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This week I had a roller coaster experience upgrading the firmware to my D3. I had been advised by MotoSAT to upgrade the firmware to fix a transmit issue. Not being an electronic communications professional or avid Datastorm hobbyist, I had a tech from MotoSAT guide me through the 3.9.3-1 upgrade by phone. At the point of doing the upper control board update, something went wrong and we could no longer communicate with the D3. We tried nearly everything for hours: power cycling, change cables, etc. I dunno, maybe I screwed up somewhere, but we could not make it work after mind-numbing attempts. The tech was earnestly trying to fix the problem. A few times he went and checked with the other techs, and eventually came back with some bad news. Apparently all the checklist items together pointed one way. My D3 was DEAD. I knew the warrantee was also expired. So I was to contact a dealer and contract for another $600 unit. After hanging up the phone, a dark dirge began in my head.
A few minutes later I called Bill Adams (www.internetanywhere.us) who had sold me the unit. I described what had happened, and he told me with confidence the unit was NOT DEAD, and directed me to a posting he had made a while ago which described how to make the firmware upgrade. He said to first give this a try, then give him a call if I wanted to use his fee-based support. I printed out the posted instructions and went back to the RV. A quiet miracle happened. Communication with the D3 was restored (not sure why) but the antenna wouldn't lock onto the satellite. I was still confused over the issue of the ucbupdate. It was the attempt to do this in the upgrade process which led to the D3 being declared dead. Does this happen with the main firmware update or do you have to manually do this after the main firmware update? Could the lack of a proper ucbupdate be why I was not finding the satellite? Time was running out, this needed to be fixed, and soon.
The D3 did work, so Bill had already saved me $600, along with the time/hassle in getting another unit set up. (Another kind of dealer might have just taken my order for a new unit.) It seemed like a bargain to pay the Ubertech to straighten this darned mess out. So a short time later, I had Bill step me through the process over the phone. Within an hour we had done what was needed to fix the D3. The antenna found the satellite immediately, and everything was rosy. Yippee!
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Does this (ucbupdate) happen with the main firmware update or do you have to manually do this after the main firmware update?
After the D3 is upgraded it will automatically update the UCB as soon as the D3 detects it. You will see the busy light flashing for a few minutes as soon as it gets turned. If you go to the D3 page you will see in the status line that it is doing the ucbupdate and it even gives a percentage done. If you are not sure it was done you can manually do it, no harm.
-------------------- Don Marr WWW.OREGONRV.NET 541-683-5361 See where I am Country Coach Concept 40' F1 - D3|7000s|99W|LinkSys wireless with 1000mw WiFi amp & Ext. antenna Posts: 3384 | From: Eugene, OR | Registered: Jun 2004
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Aaron, Thanks for the kind words, I am glad that I could help. Ubertech? Janet says too many more comments like that and I will not be able to get my big head through the door! As Don said, the ucbupdate "should" take place immediately following the firmware update. Sometimes this does not happen and the manual update is necessary. It is also possible that immediately following the firmware update the tech. might have interrupted the update by doing an nvclear (the next step) before the D3 had time to complete the update. I know because I have made this mistake myself.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15703 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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