Bug #5633
closedNon-matching Firmware Message 2 for sequential s/n F8HP
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Description
I bought a pair of new Baofeng BF-F8HP (stickers under the battery are sequential s/n 1711A00097 and 1711A0098). However, CHIRP reports that they have different firmware levels when I tried to use a single .img file to program them both. CHIRP "Help->About" reports itself as being CHIRP daily-20180210 with GTK 2.24.32, PyGTK 2.24.0, Python 2.7.14. I run CHIRP on Linux (OpenSUSE Tumbleweed).
For s/n ...97,
CHIRP GUI reports Firmware Message 2 as '1', and the CHIRP debug log says:
[2018-03-08 11:07:43,648] chirp.drivers.uv5r - INFO: Radio Version is 'HN5RV011\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff'
For s/n ...98,
CHIRP GUI reports Firmware Message 2 as '1FB297', and the CHIRP debug log says:
[2018-03-08 11:06:09,367] chirp.drivers.uv5r - INFO: Radio Version is 'HN5RV011FB297 '
I have also attached the full debug.log.
Did I get a factory misprogrammed HT? In any case, would it be possible to treat '\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff' as "matches anything" so I could use a single .img to program both HTs?
FYI, I'm a Linux sysadmin and programmer, so I'd be happy to try modifying CHIRP code to debug further.
Files
Updated by Jim Unroe over 6 years ago
- Status changed from New to Feedback
David Nessl wrote:
I bought a pair of new Baofeng BF-F8HP (stickers under the battery are sequential s/n 1711A00097 and 1711A0098). However, CHIRP reports that they have different firmware levels when I tried to use a single .img file to program them both. CHIRP "Help->About" reports itself as being CHIRP daily-20180210 with GTK 2.24.32, PyGTK 2.24.0, Python 2.7.14. I run CHIRP on Linux (OpenSUSE Tumbleweed).
CHIRP is performing exactly as it should. Unless the firmware version of the image being uploaded exactly matches the firmware version of the radio it is being uploaded to, it cannot be fully uploaded to the radio. The memory layouts vary from firmware version to firmware version and doing so can cause issues.
For s/n ...97,
CHIRP GUI reports Firmware Message 2 as '1', and the CHIRP debug log says:
[2018-03-08 11:07:43,648] chirp.drivers.uv5r - INFO: Radio Version is 'HN5RV011\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff'For s/n ...98,
CHIRP GUI reports Firmware Message 2 as '1FB297', and the CHIRP debug log says:
[2018-03-08 11:06:09,367] chirp.drivers.uv5r - INFO: Radio Version is 'HN5RV011FB297 'I have also attached the full debug.log.
Did I get a factory misprogrammed HT? In any case, would it be possible to treat '\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff' as "matches anything" so I could use a single .img to program both HTs?
It is unknown if it is misprogrammed or intentional. What is known is that these are not genuine BF-F8HP radios from BaofengTech (the radio dealer in the USA). Do your radios even have 3 power levels (menu 2 [TXP]) or just 2?
FYI, I'm a Linux sysadmin and programmer, so I'd be happy to try modifying CHIRP code to debug further.
There is nothing to debug. What CHIRP is doing is intentional. Your radios each report a different firmware version to CHIRP. If you want to use the same image for both, you must get 2 radios that report the same firmware version. This is not a CHIRP issue.
The HN5RV011 firmware is a good indicator of problems. It is lucky to even be supported. It took a lot of effort to be able to program radios with this firmware without causing issues to them and other radios.
You are welcome to modify the driver to support both of your radios with a single image (it wouldn't be hard to do). Just do it at your own risk (and keep an original image of each radio available).
Or you can do what I do. I use the image of one radio (my original UV-5R purchased in 2012) as my "master" image and import it into all of my other CHIRP compatible radios (Baofeng UV-82C & BF-F8HP, BTech UV-5X3, UV-25X2 & UV-25X4, Wouxun KG-UV6D V2, etc) to keep the channel assignments the same.
Jim KC9HI
Updated by David Nessl over 6 years ago
Thanks for the info. These do have 3 power levels, and they seem to work and look in all other respects as described in the BaofengTech F8HP manual (PDF). And you are right, these are not from the USA dealer BaofengTech -- I ordered them from China (a dealer on AliExpress) at a substantial savings, so I get what I get. Still, seemed to have been worth it.
Updated by Mark Sedutto over 6 years ago
I had a similar issue with two UV-5XP's. Bought through Amazon I wasn't aware of any bogus issues. Anyway, same firmware prefixes. One programmed fine, the other gave an error. Here's my notes to get it to program.
The problematic firmware ID had no second (unique) word. When copied to the .img file becomes corrupted when any changes are made to the Settings>Other menu params. This prevents the .img being written back to the HT. Obviously, missing the second word of the firmware ID was key...
Fix:
Download HT .img.
Open file with HEX editor and note (good) firmware number near end of .img file as agreeing (generally) with what is shown on Settings>Other page. Remember this exactly. It’s two “words”, the second of mine being “31 padded out with FF’s”. This became “31 20 20 20 20 20 FF FF” after editing the “Other” params.
Make your changes in CHIRP and save the .img.
Edit the .img for the uncorrupted (original) firmware ID values.
Reload the .img into Chirp and upload to HT.
Not elegant, but worked. It'd be nice if I could flash a working Firmware image but I suspect there's more wrong than just a few FFs in firmware ID.
Mark
Updated by Mark Sedutto over 6 years ago
After some more research I decided to send the fake BaoFengs back. They now boot up with messages they won't easily be able be able to remove.:(
Updated by Bernhard Hailer over 4 years ago
- Status changed from Feedback to Closed
- Target version set to chirp-legacy
- Model affected changed from Baofeng F8HP to Baofeng BF-F8HP
Not anything Chirp can resolve.