K3 FPF Load failed

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K3 FPF Load failed

Julian, G4ILO
It has been about 3 weeks since I last switched on my K3 and when I did so just now, VFO A said "FPF Load" and VFO B said "Pending". It was working OK when I last switched it off.

I decided that the best thing to do would be to load the latest beta firmware, which was what I was going to do anyway, but the K3 Utility reported:

Sending firmware file hfpf0002.hex to FPF
21:40:28 Send FPF firmware failed at load address x7b1f
21:40:28 FPF program load failed
21:40:28 Ready

The receiver appears to be working and I can tune the VFO, although I have no idea where I am as the VFO display just reads FPF Load / Pending.

While typing this I managed to clear the problem by pressing Band Down until I got to the lower bands, when I saw that frequencies were appearing again. When I press Band Up frequencies are now appearing, but when I move up to 21MHz or any higher band VFO B briefly displays ERR PL1 before showing the frequency.

Having got to this point, I tried to upload the firmware again and this time it appears to have been successful. So what went wrong? The previous firmware was, I think, 2.13 beta. All seems OK now but it was a scary moment that I could have done without.
Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392  K3 #222 KX3 #110
* G4ILO's Shack - http://www.g4ilo.com
* KComm - http://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html
* KTune - http://www.g4ilo.com/ktune.html
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Re: K3 FPF Load failed

Deni F5VJC
Yes scary indeed!

I have never yet had a download fail, Beta or otherwise, but, I always hold my breath until I have a working K3 again!

I dread the day this does fail and I have a dumb black box on my hands.

Is there a quick route out of of this nightmare scenario?

I have seen written " Dont Panic" but what exactly is the recommended procedure when a new download screws your superbly honed K3?

73, Deni
F5VJC




Julian, G4ILO wrote
It has been about 3 weeks since I last switched on my K3 and when I did so just now, VFO A said "FPF Load" and VFO B said "Pending". It was working OK when I last switched it off.

I decided that the best thing to do would be to load the latest beta firmware, which was what I was going to do anyway, but the K3 Utility reported:

Sending firmware file hfpf0002.hex to FPF
21:40:28 Send FPF firmware failed at load address x7b1f
21:40:28 FPF program load failed
21:40:28 Ready

The receiver appears to be working and I can tune the VFO, although I have no idea where I am as the VFO display just reads FPF Load / Pending.

While typing this I managed to clear the problem by pressing Band Down until I got to the lower bands, when I saw that frequencies were appearing again. When I press Band Up frequencies are now appearing, but when I move up to 21MHz or any higher band VFO B briefly displays ERR PL1 before showing the frequency.

Having got to this point, I tried to upload the firmware again and this time it appears to have been successful. So what went wrong? The previous firmware was, I think, 2.13 beta. All seems OK now but it was a scary moment that I could have done without.
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Re: K3 FPF Load failed

Don Wilhelm-4
In reply to this post by Julian, G4ILO
Julian,

This was an intermittent problem experienced by a few K3 owners.  It was
fixed in version 2.22 - see the firmware release notes.

73,
Don W3FPR

Julian, G4ILO wrote:

> It has been about 3 weeks since I last switched on my K3 and when I did so
> just now, VFO A said "FPF Load" and VFO B said "Pending". It was working OK
> when I last switched it off.
>
> I decided that the best thing to do would be to load the latest beta
> firmware, which was what I was going to do anyway, but the K3 Utility
> reported:
>
> Sending firmware file hfpf0002.hex to FPF
> 21:40:28 Send FPF firmware failed at load address x7b1f
> 21:40:28 FPF program load failed
> 21:40:28 Ready
>
> The receiver appears to be working and I can tune the VFO, although I have
> no idea where I am as the VFO display just reads FPF Load / Pending.
>
> While typing this I managed to clear the problem by pressing Band Down until
> I got to the lower bands, when I saw that frequencies were appearing again.
> When I press Band Up frequencies are now appearing, but when I move up to
> 21MHz or any higher band VFO B briefly displays ERR PL1 before showing the
> frequency.
>
> Having got to this point, I tried to upload the firmware again and this time
> it appears to have been successful. So what went wrong? The previous
> firmware was, I think, 2.13 beta. All seems OK now but it was a scary moment
> that I could have done without.
>
>  
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Re: K3 FPF Load failed

Don Wilhelm-4
In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC
Deni,

Yes, do not panic!  Go the the manual and read the section on firmware
download, especially the part on "Forcing a Fir,ware Download.

73,
Don W3FPR

Deni F5VJC wrote:

> Yes scary indeed!
>
> I have never yet had a download fail, Beta or otherwise, but, I always hold
> my breath until I have a working K3 again!
>
> I dread the day this does fail and I have a dumb black box on my hands.
>
> Is there a quick route out of of this nightmare scenario?
>
> I have seen written " Dont Panic" but what exactly is the recommended
> procedure when a new download screws your superbly honed K3?
>  
>
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Re: K3 FPF Load failed

Barry N1EU
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4

Don Wilhelm wrote
This was an intermittent problem experienced by a few K3 owners.  It was
fixed in version 2.22 - see the firmware release notes.
I just saw this once today with 2.23 - power cycling the K3 clears it.

73,
Barry N1EU
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RE: K3 FPF Load failed

Dick Dievendorff
In reply to this post by Deni F5VJC
The quick route is to retry the firmware load.  If it fails "hard", you most
probably have a communications cabling problem.  In all my testing of the K3
Utility (and I've tried really hard to duplicate "nightmare" scenarios) I've
never been in a situation where a complete firmware reload wouldn't solve
the problem.  Sometimes I have been testing a marginal USB to Serial Adapter
that just didn't work out, but replacing the cable with a good one has
always been enough.

The K3 MCU "bootstrap" code is protected from mischief and power failures at
inconvenient times.  Any individual load might fail, but retrying it should
cure the problem.

Dick, K6KR



-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Deni F5VJC
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 2:47 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 FPF Load failed


Yes scary indeed!

I have never yet had a download fail, Beta or otherwise, but, I always hold
my breath until I have a working K3 again!

I dread the day this does fail and I have a dumb black box on my hands.

Is there a quick route out of of this nightmare scenario?

I have seen written " Dont Panic" but what exactly is the recommended
procedure when a new download screws your superbly honed K3?

73, Deni
F5VJC





Julian, G4ILO wrote:

>
> It has been about 3 weeks since I last switched on my K3 and when I did so
> just now, VFO A said "FPF Load" and VFO B said "Pending". It was working
> OK when I last switched it off.
>
> I decided that the best thing to do would be to load the latest beta
> firmware, which was what I was going to do anyway, but the K3 Utility
> reported:
>
> Sending firmware file hfpf0002.hex to FPF
> 21:40:28 Send FPF firmware failed at load address x7b1f
> 21:40:28 FPF program load failed
> 21:40:28 Ready
>
> The receiver appears to be working and I can tune the VFO, although I have
> no idea where I am as the VFO display just reads FPF Load / Pending.
>
> While typing this I managed to clear the problem by pressing Band Down
> until I got to the lower bands, when I saw that frequencies were appearing
> again. When I press Band Up frequencies are now appearing, but when I move
> up to 21MHz or any higher band VFO B briefly displays ERR PL1 before
> showing the frequency.
>
> Having got to this point, I tried to upload the firmware again and this
> time it appears to have been successful. So what went wrong? The previous
> firmware was, I think, 2.13 beta. All seems OK now but it was a scary
> moment that I could have done without.
>

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