How long?

[scottwhitson]

I am having apex issues and have a ticket in with Neptune but they are taking their sweet time to respond and I have a 700+ gallon system down right now. Anyway I hooked up my spare Apex and am trying to update the firmware and from what I remember from previous times this only takes a few minutes. The Apex flash utility screen says.
Login Successful
Requesting boot loader version information
at the very bottom it says uploading firmware updates...

it has been in this screen with no progress bar for over 10 minutes and hasn't changed. Anyone experienced this before?

 

[slief]

I am having apex issues and have a ticket in with Neptune but they are taking their sweet time to respond and I have a 700+ gallon system down right now. Anyway I hooked up my spare Apex and am trying to update the firmware and from what I remember from previous times this only takes a few minutes. The Apex flash utility screen says.
Login Successful
Requesting boot loader version information
at the very bottom it says uploading firmware updates...

it has been in this screen with no progress bar for over 10 minutes and hasn't changed. Anyone experienced this before?

Do you have some sort of virus software or microsoft security running in the background? Often times there will be a pop up that asks if you want to allow that program to run the updater. It will halt the update until you click OK in the pop up.

 

[scottwhitson]

I have antivirus shut off and still it isn't progressing I think I read the progress status wrong but it is stuck at "loading firmware file into memory "

 

[slief]

I have antivirus shut off and still it isn't progressing I think I read the progress status wrong but it is stuck at "loading firmware file into memory "

What about Microsoft Security Essentials? I would reboot your computer and try again.

 

[scottwhitson]

Are you talking about when Windows asks for permission to continue? I had to allow the program to continue. I will also try the computer restart.

 

[slief]

Are you talking about when Windows asks for permission to continue? I had to allow the program to continue. I will also try the computer restart.

Yes. I was talking about windows asking for permission. That's MS security essentials function. Be sure to disable your virus scanner after the reboot.

 

[scottwhitson]

Ok computer is restarting and doing windows updates right now.

 

[slief]

Ok computer is restarting and doing windows updates right now.

If that doesn't work, you might try changing the port number in the network settings of your Apex. Port 80 is the default and in some cases, port 80 can be problematic as it's often blocked by firewalls. While I haven't seen update issues related to the port number, I have seen other issues. As such, if all else fails, try changing the port number of your Apex to 1024 and see if that works. Be sure to restart the Apex after making that change.

 

[scottwhitson]

It still gets to the "loading firmware file into memory" then no progress from there. I sure wish Neptune would reply to my ticket it has been 24 hrs since the last time I sent a response to them.

 

[scottwhitson]

Already have my port forwarding set to another number other than 80.

 

[slief]

It still gets to the "loading firmware file into memory" then no progress from there. I sure wish Neptune would reply to my ticket it has been 24 hrs since the last time I sent a response to them.

I would suggest sending a followup email to them. They typically respond much quicker than that.

 

[scottwhitson]

They finally called and we went through the Apex issues. One base unit is being sent back to them and we got the other one working. We had to reset the firmware back to factory in safe mode and then do firmware updates and all seems to be working now.

 

[Allentown]

Do not do a firmware update any other way than directly connecting your apex up to a PC and use the procedure here:

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/sh...Mac-directly-to-controller-to-update-firmware


They tell you it isn't necessary and that all you need is to have your apex hooked to a router but I'm telling you, the direct method is the way to go.

It works flawelessly every time and is super fast. Its only about 3 extra steps to go in and tweek your IP settings and subnet mask etc. Then you shut off your firewall and anti-virus, press send and refresh. Then you simply put your anti virus and firewall back up, change your IP and subnet back, disconnect the cable from the PC and hook everything back up to the routers or adapters.

It seems longer but what I have found is the procedure is actually FASTER...because it actually works.

I have actually avoided upgrading to win 10 JUST because I don't see a Win 10 procedure listed .... a 75 or 100ft Ethernet cable is about $10 bucks and usually on amazon they come in literally the next day or at the latest 2 days after that.

 

[slief]

They finally called and we went through the Apex issues. One base unit is being sent back to them and we got the other one working. We had to reset the firmware back to factory in safe mode and then do firmware updates and all seems to be working now.

Great to hear. I'm glad they finally got back to you and got you back up and running. Once you have all your programming complete, be sure to backup your configuration and programming as that would help you in the future as you won't have to reprogram everything because you could just restore from the backup.

FWIW, Allentowns advice is good advice but I will note that in the several years I've had my Apex, I have never once had an issue doing an update via my home network and never had to direct cable my Apex to my computer. I do have my Apex hardwired as is the computer I use to do the updates. I can certainly see how connecting the Apex directly to the computer via the network cable would eliminate a bunch of variables such as router firewall issues and networking issues but the wired home network method of updating works just fine for 99.999% of us Apex users.

 

[Allentown]

Great to hear. I'm glad they finally got back to you and got you back up and running. Once you have all your programming complete, be sure to backup your configuration and programming as that would help you in the future as you won't have to reprogram everything because you could just restore from the backup.

FWIW, Allentowns advice is good advice but I will note that in the several years I've had my Apex, I have never once had an issue doing an update via my home network and never had to direct cable my Apex to my computer. I do have my Apex hardwired as is the computer I use to do the updates. I can certainly see how connecting the Apex directly to the computer via the network cable would eliminate a bunch of variables such as router firewall issues and networking issues but the wired home network method of updating works just fine for 99.999% of us Apex users.

Slief,

Off the top of your head, what is the most efficient way to back up one apex base unit, pull out another and duplicate that exact programming on a second base unit and then store that unit as an emergency back up.

It seems to me that might not work so well because when you plug in the back up (or even the original after its been serviced) it could assign different numbers to different items. For example, what was EB8_3 could be detected as EB8_4 and vice versa and then all of your programming would be wrong and youd still have to manually move all the programming around anyway.

Am I wrong on that?

 

[slief]

Slief,

Off the top of your head, what is the most efficient way to back up one apex base unit, pull out another and duplicate that exact programming on a second base unit and then store that unit as an emergency back up.

It seems to me that might not work so well because when you plug in the back up (or even the original after its been serviced) it could assign different numbers to different items. For example, what was EB8_3 could be detected as EB8_4 and vice versa and then all of your programming would be wrong and youd still have to manually move all the programming around anyway.

Am I wrong on that?

The key would be to plug everything back in to the new controller in the same order it was plugged into the old controller. If the addresses don't come up right, start over.. It's pretty easy with a smaller Apex setup. I have my backup controller all setup this way so it's plug and play. I just disconnect the one Aquabus cable, display, probes, Network and VDM cables and plug in the new one. All of my EB8's, EB4 and every other device are pre configured and preprogrammed so the swap is seamless.

 

[scottwhitson]

I was hard wired with an Ethernet Cale and it still wasn't working. Neptune can telnet into your system and change the addresses of the modules. That is what we had to do after we reset to factory firmware because adding them in order wasnt working al the time it was easier for them to telnet in and change the addresses.

 

[scottwhitson]

Luckily I already had my programs saved from a previous apex crash so I didn't need to reprogram anything just reloaded what I had saved.