FAQ: Updating Your UMC-1 SOFTWARE AND FIRMWARE

[Cathy Laufman]

PM'd

[haugesynsar]

Dec 7, 2010 20:44:52 GMT -5 @theresa said:

Well, my UMC-1 died after multiple tries to update. It apparently was a problem with USBXPRESS being incompatible with my computer. .......... I am quite fed up.

Been there
What I had to do, if I remember correctly, was to NOT turn on the UMC after turning on the main switch on the back. Or else the umc would try to run the new corrupt software. When i say corrups I mean the messed up software/flash that was put in, after my first or second attemt to upgrade.
Otherwise I followed Lonnies video and swapped the old and new software....(step2)

I am not going to tell Emotiva to do its work, but I really hope Lonnie has more than just his own hands and head when new software is beeing made. If he is on his own, most of the time, than we should kiss his feet. And instead of only asking for help, we should ask Emotiva to help out Lonnie.

[Deleted]

After the update bricked my UMC-1, I hooked my computer directly to the miniDSPs and it sounds so bad in comparison. Its a world of difference. Dynamic range, treble, and bass both suffered to the point of being almost unlistenable. My usual computer sound card is an Asus Xonar Essence but this only has headphone, stereo line, and digital outs. I had to hook it up to the Realtek 889a outs and it is awful. I cannot wait to get the UMC-1 back.

[collector]

A funny thing happened on the way to the upgrade....

Well, I received a UMC-1 a week or so ago with 7.0 firmware. I had a few issues/questions, and asked about the latest firmware in an email to support. I was sent the files.

Now, nowhere did it say that there was a NEW upgrade program that was needed to do the upgrade! I spent an inordinate amount of time last evening wondering why the DSp upgrade just seemed to fail!

I jumped on the forums and found a reference to the new Emo upgrade program. I downloaded it, and lo and behold - everything went off without a hitch.

And I did it vis Parallels 6 on a MacBook Pro (Windows XP).

There really IMHO, should be a little more clarity when sending out firmware. I know all the "experienced EMO owners probably know where everything is, but I was a little blind-sided with this.

But the good news is it all worked once I had the right software. So now I can enjoy my Emo gear!

Just food for thought - not a "gripe" per se.

[LCSeminole]

Theresa, just curious, what type of processor,(AMD or Intel) do you have running in the computer that your using to upgrade the UMC-1??? Is it a dual core or quad core??? and how much RAM does your computer have???

[haugesynsar]

Dec 9, 2010 9:05:23 GMT -5 collector said:

There really IMHO, should be a little more clarity when sending out firmware. I know all the "experienced EMO owners probably know where everything is, but I was a little blind-sided with this.

Just been checking out my update-ver. an it is W7.02.00.00 now I see there is a tread on a W7.02.00.05 Ok here we go again.
Good work Emotiva!

[Deleted]

The processor is an Intel i7 950, a fast quad core. There is 12GB RAM, a 120GB SSD, several other HDs (over 2TB), ATI6850 1GB, Asus Xonar Essence STX ..... Its a fast, nearly state of the art system.

[Deleted]

Dec 9, 2010 14:52:20 GMT -5 @theresa said:

The processor is an Intel i7 950, a fast quad core. There is 12GB RAM, a 120GB SSD, several other HDs (over 2TB), ATI6850 1GB, Asus Xonar Essence STX ..... Its a fast, nearly state of the art system.

I had that processor in a custom tower i made but had to sell it for stupid reasons. Do i ever miss it

I remember trying to push it to its limit. I had 15 program open, each rendering drawings and 3d projects. Like Gibbs cam, solidworks and autocad. It wasn't even breaking a sweat

[Deleted]

Yes, I bought it "custom" made. Finest system I've ever had. Often have many windows open in Firefox, watching movies on Netflix, processing full frame raw files from a Sony a850, and...
It hardly ever slows down and when it does it's because of a bug in the software. I just need to get motivated and get out and take some pictures with the a850. I went to photo school decades ago and it is the finest camera I've ever owned although there are some that might be tied (like an ancient 4x5 Speed Graphic, Calumet 4x5, Nikon FTN). But the Sony has Zeiss lenses and I love them. I guess its just hard to decide. I sure miss the tactile bliss of processing sheet negatives.

[Nemesis.ie]

You just need a 2nd 6850 in there now.

Nice machine, what monitor do you have? a 2560 x 1600 30" or something similar to do it justice?

[Deleted]

My monitor is a 26" Samsung, several years old but still good. Someday when the 27" Dell Ultra monitor is on sale I will replace it with that. I have a cheap color calibration program, the Huey pro, that makes it usable for photo editing and proofing.

[Deleted]

Thank you Emotiva! FedEx was just here and returned my UMC-1. I have to let it sit and warm up, it feels like its below freezing and I don't want to stress it by turning it on until its at room temperature. This all was necessary because of a failed firmware update.
What Emotiva needs to do is put the loader software and the firmwares (however many are needed for an update from scratch) into one zip file that unzips them all to one directory where the loader can find them and install them in order. That's what most software updaters do. They don't assume you know which loader to use from several posted online and they don't require you to know what to install first. They just do it. I'm not a dummy with computers or a/v equipment but the whole update section is a mess with inaccurate instructions (because they are for previous updates). It shouldn't matter what software you have loaded, the new one should take care of them all, installing all possibly needed updates. Also, USBExpress is a buggy driver. It doesn't work on my computer at all, either the new or the old version. A better USB driver should be used. My computer is fairly high end and with the most recent version of windows, 64 bit which half of windows 7 systems are now and that darn thing just would not work right for me.
But I am very thankful that Emotiva went out of their way for me getting my unit back to me looking better than when I sent it.

[dkjohn]

Dec 16, 2010 17:02:00 GMT -5 @theresa said:

Thank you Emotiva! FedEx was just here and returned my UMC-1. I have to let it sit and warm up, it feels like its below freezing and I don't want to stress it by turning it on until its at room temperature. This all was necessary because of a failed firmware update.
What Emotiva needs to do is put the loader software and the firmwares (however many are needed for an update from scratch) into one zip file that unzips them all to one directory where the loader can find them and install them in order. That's what most software updaters do. They don't assume you know which loader to use from several posted online and they don't require you to know what to install first. They just do it. I'm not a dummy with computers or a/v equipment but the whole update section is a mess with inaccurate instructions (because they are for previous updates). It shouldn't matter what software you have loaded, the new one should take care of them all, installing all possibly needed updates. Also, USBExpress is a buggy driver. It doesn't work on my computer at all, either the new or the old version. A better USB driver should be used. My computer is fairly high end and with the most recent version of windows, 64 bit which half of windows 7 systems are now and that darn thing just would not work right for me.
But I am very thankful that Emotiva went out of their way for me getting my unit back to me looking better than when I sent it.

I agree totally I have the UMC 1 don't post much but am extremely unhappy with the purchase and am going to have to take a HUGH lost and find something else after the holidays I have a fairly high end system and should have did more research before I wasted $700 dollar but as the saying goes you get what you pay for my display still flickers after several calls and e mails I gave up.
EMO-Q is better than it was at first but still pretty useless not saying Audessey is much better because I have never used it but from what I hear its very good with the new versions maybe a canned solution from a company that does room correction as there business is the way to go. The firmware upgrade process is at best a mess now it sounds good and I will follow the forum but I am not interested in any other processor from EMO atleast not at this time that might change. Amps are another thing. All that said the people at EMO are a very nice bunch.

[Deleted]

The only real complaint I have (and YMMV) is with the firmware update process. Since I got mine back from Emo I have had no problems. In fact I missed it so much that I wondered if it was worth it. As far as getting what you pay for that is generally true but for SQ the Emo can go up against $2000 units (not in features) and leave you wondering how they do it. This is a matter of taste though. The only other unit I considered seriously cost twice as much at the time, now "just" $500 more, which I could not afford. Also, I would count the $100 emobucks that I immediately spent on ERD-1s which I am also satisfied with. It seems to me that the UMC-1 could be considered a special purpose computer and I have had far more problems with computers such as this clicky expensive keyboard that is now refusing to recognize keystrokes half the time. This may sound like I am a fangurl but I am truly impressed and try to be objective. I wouldn't buy their subs for example because they are just too small (the laws of physics cannot be violated) and the drivers don't appear to be vented behind the spider.

[BillBauman]

Dec 16, 2010 17:02:00 GMT -5 @theresa said:

Thank you Emotiva! FedEx was just here and returned my UMC-1. I have to let it sit and warm up, it feels like its below freezing and I don't want to stress it by turning it on until its at room temperature. This all was necessary because of a failed firmware update.
What Emotiva needs to do is put the loader software and the firmwares (however many are needed for an update from scratch) into one zip file that unzips them all to one directory where the loader can find them and install them in order. That's what most software updaters do. They don't assume you know which loader to use from several posted online and they don't require you to know what to install first. They just do it. I'm not a dummy with computers or a/v equipment but the whole update section is a mess with inaccurate instructions (because they are for previous updates). It shouldn't matter what software you have loaded, the new one should take care of them all, installing all possibly needed updates. Also, USBExpress is a buggy driver. It doesn't work on my computer at all, either the new or the old version. A better USB driver should be used. My computer is fairly high end and with the most recent version of windows, 64 bit which half of windows 7 systems are now and that darn thing just would not work right for me.
But I am very thankful that Emotiva went out of their way for me getting my unit back to me looking better than when I sent it.

Theresa, you have expressed in many posts that you are an experienced computer professional. With that in mind, you don't think that the Emonatics firmware page offers enough information regarding the update process that it can relatively easily be accomplished? I have provided, short of writing an exact program, almost exactly what you've asked for above. The files are packaged for specific use, the loader program is auto-installing, there's a running list of the changes to the update procedure at the top of the page, there's a working USBXpress Driver for Vista/7 x64, etc.

[klinemj]

I have to agree with Theresa here... While it is great that you (Bill) have assembled the stuff on your site as you have, it would be nice to have Emotiva do that from their site on the product. Or, if they want to defer to you as the outside expert, then they should simply post a link to your site at their UMC-1 page. Bottom line: clear instructions & simple packaging of the needed files into 1 place on an Emotiva-blessed site would be very good to have.

[DeepThought]

My UMC-1 shipped in mid-December with 7.02.00.05. Is this the latest/greatest?

Are there more updates planned?

[Deleted]

Nothing after that, that is even beta. Hopefully they will somehow get all the bugs out someday and release the final version.

[Nemesis.ie]

Jan 14, 2011 15:16:23 GMT -5 DeepThought said:

My UMC-1 shipped in mid-December with 7.02.00.05. Is this the latest/greatest?

Are there more updates planned?

The one you have is the latest "available" although it's not officially released.

Updates should continue until everything that can be fixed is sorted.

I would expect we will see a new release (be that by PM or public) around the end of the month or early Feb (2011) when Lonnie gets back from his travels.

Fingers Xed for another great one!

[visiter555]

Jan 14, 2011 15:16:23 GMT -5 DeepThought said:

My UMC-1 shipped in mid-December with 7.02.00.05. Is this the latest/greatest?

Are there more updates planned?

I don't believe Emotiva and "planning" should ever be used in the same sentence unless there is a "not" or "unable" prior to the word planning.

The last one (that you have) is a beta version. It (the beta) was supposed to be "...a few days to iron out the bugs..." and then a new f/w based on the beta (but updated) would be released. That was two plus months ago.

They do try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try...