ProfiLux 3: What to do in the case a firmware update failed

[Oceansx]

Thanks Gunther,

Those instructions were straight forward. ProfiLux is up and running again. It's a good thing I am near-sighted, so I could find the JP1 jumper and Reset switches inside the ProfiLux

Following the manual's instructions, it was simple enough to open the unit up. Once the covers were off, the tabs were easy to open up as shown in the manual, but some are oriented upside down from the others, meaning I opened two from the top and two from the bottom. Note: I have two plastic spudgers from iFixit that made this less nerve racking, as plastic on plastic is less likely to scratch, damage, etc. I am now confident I could add an expansion card myself.

Also, I went ahead ordered a USB to serial cable and a regular serial cable for next time. My old Windows 95 laptop that I was about to junk appears to run flasher and has a serial port; so I guess I'll keep it.

Thanks again for the clear instructions, and quick response.

[andestang]

The last week has given me a reminder on how useless my unit is and what a hassle this thing has been. It has lost its display screen/black (has a history of this) and after many attempts to use the recovery flash I have not gained any progress. Have also tried different updates. It will come on intermittently and very breifly when unplugged and replugged into power. When just left plugged in it will eventually just stay black. It has the EX 3 in it. I have not tried the jumper wire method plus I can't seem to find any pics of the jumper pins as I'd like to be sure, plus not sure if it would make any difference. Any other ideas appreciated.

[Gunther]

@andestang

Please don´t mix Profilux 3 and 3.1! My description above is for 3.1N and 3.1A only. It´s not possible to emergency flash the Profilux 3 [or an upgraded PLII like you have] via USB nor is there a jumper inside the device as described for the 3.1.

For PL3 emergency update the serial cable is mandatory, best is also to have a PC with native RS232. Do as said in post #1 of this thread.

Remark: For step 8 after step 7 you only have a time frame of two seconds - if you need longer, update may fail.

[andestang]

I haven't done anything other than what is suggested in post #1. Thx for the clarification. Yes I realize the amount of time for the reset to be done.

[aqua_digital]

If your controller screen is going black unrelated to any prior attempt to a firmware update, this has nothing to do with a firmware update and is more to do with a hardware issue, no amount of firmware attempts will rectify this.

The unit will need to come in for service inspection.

[AndreO]

follow the directions and P# will come back to life. Just remember that when you unplug the power the usb port also has no power.

[andestang]

Sending the unit in. I'll update what the fix ended up being and how the customer service went.

[aqua_digital]

Then you do not have to go rooting around to find a serial to USB adapter then. Please read the section on firmware update.

I

• Download the flasher tool „Flash-FR.zip“ from http://support.aquariumcomputer.com/...oad.php?did=48 and unzip into a folder you find afterwards easily (no installation neccessary)
• Download the firmware for the Profilux and unzip into a folder you find afterwards easily.
• Unplug the ProfiLux from power
• Open the ProfiLux casing as shown in the manual
• Set a jumper to the pins of JP1
• Connect the USB cable to the build-in port of the ProfiLux und an available USB port of your computer
• Start the windows device manager and open the selector for "COM and LPT". There you can see the available COM ports of your PC.
• Plug in the power cord of the Profilux again. Now there will be a new port „USB Serial Port“ – this is the port of the pro ProfiLux. I f there is a yellow exclamation mark, you have to install the USB driver first.
• Start „flash.exe“ from the folder you copy it to.
• Change/check the settings as follows (it´s important to have exact this settings):
• Target Microcontroller: "MB91F467D"
• Crystal Frequency: “4MHz“
• Press „Open“ and navigate to the firmware file and select it. The firmware name has to start with „ProfiLux3_“ and has the extension „.mhx“, for example ProfiLux3_V515_GER_ENG.mhx
• If there is only a „.zip“ file, you have to unpack it first
• Select the COM port at „Set Environment“.
• Now press "full operation", there will be a download window.
• Press the reset button now to start the download. If it won´t start, check the port setting - it may be the wrong.
• If the download is finished, confirm the message with OK and close the flash program.
• After that, unplug the profilux, remove the jumper from JP1 (it´s enough to put the jumper only to one pin).
• Now the ProfiLux should strart normally if you plug in power. Close the casing now!

This is a 5 minute procedure and i actually prefer using it on all updates as its faster.

If you follow the update path correctly however you should never have to use this process anyway.

[argileh]

Hi, quick question.

Now that I found a USB-RS232 converter that works with the serial port of my 3ex, I will be updating the firmware from 5.07 to 5.17. How long does the actual firmware update take. Is it a matter of 1-2 minutes or much more.

Thanks

Ibrahim

[BigAl07]

Every FM update I've done (there have been several) only take a few minutes to complete. In the big picture it's not a lot of information and things transfer/burn pretty quick.