JP1 Remotes

For the second time rejoining the JP world, trying to set up my AR RX 18G XSight remote(s) (I have two)

Both had been stored for around 10-11 years, at least, but charged up fine, and the old programming seemed to be there (although i don't have most of those components to test them on any more.)

Downloaded all of the JP1 tools, and connected one via USB. It took a while and some tweaking (regedit, etc) but i got it to download. Immediately suggesting a firmware upgrade, which i accepted.

Have played with it for a few days - adding upgrades for my components one by one. Every once in a while after an upgrade, it would give me bad verifications, or some other error message. Eventually, i deleted all of the old macros and activities, figuring that they may have been referencing devices/functions that had been deleted/overwritten, and it was going smoothly.

Then, today, after adding my latest couple of devices, after plugging the remote from USB, it would just sit there with "USB Connected": displayed on the screen and not go back to the home screen.

I removed the battery and reinserted it, and now it simply displays the boot-up screen (XSight touch" graphic) and goes no further.

When I reconnect the USB, it communicates, uploads and downloads fine, but when i unplug it, the same - "USB connected" remains on touch screen indefinitely, or if I remove and reinsert the battery, the XSight logo stays on.

WTF should I do? Have I bricked it?

Part deux - after getting stuck on the first remote, I tried it with the second one. It had different initial programming than the first, but I downloaded and saved the RMIR file, accepted the firmware upgrade, and then uploaded the same RMIR file as I have in the first (hung-up) remote.

On this one, I upgraded the firmware TWICE (on consecutive downloads), but the RMIR image I had built for the first remote, uploaded fine, and the remote seems to work correctly.

How do I recover remote #1?

I've never seen anything quite like that. Closest I've seen is getting stuck in Firemware Upgrade mode. I'd try a "Format and Rebuild", then load the file that's working on remote #2.

You can close this thread out. I waited overnight, and the remote "cleared" whatever was hanging it up. I have now connected and disconnected it several times, and it seems to be working/responding correctly.

Obviously a gremlin that got bored.

I spoke too soon. Remote #1 is once again locked up with the bootup XSight logo - and has been for several hours. Will let it sit overnight and see what happens, but my other one is working fine with exactly the same RMIR file uploaded into it.

Capn Trips wrote: after unplugging the remote from USB, it would just sit there with "USB Connected": displayed on the screen and not go back to the home screen.

I removed the battery and reinserted it, and now it simply displays the boot-up screen (XSight touch" graphic) and goes no further.

When I reconnect the USB, it communicates, uploads and downloads fine, but when i unplug it, the same - "USB connected" remains on touch screen indefinitely, or if I remove and reinsert the battery, the XSight logo stays on.

WTF should I do? Have I bricked it?

How do I recover remote #1?

First, let me add my welcome to the chorus of "Welcome back"s that you are receiving .

I don't know why the second remote should have done a firmware update twice, but since it did then it indicates that for some reason the firmware update may not be completing. Before trying mdavej's suggestion of "Format and Rebuild", I would force another firmware update. You do this by the menu item Advanced > XSight operations > Force XSight Firmware Upgrade. After checking this item, the next download will do a firmware update. Note that this menu option is only visible when an XSight setup is loaded into RMIR.

If still no luck then try mdavej's suggestion, which is on the same menu. The firmware update does a complete rewrite of the 256MB firmware of the ARM processor that runs the OS of the remote. Format and Rebuild reformats the internal file system that is in a separate chip and rewrites its system files. Between the two rewrites, this should solve most problems. There is a third LSI chip, an S3F80, that runs the IR Blaster and probably also the bootstrap and update routines. We have no way of rewriting that, but it seems unlikely that is the cause of your problems.

mathdon wrote:First, let me add my welcome to the chorus of "Welcome back"s that you are receiving .

I don't know why the second remote should have done a firmware update twice, but since it did then it indicates that for some reason the firmware update may not be completing. Before trying mdavej's suggestion of "Format and Rebuild", I would force another firmware update. You do this by the menu item Advanced > XSight operations > Force XSight Firmware Upgrade. After checking this item, the next download will do a firmware update. Note that this menu option is only visible when an XSight setup is loaded into RMIR.

If still no luck then try mdavej's suggestion, which is on the same menu. The firmware update does a complete rewrite of the 256MB firmware of the ARM processor that runs the OS of the remote. Format and Rebuild reformats the internal file system that is in a separate chip and rewrites its system files. Between the two rewrites, this should solve most problems. There is a third LSI chip, an S3F80, that runs the IR Blaster and probably also the bootstrap and update routines. We have no way of rewriting that, but it seems unlikely that is the cause of your problems.

Well, thank you very much! The "forced" firmware update seems to have (for now) done the trick. I will continue monitoring, and come back to this post if I need to.

As for the welcome back - appreciate it. I notice that I am STILL (after basically 10 years of absence) the #5 most prolific poster (!) which tells me that there are not a lot of new folks diving in, and makes me appreciate even more the work that you stalwarts have, and continue, to put into this.

It's stunning how much i have forgotten, but it's coming back with the greatly improved tools you've produced, and your help on these fora.

I'm still iffy with some of the hardware stuff - that's why I'm mostly focusing on my XSights - the USB connection just "works". Having challenges making my old-ish JP1.2/3 and JP1 cables work consistently. Both are USBs, although I started out with the old parallel port JP1 cable! [I know, there was a serial port cable prior to that, but I'm not THAT old].

But that's for another day & thread.

Capn, you should order yourself an FTDI cable, they work with all the JP1.x remotes and they cost less than $10 shipped from eBay. You'll still need your old cables for the older JP1 remotes, or you can get an adapter from DIY Gadgets to make them work with your FTDI cable.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16360

The Robman wrote:Capn, you should order yourself an FTDI cable, they work with all the JP1.x remotes and they cost less than $10 shipped from eBay. You'll still need your old cables for the older JP1 remotes, or you can get an adapter from DIY Gadgets to make them work with your FTDI cable.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16360

Thanks, Robman, but I think my cables are good.

https://i.imgur.com/8Zixtuz.jpg

The JP1.2/3 has, I'm pretty sure, an FTDI chip. I had to fiddle with driver updates and overrides, but I got it to communicate and it works with my newest computer on my 1056s.
The JP1, however, is the problematic interface. I keep getting "no remote found" even though the PC says that a USB device was connected, and "is functioning properly." Since I have little intention of actually using a 15-1994, -2117, or 6131, I don't REALLY need it, but for completeness it would be nice if i could get it to work.

The old JP1 cables have a Delcom chip for which there is no Delcom-supported 64-bit driver. It is a bit of a fiddle to get them working on Windows 10, and for that matter also on any other 64-bit version of Windows. For Windows 10, Vicky has written this excellent set of instructions on how to do it. If you try it and can't get it to work, post here and I am sure we can get it sorted out.

And if you try following Vicky's guide, try to follow the instructions to the letter, the first time I tried it didn't work and it was because I missed a step (I forget which one now), but then 2nd time I got it.

The Robman wrote:And if you try following Vicky's guide, try to follow the instructions to the letter, the first time I tried it didn't work and it was because I missed a step (I forget which one now), but then 2nd time I got it.

THANKS! As usual, the help here is phenomenal! (Hey, any signs of Elliot Axel or Jim Gammel?)

Another question - do JP1/JP1.2/3/4 remotes require batteries installed in order to work with RMIR/IR, or will they work without? I seem to recall that sometimes one needed the batteries in, and in some case(s) I had problems with the batteries in and it worked better without batteries - but there didn't seem to be a universal rule?

mathdon wrote:The old JP1 cables have a Delcom chip for which there is no Delcom-supported 64-bit driver. It is a bit of a fiddle to get them working on Windows 10, and for that matter also on any other 64-bit version of Windows. For Windows 10, Vicky has written this excellent set of instructions on how to do it. If you try it and can't get it to work, post here and I am sure we can get it sorted out.

Perfect! Works like a champ!

Now I can program/play with all of my JP1-family remotes again!
Woo-hoo!

Capn Trips wrote:THANKS! As usual, the help here is phenomenal! (Hey, any signs of Elliot Axel or Jim Gammel?)

Thankfully no, or if they are lurking under false names, which Axel was known to do, they've been keeping a low profile. Hopefully you didn't just wake them up.

Capn Trips wrote:Another question - do JP1/JP1.2/3/4 remotes require batteries installed in order to work with RMIR/IR, or will they work without? I seem to recall that sometimes one needed the batteries in, and in some case(s) I had problems with the batteries in and it worked better without batteries - but there didn't seem to be a universal rule?

First off, you can't lump JP1 and JP1.x together, completely different beasts. I don't think it matters with the current FTDI cables, but I can't honestly say that I've paid much attention. With the older cables with JP1 remotes it did seem to make a difference but there wasn't a universal rule. If the cable didn't work WITH batteries, try it WITHOUT, and vice versa.

Capn Trips wrote:I removed the battery and reinserted it, and now it simply displays the boot-up screen (XSight touch" graphic) and goes no further.

When I reconnect the USB, it communicates, uploads and downloads fine, but when i unplug it, the same - "USB connected" remains on touch screen indefinitely, or if I remove and reinsert the battery, the XSight logo stays on.?

This happened to me yesterday, except I was just using the remote normally, not programming it. The screen was blank until I pressed a button, then it was stuck on the xsight boot screen. When I connected and then disconnected it to my computer the remote become stuck on the connected to USB screen.

Forcing the remote to update solved my problem as well.

I only mention this because

mjdave wrote:I've never seen anything quite like that. Closest I've seen is getting stuck in Firemware Upgrade mode. I'd try a "Format and Rebuild", then load the file that's working on remote #2.

Necroing this thread, as I've run into the same problem... but forcing a firmware update doesn't fix the problem.

When disconnected, I'm stuck on the white 'Xsight Touch" bootup screen. I can connect via USB. I've forced a firmware update. I've done a reformat/rebuild. I've re-uploaded my saved config. I've tried removing and re-inserting the battery at various stages between attempts. Nada.

When I disconnect from the computer, I'm stuck on the dark "USB connected" screen until I pop out the battery.

The only thing I did since the last time I used the remote was that I left it out of the cradle overnight (which based upon reports of bettery life should NOT have been a problem).

Suggestions?