Current Firmware Version 2.5 File
The following directions are only for ADC Version I board users.
WinSDR version 2.0.5 and above can directly upgrade the firmware on the Serial Output A/D board. See this page for more information. If you are having problems using WinSDR to upgrade your board you should try the RFU program documented below. Please see this page for firmware release notes.
Introduction:
This document describes how to upgrade the firmware (program) that runs on the PSN-SERIAL-ATOD board. The user will need a serial cable that support full handshaking. The program (RFU.EXE) that upgrades the A/D board will not work correctly if the serial cable only has transmit, receive and ground connect. Pins 1 through 8 must be connected at both ends of the cable, pin 9 is not used.
A note about the RFU (Rabbit Field Utility) program. This program is supplied by the manufacture of the CPU module on the A/D board. It is not very user friendly. For the dialog boxes to show correctly the screen size should be 800 X 600 pixels. Before running the program you might want to temporarily set the screen size to 800 X 600.
Upgrading the Firmware:
Step 1: Download and run this file: rfusetup.exe It will install the RFU program on your system. This setup program also contains the current firmware file rsdr25.bin. If you already have RFU installed on your system you can download the current firmware version here. You will need to unzip the file before downloading it to the A/D board using RFU.
Step 2: On the A/D board locate the three pin jumper JP1. Move the jumper block from pins 2-3 to 1-2. This will enable the firmware Program mode of the RabbitCore CPU module. Also, make sure that the A/D board has power.
Step 3: Start the RFU (Rabbit Field Utility) program.
Step 4: Under the Setup menu item select Communications. In the Communications Options dialog box make sure that the Use Serial Connection is selected. Enter the Comm Port (COM1 COM2 etc) that will be used to upgrade the A/D board. The baud rate must be set to 115200. When entering the Comm Port name use only one 'M'.
Step 5: Under the Setup menu item select the Boot Strap Loaders menu item. In the Choose Loaders dialog box select or enter the following files:
Cold Loader: c:\program files\winsdr\rfu\coldload.bin
Pilot BIOS: c:\program files\winsdr\rfu\pilot.bin
The files coldload.bin and pilot.bin files are installed by the setup program.
Note: Even if these file names show up in the edit boxes when you first open the dialog box you may, for some reason, need to reenter the file names or select the files using the browse buttons (if visible). If you fail to do this the download process may not work correctly. If you manually enter the file name use the full path (directory and file name).
Example: C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINSDR\RFU\COLDLOAD.BIN
Step 6: Under the File menu item select Load Flash Image. In the Choose Flash Image dialog box enter the full path to the RSDR18.BIN file or the use the browse button to locate the file.
Step 7: Selecting the OK button in the Choose Flash Image dialog box will start the upgrade process. If the RFU program can properly talk to the A/D board, and if it can find all of the files needed for the upgrade process (COLDLOAD.BIN, PILOT.BIN and RSDR18.BIN files), you should see a Progress dialog box open up. The upgrade process takes about 30 seconds. If no errors have occur, the Progress dialog box will close and the A/D board will have the new firmware loaded in the flash memory.
Step 8: Remove the power to the A/D board. Now place the JP1 jumper block back to pins 2-3 and reapply the power. Moving the JP1 jumper back to the normal position and recycling the power will place the CPU module back into the normal mode where it can communicate to WinSDR.
Step 9: After starting WinSDR, you can verify that the new firmware version is running on the A/D board by opening the Status Viewer. To open this viewer use the View / Status Viewer menu items. When WinSDR receives the status information from the A/D board it will display the firmware number in the Version field of the Remote A/D Board Status Information group box.