trimble 4000sse firmware upload

Dane,

$50 is a VERY good price for that service. I think the batteries alone ran me between $20 and $30, and then it took me a couple of hours to do the work.

You have a communication problem between the receiver and the computer. I found a utility online using Google search that lists the ports which are used. If you run the utility once with the receiver connected, and then once without, you should be able to identify which COM port the receiver is using. I think it matters which USB port you connect to on the computer. For example don't connect to the upper port one time and the lower port the next. Also, the connection software I used I believe only allowed for using COM1 to COM4, so you might need to force something in that respect.

Hope that helps. I don't know much about these connectivity issues, but was able to make the connection through trial and error.

Al

Manually set the baud rate to 9600,8,none, and 1.

The troubleshooting guide indicates this something to try. Is there a set of keystrokes on the front of the receiver to set it maunually. Nothing seems to happen when I press the control key by itself.
thanks for your help

Jim Frame has gone through this in the last few months and can probably give you good advice if he's not awol for the holidays. Check out these two threads also. [msg]78089[/msg] [msg]42093[/msg]

Is it possible that Batteries Plus reversed the polarity or that they didn't replace both the system board and memory board batteries?

Well, I mentioned to them about the polarity and that there are six batteries to replace. It maybe my cable is just not the right one. Should I be able to set com port configuation from the front panel?

> You have a communication problem between the receiver and the computer.

I concur that this is the most likely problem. The way I would approach this is to connect an operational receiver of the same type to the computer and get them talking first, then attempt the firmware upload. Trying to do the latter blind (in the comm sense) is likely to be a tough go due to the quirks of USB-to-serial converters.

> It maybe my cable is just not the right one.

If laying hands on a working 4000 to help suss out the comm problem isn't feasible, my next suggestion is to install a serial port add-in board to your system. The boards are cheap and most desktops have an open slot, and having a dedicated port is going to be easier than dealing with USB conversion in the long run anyway.

If all you have is a laptop, you're probably back to Plan B.

Here's a link to UNAVCO's page where they have a zip file of version 7.19b of the firmware. Inside that zip file is a readme file that gives a good how-to on reloading the firmware and a short trouble shooting section. Good Luck

Thanks Stephen

I have already downloaded the UNavco zip file.One of the suggestions for trouble shooting is to manually set the baud rate on the receiver. I have tried to do this without success.

thanks for the tip.

Thanks Stephen

Sorry, I read your original post, but I had forgotten that you had the readme file already. I have 2 4000sse's and 1 4000ssi, but so far I have not gotten the dreaded "remote monitor active". I will try to dig through the manuals for info on reloading the firmware, and/or manually setting the baud rate from an unresponsive front panel.

Can you prove the usb to serial adapter is working? Try it with another device with a serial interface.

Joe-good point Thanks Stephen

I'tll to figure a way to test it. I am hoping that I just don't have the right cable and one i get that sorted out. things will work.

thankks for your help

My little science project

The main takeaway from this science project is -

My results indicate that even if a Trimble 4000-series receiver is displaying the "REMOTE MONITOR ACTIVE" message at startup, it is possible to reinstall the firmware and operate the receiver (at least some functions) without replacing the internal batteries. This allows one to (partially) test the receiver without making any unnecessary investment of time and money. This is not a solution for actual practical use of the receiver, because as soon as you power off the receiver the firmware departs for bit heaven.

Three minor conclusions -

1. The Pacific Crest A00470 Y-cable cable Dane is trying to use (per the original post in this thread) with his Trimble 4000SSE will work IF you combine it with the right cables and/or adapters OR modify the Pacific Crest A00470 Y-cable so the pins on the computer's serial port connect to the right pins on the receiver.

2. If one thing does not work, try it again or try something else. Do not give up until you boot the computer from a Windows 98SE boot diskette or CD.

3. The USB-to-serial adapter I used transferred data from a Trimble 4000SSi receiver just fine, but would not do the firmware installation. Other brand USB-to-serial adapters may be able to do the firmware installation, but I suggest those wanting to mess with GPS receivers from the 1990s should have on hand a Pentium 2 or 3 notebook computer with built-in serial port. You should be able to get such a computer for $0 to $50 - if it ran Windows 98 it is plenty good for these purposes.

I have here a 1992-vintage single-frequency Trimble 4000SE receiver that sez "REMOTE MONITOR ACTIVE" on the display when powered up - none of the panel buttons do anything, which is to be expected.

The Pacific Crest A00470 Y-cable Dane is trying to use gets the power issue taken care of in its standard configuration - it connects positive to Pin 1 and negative to Pin 2.

The serial-communication function is another issue, probably because the Trimble 4000-series receivers are considered to be data-terminal equipment (DTE) and the Pacific Crest radio modems for which the A00470 Y-cable is intended are considered to be data-communication equipment (DCE).

Examining the pinout for the Pacific Crest A00470 Y-cable and the pinout for the Trimble 18826 data cable (that has been proven through the decades to work with the Trimble 4000-series receivers) shows that both cables use Pin 4 for signal ground, but the transmit (TX) and receive (RX) connections are swapped.

To swap the TX and RX connections to where they need to be, I connected the DE9F connector on A00470 Y-cable to a DE9M straight-through gender changer which in turn connected to a Trimble 18532 null-modem cable (DE9F connectors on both ends) which ultimately connected to COM1 on a Pentium 3 notebook computer with a built-in serial port and running Windows 98SE (as in Second Edition).

Now for a venture into YMMV territory -

Remember that these utility programs (such as LOADER.EXE that installs firmware in a Trimble 4000-series receiver) are from the MS-DOS era of the 1990s. Also remember that many utilities from that time period (such as the Pacific Crest RFMCONF utility that configured the RFM96W-series radio modems) never did work properly with Windows XP. It only makes sense that software from the 1990s will work best with hardware configurations and operating systems from the same era.

After getting everything connected and fired up, I went to the Windows 98 shutdown menu and selected the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" option go get a command prompt. After navigating to the directory containing the firmware files I tried the "slow" install using OCM1 by entering "UPDATE_S 1" which starts LOADER.EXE and tells it to install the firmware at 9600 baud. It never got past the "Initializing COM1" message. (The next step is where LOADER.EXE tries all baud rates from 2400 to 38400 at odd, even, and none parity, so do not worry that you cannot set the receiver's communications parameters.)

Past experience with this specific computer and the Pacific Crest utility that loads firmware into the Pacific Crest RFM96W-series radio modems (FREEPROG.EXE) suggested that booting from a Windows 98SE boot diskette would probably be worth a try. Booted from the floppy, navigated to the directory containing the firmware files, and entered "UPDATE_S 1" again. This time it ran, and after a few minutes it completed installing the firmware. But when the 4000SE rebooted it came back to the "REMOTE MONITOR ACTIVE" on the display.

Since I am more persistent than intelligent, I entered "UPDATE 1" which tells LOADER.EXE to install the firmware at 38400 baud. This time it worked, and after the 4000SE rebooted the display showed the normal startup information. Connected a GPS antenna, and after ten minutes or so the receiver had a current almanac and was tracking nine satellites and displaying a correct position. I did not try starting a session and storing data to the internal memory, probably should have. Powered down the receiver with the power button, and the firmware was lost - back at "REMOTE MONITOR ACTIVE" again.

Then I tried another computer, this time a Core2 Duo notebook with a built-in serial port and running Windows XP SP3.

With this system, I was able to simply click the UPDATE.BAT icon in Windows Explorer and start the installation process. Note that this method does not allow one to specify which COM port to use - apparently the default is COM1? Again, the first run completed but something did not work and the receiver went back to "REMOTE MONITOR ACTIVE" All other trials worked fine.

Next test - I opened a command prompt in the folder with the update files and entered "UPDATE 1", this worked as well.

To try the USB-to-serial adapter (an IOGear GUC232A with the firmware version from August 2011) I used Device Manager to learn that the computer designated this device as COM8. Confirmed that it was operating by using the HyperTerminal loopback tests as well as using this device to download data files from a good Trimble 4000SSi receiver.

Did not have any luck installing firmware with the USB-to-serial adapter - I entered "UPDATE 8" in an attempt to tell the computer to use COM8, but the information on the screen indicated that LOADER.EXE was using COM1 instead.

If your computer does not have anything built in as COM1 and your USB-to-serial adapter is assigned the COM1 name it may work, I dunno. Also, other adapters may work even though mine did not. The Keyspan brand USB-to-serial adapter is often said to be the best of the crop. If anyone gets any of these USB-to-serial devices to work for the firmware installation, please let the rest of us know the brand and model.

Back to the Pacific Crest A00470 Y-cable - there are plenty of these cables sitting around (Pacific Crest used to ship one with every 35-watt radio modem), and if you do not need it for use with Pacific Crest radio modems it is a simple matter to modify the ones with the metal shell covers. Just swap the wires that go to Pins 2 and 3 of the DE9F connector. Would be good to mark it somehow to show that the cable is no longer a standard A00470.

Hope this is of some value to someone.

GB

My little science project

Excellent work, thank you for posting your results. I have two 4000sse's and one 4000ssi and I know that all are of the age where I will likely be dealing with this soon. I will be bookmarking and printing a hard copy for when that day comes.