nshanny

Hi there,

I have an AIM solo and planned on upgrading to the latest and greatest version of software. Half way though the upgrade process, the update program crashed. Unfortunately, it has left my AIM solo pretty much a brick. Anyone else run across this issue? I was upgrading to version 46.02.01.

Nick

utkinpol

i had upgraded my unit into latest beta version, 02.09., then reverted back to 46.02.01.
0 issues.

i guess you will need to send it back to AiM support, they should be able to re-flash it, hopefully. if any flash program crashes due to Microsoft OS ingenuity it will of course brick any EPROM based system. it always sickens me when softronic flash decided to work in 'slow' mode when i have to re-flash my ECU in the car.

dan212

Did the upgrade make it a brick? What message did you see on the crash? What OS / environment were you running?

utkinpol

if program died while re-flashing EPROM and ruined booter section he will see nothing from that unit, ever. chip probably needs to be re-flashed on a table.

smartycam is made much better in that regard - it copies file into its memory in a regular way and then as you hold right button during reboot unit itself reprograms its own EPROM but in Solo they probably did not have enough resources to fit all that functionality on a board so it flashes externally.
Let us know what support will respond on that issue.

ProCoach

Yes, and YES! Just did the SmartyCam no problem other than I had to unzip the FW file. (.10 from .6)

Send it in, they'll handle it.

Matt Romanowski

I did it without problem. I'd say contact Aim, they are great to deal with. Luckily it's winter!

nshanny

Windows 7, running on a macbook. Never had a problem before with the initial upgrade back in the summer. Same machine. The error message was a cannot continue, while performing the erase.

nshanny

Thanks everyone. It is definitely a brick at this point. I have contacted AIM and await a response.

ProCoach

I have seen a reference in old MyChron Mike's newsletter, that there can be a difference in the way a FW upgrade is handled between Windows operating natively (the machine booting into a Windows environment from a dedicated HDD partition), better known as Boot Camp, and a Windows "virtual" environment through emulation software conversion such as VM Ware and/or Parallels.

So much so that his recommendation (this was five years ago) was to use both configurations on an Apple machine. Using the virtual edition of Windows on an Apple to quickly launch RS2 and use the native, Boot Camp version to perform the critical FW upgrades.

I've run Mac OS X and either Windows XP Pro or Windows 7 Pro 64-bit with Boot Camp (thus fully leveraging the excellent Apple GPU capabilities) exclusively since 2006, and I have never had an issue or problem with an AiM (or any other unit, make or model) FW upgrade.

I just finished upgrading the FW on all my SmartyCam and Solo/Solo DL stock without difficulty on a MBA running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit in Boot Camp without problems before sending several orders out.

I'm convinced of the great depth of AiM Sports commitment to customer service, that your problem will be quickly rectified and that this is not endemic, but let us know.

Are you using Boot Camp or Parallels/VM Ware to run Windows on your Apple?

nshanny

Hi Peter,

I am using Parallels to run my windows environment. Early versions of parallels definitely have had problems with hardware support, but not since version 4 have I had issues. This was totally unexpected, because typically the flash process is done completely within the hardware. This usually means they have some extra memory to store the new version and do not require a program to control everything. From the messages received during the update process, the erasing occurs as a separate step, thus increasing the chances of failure.

ProCoach

I've heard the same from others and I understand and agree with you on the FW bootloader being an entirely internal process in the units, so the laptop should not have any effect on the process.

Don't really have an answer, but I've had the same issue recently with a few Video VBOX Lites, upgrading to the latest V3 FW and bricking the units.

In both cases, I sent them back to Lucie at Racelogic and they reflashed them without delay. No further issues.

Let us know what happens.

utkinpol

Guys, never _ever_ run real time processes like eprom flash from any virtual machine.
Any real time process that is critical to timing has to run from native os, and _all_ other resident processes like antiviruses, etc. Stuff must be shut down. Cpu and usb bus must be dedicated to flash writer process only, nothing else should be running. In good old days for such operation it would be a boot cd so program would run in single thread mode from DOS, now we got this windows crap where everything is trying to run at once on same cpu and realistically single-threaded platform as PC architecture has not changed much, it is not an ibm mainframe.
Be careful with flashers and never run them from any virtual/simulated environment.

ProCoach

That's why I do it from a natively run environment...

HiWind

I did the upgrade ok but with the install of my DL I am having a ecu timeout problem per the diagnostics on my 996 GT3 RS w Bosch ECU. I have not connected the power wires ie red and black from the CAN wires from the SOLO DL but I have grounded the negative. Also all my gauges seem to be fine ie all move and are working. DL is also working and shows brake and rpm etc... Any ideas would be MOST appreciated as I have practice tomorrow AM :0 - thanks in advance folks!

ProCoach

I've tripped that when I reversed the CAN connection for the Solo DL to the ECU, had the car reset and no problems since then.