Help - Dead RCA RCRP05B

chuliu · Post by **chuliu** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:39 am

Here is the output from debug tester:
Please help

C:\Users\dreambox\Desktop\testgroup>Debug_Tester -debug
tester version 0.03
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opening COM1
Opening COM2
Opening COM3
DCB paramaters:
DCBlength=28
BaudRate=38400
fBinary=1
fParity=0
fOutxCtsFlow=0
fOutxDsrFlow=0
fDtrControl=1
fDsrSensitivity=0
fTXContinueOnXoff=0
fOutX=0
fInX=0
fErrorChar=0
fNull=0
fRtsControl=1
fAbortOnError=0
fDummy2=0
wReserved=0
XonLim=2048
XoffLim=512
ByteSize=8
Parity=0
StopBits=0
XonChar=17
XoffChar=19
ErrorChar=0
EofChar=0
EvtChar=0
wReserved1=0
CLRRTS
CLRDTR
SETDTR
SETBREAK
CLRBREAK
Purging RX and TX buffers
Reading up to 20 bytes to flush out spurious data
Didn't get any spurious data
Sending tEst command (45h)
Reading up to 20 bytes of response
Got no response
CLRDTR
SETDTR
SETRTS
CLRRTS
Purging RX and TX buffers
Reading up to 20 bytes to flush out spurious data
Didn't get any spurious data
Sending tEst command (45h)
Reading up to 20 bytes of response
Got no response
SETBREAK
SETRTS
CLRRTS
CLRBREAK
Purging RX and TX buffers
Reading up to 20 bytes to flush out spurious data
Didn't get any spurious data
Sending tEst command (45h)
Reading up to 20 bytes of response
Got no response
Opening COM4
Opening COM5
Opening COM6
Opening COM7
Opening COM8
Opening COM9
Unable to connect

eferz · Post by **eferz** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:08 am

chuliu wrote:I also have bricked one RCRP05B today. I am not sure what I did. I might have plug the jp1 incorrectly. I also open the ir.exe and try download and upload the remote. Then the remote is bricked. I am sure the cable is working as I have a spare same remote which communicate to ir.exe without problem.

I tried to remove one battery and press one button for a few seconds as explained in the troubleshooting guide but it did not work. The jpxtest.bat reports that no jp1 compatible remote found. Anyway I can un-brick the remote?

Did you try new batteries?

chuliu · Post by **chuliu** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:17 pm

yes tried new battery. no luck.

eferz · Post by **eferz** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:50 pm

chuliu wrote:yes tried new battery. no luck.

Have you tried a 981 reset?

andyross · Post by **andyross** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:31 am

By bricked, is it totally dead, or does it seem to respond for a bit, then go 'dead'? I had one do that. Someone gave me a special low-level program that does more than the normal IR programs. I also bought a second RCA and used that to try and 'clone' it. After some fiddling, it worked enough to get the 981 reset to work.

I always thought it happened by mixing up using RMIR and IR with different settings. The RCA's extender is 'permanent', and weird things may happen if you try to upload a non-extender image with the extender still active.

dailyglen · Post by **dailyglen** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:40 pm

Hi,

Sad day for me. I seem to have bricked my RCRP05B too. I plugged my JP1 cable in backwards and now no lights appear and RM IR 2.02 beta says "No remotes found". I've tried 2 different sets of batteries.

I'm using extender 1.05 and was re-installing the extender after making a keymove. I'm pretty sure it was because I plugged the cable in backwards.

I guess this is what I get for staying up too late:)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

chuliu · Post by **chuliu** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:06 pm

hi
long time since last post.
I decided to give it one more try by asking here before sending this item to RCA for repair.

I tried the 981 reset of course, and no good.
I tried new battery, and no good as well.
the debug was like above.

andy,
Do you mind mail me the special low level tool to me?
As my case seemed to be it worked, and then went dead, it was like your case where you managed to recover the remote.

Mike99 · Post by **Mike99** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:15 am

chuliu wrote: I tried to remove one battery and press one button for a few seconds as explained in the troubleshooting guide but it did not work. The jpxtest.bat reports that no jp1 compatible remote found. Anyway I can un-brick the remote?

I did not see this mentioned in the troubleshooting guide that came with the remote. I'm not sure of the exact procedure that you used, but I tried something that got my partially disabled remote going again.

I removed a battery then pressed & held button #2 while re-inserting the battery. Everything went back to normal. I chose button #2 because that's what I do when my Harmony remote stops working.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 2:15 pm

Everyone: Remember that the JP1.3 remotes are very sensitive to the setup information that is stored in the block of memory from $600 to the point where the Advance Codes start (you can get that address from the RDF) Even when the extender is in and activated if that data gets messed up it will cause the remotes to stop processing key presses and do other other weird stuff.

The first thing you should try is to look at the data in the RAW tab in IR or RMIR for both a "virgin" download of your remote and the one that you are using and see what has changed.

The first 8 bytes are the signature ($600-$607)
the next 2 bytes are the checksum ($608-$609, you can ignore these)
The next number of bytes are the setup codes, two bytes per device on the remote. (you can get these addresses from the RDF as well) on the 8-device remotes this runs from $60A through $619)

The stuff that comes after that and goes to the beginning of the advance codes is what is important. Some of these control VPT, other punch throughs and other things, but there are some bytes that we don't really understand what they do. So changing them can have bad consequences. (on the RCA remote this is the data from $61A through $648, other remotes will be different)

So, if your remote is not working, check this first. (this appears to be the issue in the recently reported RCA "Brick")

-bill

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 3:37 pm

It's true that we don't know the meaning of every byte in the RCRP05B E2 area. However, it isn't necessary to fiddle with the Raw Data just to get to a functioning E2 image.

The current version of the RCRP05B RDF file, if used with RMIR and File/New/RemoteImage, will make a functioning remote image which can be uploaded.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:24 pm

yea, but I was talking about someone who had a functioning remote and something went wrong.

Knowing what those bytes should be and putting them back can solve a lot of problems.

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 7:07 pm

Do we have that data documented as fixed data for all JP1.3 remotes?

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 8:28 pm

No, we don't. Firstly, the [Fixed Data] section of a RDF is inappropriate, because it sets the value of an entire byte at one time, and also causes RMIR and IR to complain if a download from a remote has a different value. Even though we may not know the meaning of some bytes or bits in the E2 area, manual programming of the remote may change the values, and we shouldn't demand that these stay fixed. For example, with the RCRP05B (and the Comcast 1067BX3), several of the bytes are related to the Global Punchthrough feature, and can be varied through use of the 984 command. So we shouldn't consider these as fixed, but not all values are legal. For the RCRP05B and the Atals 3033, I put the necessary values in the [Settings] section. Daniel Eble worked out the storage scheme for GPT, and now that section is about 60 lines longer!

Secondly, so far as I know, the only remotes for which the RDF has been tested and shown to provide a functioning remote image are the RCRP05B and the Atlas 3033. The latest versions of these RDFs are not in the 1.32 release.

Speaking from experience, it takes quite a bit of time to identify the bytes/bits which are critical, and unless the meaning is known, the RDF isn't a very good place to store this info.

I think it would make more sense to keep a repository here of images taken from the E2 area of each remote just after a 981 reset. If it didn't mean more software, I would prefer that each RDF file contain an E2 image of the remote after reset--probably with a scheme to skip the big sections of $FF. Then File/New/RemoteImage would give everybody a well understood starting point. (Of course, every JP1er should have such an image for their own remotes, but sometimes I want to provide an RMIR file for a remote that I don't own.)

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:07 pm

I hear ya, so I think we should at least store any known good values as comments in the RDF, so people with bricked remotes can (hopefully) get them working again.

Mike99 · Post by **Mike99** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:53 am

The remote was working yesterday afternoon but stopped controlling the HTPC in the evening. I re-entered the 1972 MCE device code & then it worked properly. This also happened about a week before I had the partially disabled problem.

The remote had worked perfectly since I bought it 3 months ago. I have never used a JP1 cable. I have only entered device codes for a few components, unlocked the volume & channel buttons & programmed one macro.

Any ideas why it would start acting up for no apparent reason?