FIRMWARE UPDATE
Updating the Firmware
The firmware as well as the character set can be programmed via the USB interface. Thus, updates, customer specific character sets or firmware can be newly arranged. During an updating operation the device will not work as display.
Updating the firmware (including the standard character sets) or the space page can be done by using the WNUpdHID.exe file. There is no need for additional hardware (see also next page).
The utility WNUpdHID.exe can be used to perform a firmware update or a character table update. In the following the reference is to firmware update, as this is is more critical than just performing a character table update.
WNUpdHID.exe requires the WNHidHlp.dll to run. It is recommendable to have the DLL and the executable file in the same directory. In the dialog of the firmware update utility you specify the type of device, for which a firmware update should be done. For the BA63 USB a selection
- BA63
- Nonspecific (virgin device) is relevant.
Roughly the BA63 USB software can be divided into a loader and a firmware. The selection "BA63" is for a case, where the BA63 USB already has a firmware and therefore knows "which type of device it is". If there is no firmware at all, i.e. just the loader, only "Nonspecific" can be used.
"Nonspecific" also may be used in case something went wrong during the update, i.e. it serves as a fallback. Note, if "Nonspecific" is chosen, there must not be any other firmware updatable HID devices! There is a file browsing facility to select the firmware file for update. It should have a .DAT
extension. After both the device type and the firmware file are selected, the download can be started. It takes some time until the update actually starts, as the device does a reenumeration. Please wait for the enumeration to finish! When the update starts, you will see a progress bar. If the update was successful, you will get a message and you will see the BA63 performing a reset and showing the actual versions of the loader and firmware. If something went wrong, you may get messages like
- "Command reject"
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FIRMWARE UPDATE
- "Operation in error"
- "Device not found"
- "Command reject" may occur, if the firmware update file is not for this type of device.
- "Operation in error" may occur in case of a hardware failure, e.g. no successful flashing, therfeore, a retry is performed in this case.
- "Device not found" may have the reason that the BA63 is not connected to the system. In this case check the cable. Another reason may be that something went wrong during flashing and from the system point of view the device no longer looks like a BA63. In such a case you may try the selection
"Nonspecific (virgin device)" rather than BA63 for another update. Note, that the BA63 normally offers two interfaces to the system:
- 'line display' interface --> corresponds to BA63
- 'firmware update' interface --> corresponds to Nonspecific (virgin device)
When a firmware update is started, the BA63 clears the firmware and reenumerates to just having a 'firmware update' interface. Then the firmware update is performed and when finished, the BA63 again performs a reset and reenumerates to having a 'line display' and 'firmware update' interface, if the update was OK. If something went wrong, still only the 'firmware update' interface is presented. Therefore, the selection "Nonspecific (virgin device)" serves as a fallback, if anything got wrong during an update performed before. The About button may be used to get the software version.
Please finish the update utility by pressing the Exit button.
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