillen

One thing to note not necessarily related to your update.

When the radio is power for a cold reboot, there some shut down processes going on. Note that turning off power does not remove all power. You have to physically in plug the radio or disconnect PS. The PS capacitors will bleed down slowly with the low drain.

if you look in the lest side of the radio vents is a green LED that stays lit until everything is off. it can take a while to shutdown. This is related to updating the radio software and firmware I assume the install process is based on a known state of the radio at the time. Another point has been stated that the update is based on the latest release of the operating system. I always reboot my computer before starting an update to reduce the chance of conflicts.

They don’t recommend turning off the radio by removing DC power to the shut down can be completed.

This has been documented by Flex but have not seen this for a while and new users may not be aware.

Flex has done a lot of work to improve the update process and make it compatible with operating system updates especially Microsoft.

I had no problem with my update to 3.3.29 and no cold restart. You may be interested in looking at the release notes and see all the bug fixes they have incorporated in this release. I would expect there will be some things the will be found for some 3rd party dependency with so many configurations and the creativity of the users.

73

Bill W9JJB

w1smc

Thanks to everyone that have responded (so far) ...

First (not a complaint) ... "Release Notes" (to me) ... are just that ... "Release Notes" ... Which is why I had to read them 5 times ... and still had questions ...

I would have much preferred a set of "Installation Instructions" that defines & details each main step of the update process for both the radio & SSDR software with caveats where needed for each radio.

These "Release Notes" are not clear enough (to me). And I'm not a total noob ... I like things to be clear and orderly ... The last thing I want to do is put in a trouble ticket because I did something incorrectly because it wasn't clear.

So, if anyone does have a set of step-by-step "Installation Instructions" please publish them or pass them along.

Thanks, Steve / W1SMC

John KB4DU

Yes, selecting an older version of SmartSDR will revert to that version in the radio, so I delete the older versions after I’m confident the newer version is working properly. I don’t have the M radio, but from previous posts, it seems that all the older versions stay available on the M.

Neil D Friedman N3DF

The “Select a Version” screen on M models allows selection of the current version and two prior, stored versions. In addition, it allows selection of three more prior versions that must be downloaded.