Updating Firmware on 1756-ENBT

Contr_Conn said:

Based on my previous "life" I can say that there are two potential warnings about flashing very old ENBTs (and other older modules):
- flash memory is degrading with time. After 15-20 years it may easily fail Erase cycle and will never accept new flash.
- older modules, including ENBT, don't use a bootloader (like all newer modules). If flash fails for some reason, there is no way to restart it again and module will be bricked.

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Not debating with the experts.... but just stating my experiences that I have had, I would say I have flashed 100-200 ENBT's and never had a issue with any of them, I flash them to the newest version so when my end customer gets it they do not need to worry about flashing them, that said... I have bricked 1 1785-L40e/e and 1 1785-L80e/e bringing them from early to K.3, but K.3 is needed by some customers, not sure but I think it has to do with messaging that only is supported with k.3.

I flash a couple 5/05's a week and only bricked one... I have had a couple that failed and needed to be rebooted and flashed again and the one brick was being flashed and a thunderstorm rolled in and the power dropped out on the second part of the flash, I look at the weather before flashing now I think I corrupted the firmware.

Mark, I am not disputing your experience, I know that you probably flashed more modules than I. But in my previous life I heard only bad stories...
Just trying to warn the original poster and future readers that they are taking chance... All that I can say - good luck.

Contr_Conn said:

Mark, I am not disputing your experience, I know that you probably flashed more modules than I. But in my previous life I heard only bad stories...
Just trying to warn the original poster and future readers that they are taking chance... All that I can say - good luck.

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Hi Alex,

I was also just agreeing with everyone... not sure if you remember but you helped me with the first L40e that I bricked

I know it sounds strange but I have one PC (W7 32bit) that is for flashing only and nothing else, I think that helps but most people dont flash enough to have a PC for only flashing

And yes best of luck to anyone doing it

geniusintraining said:

...most people dont flash enough...

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You definitely sound like you're a regular "flasher" alright?

Geospark said:

You definitely sound like you're a regular "flasher" alright?

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LOL... maybe in my younger years George but now my muscle have started to relax and my 6 pack is looking more like a couple empty 40oz's (large beers in the states) so I think I will keep my clothes on and not scare anyone

Well, this thread took a funny turn.... Just wanted to say that I decided to update the firmware. I used a spare ENBT and flashed 6.006 then swapped it out with the lower firmware card and kept the old card on hand. I did see a small, mostly insignificant (in my case), difference with the communication. I started getting a few Errors on the MSG instructions which triggered comm loss alarms, however the MSG instructions did eventually complete successfully and cleared the alarms before the were sent out. It seems to still be happening periodically but as I mentioned, in my case it has not been a problem. Also the communication to the OPC server seems to be steady and I have not seen any issues with that.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and input.