IMPORTANT NOTICE - Only use good quality brand name USB Memory Sticks for upgrades

We had a few units get locked out of their CPU's over the past update. (CPU's Shut Down) After testing it was realized that the few customers affected were using low end USB Memory sticks which wrote corrupt firmware data to the ALP causing it to lock up. AntiLaser is working on a way to prevent this from happening in the future but the easy fix is to use good quality USB drives. On the Firmware Update site AL does list the following: USE ONLY quality USB flash drives, such as Crosair, Lexar, Transcend, SanDisk, Kingston, Verbatim, etc. If you have some cheap USB drive or some non brand name please pick up a new USB drive for your ALP.

Does the CPU verify the firmware's checksum/CRC/whatever on the stick before flashing itself? That would prevent this sort of thing.

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Originally Posted by radargeek

Does the CPU verify the firmware's checksum/CRC/whatever on the stick before flashing itself? That would prevent this sort of thing.

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Yes, The file passed all checks but the write was corrupted.

And for those with cpus locked out : what is the solution to regain the cpu ?

Do they have to return it for repair ? or they can just re-install the firmware ?

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Originally Posted by Tman

And for those with cpus locked out : what is the solution to regain the cpu ?

Do they have to return it for repair ? or they can just re-install the firmware ?

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Corrupted CPU's need to be replaced. One user was our customer and they already received a new replacement unit.

That is good service.

That is the reason i had suggested a ''big'' reset button
that would resurrect the most dead cpu
(according of course it is not the harware that is broken)
I understand electronics is electronics ...

Hopefully Al will implement a solution at the source.

================================================
Out of topic

I experienced now the frustration of sending back my Lukas 7300G to Korea ,
due a full lock-out after installing a fully approved firmware under fully approved
procedure....pita.
================================================== ======

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tman

That is good service.

That is the reason i had suggested a ''big'' reset button
that would resurrect the most dead cpu
(according of course it is not the harware that is broken)
I understand electronics is electronics ...

Hopefully Al will implement a solution at the source.

================================================
Out of topic

I experienced now the frustration of sending back my Lukas 7300G to Korea ,
due a full lock-out after installing a fully approved firmware under fully approved
procedure....pita.
================================================== ======

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Unfortunately with all the CPU cloning that has been seen in the past this is necessary to protect the asset of the ALP. While it is a bit of a nuisance it does keep people from tampering with it.

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Originally Posted by mirage

Unfortunately with all the CPU cloning that has been seen in the past this is necessary to protect the asset of the ALP. While it is a bit of a nuisance it does keep people from tampering with it.

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Right , i did not think of this issue ...proof there is always 2 sides to a coin.

was it me that had my CPU replaced tim from don't get caught replaced mine a few month back the unit would not power up soon as I plugged in another cpu it worked right away

I've also had a toasted CPU but mine had a DOA port lol.

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Originally Posted by beingaware

I've also had a toasted CPU but mine had a DOA port lol.

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Was that before or after you took it apart?

Haha I never took apart an alp cpu haha. Have ripped apart G9 ones though haha.

They are easy to glitch and gain access to their os.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

A protected boot loader, checksumming the file, and verifying after write would prevent the majority of "bricked" CPUs due to a bad flash.

Even better is if the CPU contained two banks/blocks of program memory, and each firmware update is written to the alternate bank, verified, then the vectors re-assigned. A failed update would simply revert back to the previous version still intact in the other bank. I don't know how easy this is to do on PIC24 devices, but if the code is written to be relocatable, or jump addresses are adjusted during the flashing process, it should be doable as long as the CPU has at least 2x the program memory needed to store the firmware.

Asset protection can be provided through encryption of the file (and decrypted by the boot loader during the flash), and using the PIC's built in program memory protection features.

I wonder, if one has a bricked CPU if it could be resurrected using a valid firmware file and a PIC programming tool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by radargeek

A protected boot loader, checksumming the file, and verifying after write would prevent the majority of "bricked" CPUs due to a bad flash.

Even better is if the CPU contained two banks/blocks of program memory, and each firmware update is written to the alternate bank, verified, then the vectors re-assigned. A failed update would simply revert back to the previous version still intact in the other bank. I don't know how easy this is to do on PIC24 devices, but if the code is written to be relocatable, or jump addresses are adjusted during the flashing process, it should be doable as long as the CPU has at least 2x the program memory needed to store the firmware.

Asset protection can be provided through encryption of the file (and decrypted by the boot loader during the flash), and using the PIC's built in program memory protection features.

I wonder, if one has a bricked CPU if it could be resurrected using a valid firmware file and a PIC programming tool.

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Makes sense , a lot .

I am far from being an expert , but my thinking is as follows : when a cpu is bricked what is
broken exactely : is it the ''brain'' that refuses to listen\read the instructions or it is
the hardware that cut communication .

If i was designer of such : i would have a secret backdoor that could only be open
with a dedicated code \ so as to open the comm between the hardware & the firmware \
This code would only be supplied thru email after proper identification by the seller.

As my dash experience : the manufacturer Qrontech sent me a debugging file
that i wrote on the sd and put in the cam ...it was supposed to fix it ...but
nothing happened . I supposed the system locked him-self and nothing would make
him listen ....

Those things are almost human:frusty:...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beingaware

Haha I never took apart an alp cpu haha. Have ripped apart G9 ones though haha.

They are easy to glitch and gain access to their os.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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Haha he said glitch I wonder how many know about that! Havent heard that in years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tman

I am far from being an expert , but my thinking is as follows : when a cpu is bricked what is
broken exactely : is it the ''brain'' that refuses to listen\read the instructions or it is
the hardware that cut communication .

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Typically if a firmware update "bricks" the cpu the operating system/bootloadser code is corrupted so it no longer functions, since the programming that makes it work is gone/corrupted. Think of when the HDD dies in your PC and it no longer boots, it's sort of like that, though more like if you hose your computer's BIOS so it doesn't even POST.

Once it's bricked it no longer has the code needed to read the new firmware off the thumb drive. The only fix is to reflash the chip directly using a chip programmer. A write-protected bootloader that contains the firmware update functionality would prevent most "bricking" from occurring, since then if an update fails you can simply try it again.

So, to answer your question, the hardware is still there but it has no working software to run.

My unit worked fine for my trip after the 1/29 firmware. When it went to boot up the second time it was dead. I use a sandisk drive. A replacement was sent to me the Saturday that I reported it and received the new one Monday. ALP sent a firmware file to me and it loaded fine. I haven't had a chance to try it with all the snow we had in NY. They said it my be that I had the str+ upgrade.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tman

Makes sense , a lot .

I am far from being an expert , but my thinking is as follows : when a cpu is bricked what is
broken exactely : is it the ''brain'' that refuses to listen\read the instructions or it is
the hardware that cut communication .

If i was designer of such : i would have a secret backdoor that could only be open
with a dedicated code \ so as to open the comm between the hardware & the firmware \
This code would only be supplied thru email after proper identification by the seller.

As my dash experience : the manufacturer Qrontech sent me a debugging file
that i wrote on the sd and put in the cam ...it was supposed to fix it ...but
nothing happened . I supposed the system locked him-self and nothing would make
him listen ....

Those things are almost human:frusty:...

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I'm 99.99% sure that the "bricked" CPUs can easily be repaired with any ICSP tool (pic programmer). I highly doubt that ALP would release a .hex file for you to use though, so it'd probably have to be sent back.

This is good to be aware of BRD, Thx, fix the problem before it occurs

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Originally Posted by mb300sd

I'm 99.99% sure that the "bricked" CPUs can easily be repaired with any ICSP tool (pic programmer). I highly doubt that ALP would release a .hex file for you to use though, so it'd probably have to be sent back.

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That's probably true, but it would be nice if they could provide a bootloader-only .hex file for unbricking a CPU, after which you'd load the real firmware via a thumb drive. At least make it available to dealers like BRD so they can fix bricked CPUs without having to send them back to Antilaser.

FYI - This issue was resolved and there is a new firmware upgrade process internally in the ALP starting with the next firmware update that will prevent the ALP from having any issue with any USB Drive. Until the next firmware update is released in the next few weeks just stick with using good quality USB Drives. After the next update the ALP will accept the update and check and verify the file thoroughly before overriding the current file with the new one.