Shirley

[Burgerman]

That "dead" PL8 you have. Isnt dead.

This is a user asking Tim Marks the same question. I saved it a while back because I may need it in the future. That future happened today. I updated a charger on a long cable and the update failed. It left me with a charger that could not be seen. No serial port. No sign of it in device manager. And a line of black squares where the writing should be...
I was not worried as I have been here before.
So I did the following: IN EXACT ORDER. Its also important to click UPDATE (to 3.36 in this case) FAST while the "auto serial port" search is running. It will then find your charger regardless of there being a viosible serial port annd will update it.
Mines back up and running again no problem.

During update of firmware, my computer shut down.
After that I could not get com between charger and pc
Charger showed old firmwareversion on display.
Shut down charger for a couple of minutes, powered on again.
Display on charger showing nothing, not able to establish com between charger and pc.

Any suggestions?
Hi:

1) Unplug the FUIM3 from the computer USB port and from the PL8.
2) Reboot your computer to be on the safe side.
3) When the computer is back up, plug the FUIM3 back in to the USB port on your computer.
4) Power up the charger and plug the FUIM3 into the PL8.
5) Launch the CCS application.
6) Make sure the COMM is set to Auto (bottom left corner of program)
7) Click the firmware tab
8) Click on the firmware you want to install from the list.
9) Click Update Firmware.

The CCS should automatically pole all of the open COMM ports until it finds the PL8. Even though your firmware installation is corrupt now, the bootstrap is still in tact. After the CCS finds the bootstrap, it should complete the firmware update as normal.

If you still have problems, call 800-668-4280 and ask for Howard. If he can't get you going, he'll put you through to the engineer. But this happens once in a while and the CCS is designed to handle the contingency.

Do EXACTLY as above and your charger will work again.
Or sell it to me cheap!

[shirley_hkg]

Sure .

Nothing to lose either .

[shirley_hkg]

That "dead" PL8 you have. Isnt dead.

2) Reboot your computer to be on the safe side.
3)

Does it mean in SAFE MODE ?
Should I turn off Anti-virus function too ?
I'm using your CCS . Should I enable the Repair Dead Firmware too ?

[steves1977uk]

Safe mode won't make a difference Shirley, although it'll work as well. Try without selecting Repair Dead Firmware at first, it might take a few attempts until it finds the PL8.

Steve

[Burgerman]

Having doNe this several times, inc 2 days ago, you do not need that repair dead firmware box ticking. You need to unplug everything that is USB other than the charger. And then just choose AUTO port selection. Then RESTART the computer, and repower the charger. Then connect the servo lead to the charger. Then start the ICS program, go imediately to the firmware page and select the newest one (preferably) and press UPDATE. And be patient. And watch the screen. It WILL connect, and will download the new firmware and it will boot up normally. It is not possible to stop this working on the PL8.

[shirley_hkg]

WOW ! ! ! … … IT'S BACK .

It nearly went to trash bin. Thank you all for pushing me back on this.

Took less than 10 seconds to see the connection resumed.

I think using the latest firmware helps .

[Burgerman]

WOW ! ! ! … … IT'S BACK .

Yes I told you that you can fix it and it wasnt dead when you first posted. Repeatedly! Maybe too much

It nearly went to trash bin. Thank you all for pushing me back on this.

Took less than 10 seconds to see the connection resumed.

I think using the latest firmware helps .

No. I was doing this often when testing many beta firmwares long before the PL8 was usable. It doesent matter what firmware in on there, or what firmware you want to upload to the PL8.

Always use the newest 3.6 one though. Although 3.4 is OK too. And 3.5 works.