Duo2 VFD dead after VFD Firmware update

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

Hi All...

I updated the VFD FW on my Duo2 (SN: E008********) with the FW update plugin.
The update failed at ~90% with an errno 5 input/output error and since then the VFD is dark, also during boot. (Standby Led Works)
It seems that no other issues exist.

Afterwards I tried to update the VFD FW with various images and versions incl. original VU+... no luck, every time the same error. I also tried the online and offline update as mentioned in the official FW upgrade guide...

I searched quite some time in the web and it might be that the VFD FW upgrade is not for newer Duo2 boxes or the FW update plugin has a problem.

Since I do not want to send the box to service.... it seems the original image is also suffering from this problem.

now some questions:

Does someone knows this problem and how to solve it?
Is there a possibility to update the VFD manually, without plugin...? (my python knowledge does not exist, but I found some stuff but still to less to do this manually)
Is there a way to dump the VFD FW from a running system to try to flash this to my system? If yes, can someone provide such VFD FW dump?
Is there any way to query some helpful status from the box like "cat /proc/devices"?

I would be very glad to have any glue to get this working again.

thx in advance.

Regards

nunigaia · Mar 16, 2015

writetoat said:
Hi All...

I updated the VFD FW on my Duo2 (SN: E008********) with the FW update plugin.
The update failed at ~90% with an errno 5 input/output error and since then the VFD is dark, also during boot. (Standby Led Works)
It seems that no other issues exist.

Afterwards I tried to update the VFD FW with various images and versions incl. original VU+... no luck, every time the same error. I also tried the online and offline update as mentioned in the official FW upgrade guide...

I searched quite some time in the web and it might be that the VFD FW upgrade is not for newer Duo2 boxes or the FW update plugin has a problem.

Since I do not want to send the box to service.... it seems the original image is also suffering from this problem.

now some questions:

Does someone knows this problem and how to solve it?
Is there a possibility to update the VFD manually, without plugin...? (my python knowledge does not exist, but I found some stuff but still to less to do this manually)
Is there a way to dump the VFD FW from a running system to try to flash this to my system? If yes, can someone provide such VFD FW dump?
Is there any way to query some helpful status from the box like "cat /proc/devices"?

I would be very glad to have any glue to get this working again.

thx in advance.

Regards

Hi Writetoat

You can ftp to your STB --> one of this files, i think it will turn back your VFD LCD display to life:

Act like i say on this post and reply --> choose one of the files as you like --> One moded by Evo, the other by Eragon ( only for blackhole images and not for Clone box´s ).

http://www.vuplus-community.net/boa...lcd-display-layouts.13520/page-16#post-159382

best regards
nunigaia

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

Hi.

Thx for answer... I have the problem with the VFD (in the middle of the Duo2) NOT the LCD (on the left side of the Duo2).... so I do not think that this will help.

LCD is working fine... but the VFD is dead... as I said the VFD is also dead during boot...

Regards

nunigaia · Mar 16, 2015

nunigaia said:
Hi Writetoat

You can ftp to your STB --> one of this files, i think it will turn back your VFD LCD display to life:

Act like i say on this post and reply --> choose one of the files as you like --> One moded by Evo, the other by Eragon ( only for blackhole images and not for Clone box´s ).

http://www.vuplus-community.net/boa...lcd-display-layouts.13520/page-16#post-159382

best regards
nunigaia

writetoat said:
Hi.

Thx for answer... I have the problem with the VFD (in the middle of the Duo2) NOT the LCD (on the left side of the Duo2).... so I do not think that this will help.

LCD is working fine... but the VFD is dead... as I said the VFD is also dead during boot...

Regards

Read carefully the post ---> this is regarding VFD --> skin_user.xml is responsible for make acting the VFD, instead of LCD4Config ( for LCD )!

regards
nunigaiai

TEST AND REPLY

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

ok... thx again...

I just do not understand if there is a relationship between the 2 displays...
As I said the VFD is also dead during booting (normally it shows double your expectations or something like this, but it is only blank)... I also tried different clean images but no luck.
And you think that this might help?

I'll try as soon I have access to the box again but to be honest, as far my understanding is until now... I do not think it will help... but at least I'll try it in a few hours and post it here afterwards.

Thx again, again.

Regards

nunigaia · Mar 16, 2015

writetoat said:
ok... thx again...

I just do not understand if there is a relationship between the 2 displays...
As I said the VFD is also dead during booting (normally it shows double your expectations or something like this, but it is only blank)... I also tried different clean images but no luck.
And you think that this might help?

I'll try as soon I have access to the box again but to be honest, as far my understanding is until now... I do not think it will help... but at least I'll try it in a few hours and post it here afterwards.

Thx again, again.

Regards

This is the begining of skin_user.xml code:

<skin>
<fonts>
<font filename="nmsbd.ttf" name="VFD" scale="95"/>
<font filename="analog.ttf" name="Analog" scale="100" />
</fonts>

<screen name="InfoBarSummary_ORI" position="0,0" size="140,32" id="1">
<widget source="session.CurrentService" render="Label" position="2,8" size="138,16" font="VFD;16" halign="center" valign="top" >
<convert type="ServiceName">Name</convert>
</widget>
<widget source="session.Event_Now" render="Progress" position="0,27" size="88,5" borderWidth="1">
<convert type="EventTime">Progress</convert>
</widget>
<widget source="session.Event_Now" render="Label" position="92,24" size="40,12" font="VFD;10" halign="right" valign="bottom">
<convert type="EventTime">Remaining</convert>
<convert type="RemainingToText">NoSeconds</convert>

I´ve trouble on a few days with vfd --> how i solve it:

1) - cfe bootloader upgrade

2) - VFD Fw upgrade

3) - ftp the skin_user.xml to /etc/enigma2

best regards
nunigaia

Eragon · Mar 16, 2015

writetoat said:
Does someone knows this problem and how to solve it?

You could also try reinstalling the CFE V2:
http://www.vuplus-community.net/board/threads/duo2-cfe-bootloader-update.17179/

nunigaia · Mar 16, 2015

Eragon said:
You could also try reinstalling the CFE V2:
http://www.vuplus-community.net/board/threads/duo2-cfe-bootloader-update.17179/

writetoat said:
ok... thx again...

I just do not understand if there is a relationship between the 2 displays...
As I said the VFD is also dead during booting (normally it shows double your expectations or something like this, but it is only blank)... I also tried different clean images but no luck.
And you think that this might help?

I'll try as soon I have access to the box again but to be honest, as far my understanding is until now... I do not think it will help... but at least I'll try it in a few hours and post it here afterwards.

Thx again, again.

Regards

1) - cfe bootloader upgrade --> You could also try reinstalling the CFE V2 ---> http://www.vuplus-community.net/board/threads/duo2-cfe-bootloader-update.17179/

2) - VFD Fw upgrade

3) - ftp the skin_user.xml to /etc/enigma2

best regards
nunigaia

" Hope it works "

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

thx...

I already tried to reinstall the CFE V2... but it is hard to say if it was done since the VFD cannot tell me if it is finished...

for images I notice access to the USB stick but this images are much bigger and I am able to see that something is going on, based on the USB stick.

I' ll do this and let you know...

regards

Hope never dies... let's see if this is true.

Eragon · Mar 16, 2015

writetoat said:
I already tried to reinstall the CFE V2... but it is hard to say if it was done since the VFD cannot tell me if it is finished....

But if the VFD isn't working when you're flashing and you can't see the Update! message, how can you know that you have to press the front power button to start flashing?

nunigaia · Mar 16, 2015

Eragon said:
But if the VFD isn't working when you're flashing and you can't see the Update! message, how can you know that you have to press the front power button to start flashing?

Well seen, and well done!
Great post Eragon

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

it is nearly simple... when the box is booting... I can see the led of the usb stick flashing.... box looking for something (for the FW upgrade)... then the led stops flashing... this is the time were the box asks for update... then I press the front power button (a few times)... only short.... (there is a 5 sec window were you have to push the button) and then... I can see that the flashing of the USB stick led starts again ... and a full image takes a while...and rebooting automatically if finished... you are right ... for the CFE V2 this is hardly noticeable. (nearly impossible)
Flashing without the VFD is some kind of guessing... and dangerous

Regards

Eragon · Mar 16, 2015

If you have also tried flashing the original Vu+ image, I fear that you have already done all you could do by yourself.
As the last chance, have you completely removed the power for a couple of minutes?

If nothing solves your problem, you could try to contact Vu+ and ask them for further suggestions.

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

sure... I flashed the original VU+ image as I mentioned in my first post... not sure about the power cord to be honest... but since the FW upgrade went wrong I think that I successfully destroyed this VFD... I still can do the update but I still got the same error @~90%... so my assumption was that this FW upgrade might not be for newer Duo2 boxes (even it is being offered, also through the original VU+ image) or the FW Update Plugin has a problem... this is the reason asking for python support... manually try to flash this FW through the command line...
I already asked the German support but they want me to send the box... which is a possible solution but then I will be without my beloved Duo2 for weeks...

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

I discovered that the FW Plugin downloads 2 files (duo2.bin.vfd and duo2.bin.vfd.md5, seems to be 'salted') then somewhere in the plugin the files are being checked with "/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Plugins/SystemPlugins/FirmwareUpgrade/checkvfd %s" and a duo2.bin (now a little bit smaller, exactly 1024*16 which then fits to some other stuff within the plugin code) is being created. I think this is the one which is being flashed... but I still was not able to extract the flashing routine from the plugin... I would like to manually flash this file to the VFD... or a VFD FW dump from a running Duo2 (newer Serial, as in the first post) if someone can provide.

writetoat · Mar 16, 2015

SOLVED!

Got it...

Shutdown the Duo2, removed the power cord, went for a cigarette incl. a phone call to wish "happy birthday" to my mum.

Restarted the box, after power cord connected. (restart will not work without power) --> VFD still not working
changed the VFD Skin. --> VFD still not working
tried to update the FW again. --> voila... first time it runs up to 100% and says FW update successful. immediately after this the VFD was working! (was still requesting a reboot which I did)

My assumption: the running VFD deamon (or whatever) might cause the VFD FW Update to fail. (remember… I also tried this with the original VU+ Firmware and had the same problem)

Thanks to all of you for your help and tipps.
Hopefully this thread can help some others.

Regards

Ev0 · Mar 16, 2015

Good to hear you have it working

Duo2 VFD dead after VFD Firmware update

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