CHIRP

Hi April,

Thanks for posting the affected IMG file. I'm tracing through it and I can see the lower VHF and lower UHF limits are set to "0" but the lowest value that CHIRP allows is "1".

Maybe Jim Unroe could take a look to verify that this isn't a new firmware version we're looking at.
Jim, have you seen lower limits set to zero before?

Tony

April Erbstein wrote:

As said in the title, my recently acquired UV5R refuses to send. I have tried to look into the settings but when downloading the data from the UV5R, the settings tab remains blank. I looked into the log file and it appears to be a invalid value. Sadly i was unable to figure out which one it was.

I have tried a Menu 40 (RESET) to get all values to known good values but that did not solve the issue.

Is there something wrong with the firmware of the UV5R or is it just a random Setting being off?

Attached are the .img file and the .log file.

Thanks, April

I've never see the memory of a UV-5R like radio corrupted so badly as this one. It is due to this corruption that there are out-of-range values that cause the Settings tab to not display. My recommendation would be to find someone with a similar radio with HN5RV01 firmware and upload it to your radio to see if that will straighten it out. I will look to see if I might have one here (but my initial look isn't finding anything).

Jim KC9HI

You will have to install an older version of CHIRP (early October 2022 should be sufficient) in order to fully upload this CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file.

It looks like the 2022 builds are still available. The first build in October is available at https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-20221002/

Without the older version of CHIRP there will be some regions of memory that don't get uploaded and they are critical to the repair of the no TX issue.

If you don't mind me asking Jim, what changed in the driver/CHIRP that prevents uploading the entire image? (If that's a loaded question feel free to send me a change list number or title and I'll go hunt it down).

Tony

Tony Fuller wrote in #note-4:

You will have to install an older version of CHIRP (early October 2022 should be sufficient) in order to fully upload this CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file.

It looks like the 2022 builds are still available. The first build in October is available at https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-20221002/

Without the older version of CHIRP there will be some regions of memory that don't get uploaded and they are critical to the repair of the no TX issue.

If you don't mind me asking Jim, what changed in the driver/CHIRP that prevents uploading the entire image? (If that's a loaded question feel free to send me a change list number or title and I'll go hunt it down).

Tony

There are something like 3 different memory layouts for UV-5R/UV-82 like radios. If you upload a CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) from one of those other memory layouts into your radio, undesirable side affect like disabled TX, no receive unless the [MONI] button is pressed, etc can occur. Those memory areas were isolated and some time last year (November I think), the driver was modified to skip those areas when uploading to prevent uploading "foreign" images from causing these issues. So since this radio won't transmit, it is clear that the corruption is in one or more of these areas and uploading with a recent CHIRP will prevent this area from being "fixed". So falling back to a version of CHRIP prior to that change will allow the full image to upload and hopefully correct this radio.

Jim

Jim Unroe wrote in #note-5:

Tony Fuller wrote in #note-4:

You will have to install an older version of CHIRP (early October 2022 should be sufficient) in order to fully upload this CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file.

It looks like the 2022 builds are still available. The first build in October is available at https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-20221002/

Without the older version of CHIRP there will be some regions of memory that don't get uploaded and they are critical to the repair of the no TX issue.

If you don't mind me asking Jim, what changed in the driver/CHIRP that prevents uploading the entire image? (If that's a loaded question feel free to send me a change list number or title and I'll go hunt it down).

Tony

There are something like 3 different memory layouts for UV-5R/UV-82 like radios. If you upload a CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) from one of those other memory layouts into your radio, undesirable side affect like disabled TX, no receive unless the [MONI] button is pressed, etc can occur. Those memory areas were isolated and some time last year (November I think), the driver was modified to skip those areas when uploading to prevent uploading "foreign" images from causing these issues. So since this radio won't transmit, it is clear that the corruption is in one or more of these areas and uploading with a recent CHIRP will prevent this area from being "fixed". So falling back to a version of CHRIP prior to that change will allow the full image to upload and hopefully correct this radio.

Jim

Thanks for posting the link. Normally I would have done that myself, but I submitted my reply before I remembered to do it.

Jim

Tony Fuller wrote in #note-4:

You will have to install an older version of CHIRP (early October 2022 should be sufficient) in order to fully upload this CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file.

It looks like the 2022 builds are still available. The first build in October is available at https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-20221002/

Without the older version of CHIRP there will be some regions of memory that don't get uploaded and they are critical to the repair of the no TX issue.

If you don't mind me asking Jim, what changed in the driver/CHIRP that prevents uploading the entire image? (If that's a loaded question feel free to send me a change list number or title and I'll go hunt it down).

Tony

Thanks for posting the like. I intended to but forgot to do it.

Jim

April Erbstein wrote in #note-8:

Hit enter too fast there, broken image goes here, sorry

Thanks for attaching this file. From comparing it to the file that was uploaded, I can see that my guess for how old of a CHIRP version that was needed was incorrect. It is clear that the "protected" areas of memory did not get updated. Until these areas of memory can get restored to valid values, the radio will have these undesirable "TX disabled" affects.

Standby while I either find an older version to use or come up with another method to restore it from whatever so badly corrupted it.

Jim KC9HI

April, are you still using the legacy CHIRP or have you been running the new CHIRP-next build?

Jim

Jim Unroe wrote in #note-10:

April, are you still using the legacy CHIRP or have you been running the new CHIRP-next build?

Jim

I used the first build of october '22. I downloaded it from the link Tony posted earlier. When i originally noticed the issue i used a late november/early december build i think.

~April

Jim Unroe wrote in #note-12:

April,

I have attached a customized UV-5R driver module created specifically to fully upload a good UV-5R image file to your "bad" radio. I must be use with a legacy version of CHIRP. The latest/last version can be found here: https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-20221217/

Here is how you use the custom driver module.

1. save the custom driver module to a convenient location
2. click Help
3. enable Enable Developer Functions
4. click File
5. click Load Module
6. locate and load custom driver module that was saved in step 1

The CHIRP background will now be red to indicate it is running with a externally loaded driver module. You can now test the custom driver module.

Note: The test driver module does not permanently change your CHIRP installation in any way. Every time you load CHIRP you must load this driver module to have access to its fixes or added features.

This custom driver does not support Downloading or a Settings tab. It is only for trying to restore your radio back to operating condition. Normally you should keep them separate, but for this purpose you will upload your "good" image into your "bad" radio. Once the upload has finished do the following.

1. Check to see if the radio will transmit (cross fingers, it should)
2. Close/open CHIRP (without custom driver) to download from radio to see if the settings in the Settings are there

If the radio is working now, you can disable the Enable Developer Functions setting to return your CHIRP back to normal operation.

Let us know how it turns out.

Jim KC9HI

Just to make sure, how far back does the legacy version have to be? Is the early october oe i currently have sufficient or do i need something older?

As far as i can see, the oldest version available as of writing this is from early January '22. Just wanna make sure before i irreversibly brick the radio.

~April

April Erbstein wrote in #note-13:

Just to make sure, how far back does the legacy version have to be? Is the early october oe i currently have sufficient or do i need something older?

It doesn't have to be "back" at all. That is why I gave you the link for the newest, most recent legacy version: CHIRP daily-20221217. After a little research, what I was trying to accomplish by using an older CHIRP build would not have worked for you because of the firmware version in both of your radios. So I had to change direction and create the custom driver module that takes care of what your radio need to recover from its corruption. The October build that you have installed may work, but there is no reason for you not to first get current with the most recent legacy version available. That way, once you have solved the problem with your radio, you will be done.

April Erbstein wrote in #note-13:

As far as i can see, the oldest version available as of writing this is from early January '22. Just wanna make sure before i irreversibly brick the radio.

Correct. The CHIRP website only makes available builds back to the start of 2022. But if they were needed, I have them all going back over 10 years. But as I mentioned previously, older is the wrong direction. You want the newest: 20221217.

You aren't going to "irreversibly brick" your radio. Whatever got your radio in this corrupted state in the first place (bad memory, x-ray machine, static electricity, lightning, or most likely didn't get the memory initialization step at the factory) didn't "brick" it, it is doubtful that you can do anything to do it.

Jim

Jim Unroe wrote in #note-14:

April Erbstein wrote in #note-13:

Just to make sure, how far back does the legacy version have to be? Is the early october oe i currently have sufficient or do i need something older?

It doesn't have to be "back" at all. That is why I gave you the link for the newest, most recent legacy version: CHIRP daily-20221217. After a little research, what I was trying to accomplish by using an older CHIRP build would not have worked for you because of the firmware version in both of your radios. So I had to change direction and create the custom driver module that takes care of what your radio need to recover from its corruption. The October build that you have installed may work, but there is no reason for you not to first get current with the most recent legacy version available. That way, once you have solved the problem with your radio, you will be done.

April Erbstein wrote in #note-13:

As far as i can see, the oldest version available as of writing this is from early January '22. Just wanna make sure before i irreversibly brick the radio.

Correct. The CHIRP website only makes available builds back to the start of 2022. But if they were needed, I have them all going back over 10 years. But as I mentioned previously, older is the wrong direction. You want the newest: 20221217.

You aren't going to "irreversibly brick" your radio. Whatever got your radio in this corrupted state in the first place (bad memory, x-ray machine, static electricity, lightning, or most likely didn't get the memory initialization step at the factory) didn't "brick" it, it is doubtful that you can do anything to do it.

Jim

Halleluja, it worked. Thank you all so much for your help.

It transmits now and the settings tab works as well.

I was just confused because i didnt know the legacy was still being updated.

Thank you all again for all your support and have a great day/night

~April