MicroHacker Forum

Anybody here who had ever updated a NX-Plus(!) with the common firmware-update Service Pack 5.3 ? We all done this with NX, for shure, but will it also suite the NX-Plus?
I'm asking because there is a difference in Hardware belonging the keyboard on the graphicsboard. Beneath the expected Analog Device A/D converter for video-in processing, there is also an extra chip (Altera MAX), which conventional NX graphics-boards don't have: This is a CLPD programmable logic device and is connected to the knobs and rotary-encoders of the keyboard.
In standard NX those lines are directly connected to the Cyclone processor of the graphicsboard. I really wonder why engineers add this extra chip "just" for handling trivial user events? Maybe video image processing took too much ressources of the Cyclone II and they where forced to add an extra chip to offload cpu usage? Maybe this is the reason why they switched to a more powerfull Cyclone with the MCA to not procude two different boards?
I don't think this CLPD will be updated in any way with the firmware, as it's task is too trivial for this?

The update pack contains folders for different NX versions. Each NX variant takes its FirmWare files from the coresponding folder.
If you move the files from one folder to another you will see that NX doesn't complain about it and will flash those files. If you put from camera NX to non-camera NX folder you will break your "video card". In order to revive it you need to put non-camera NX files in camera NX folder, then with a camera video card power on that NX and durnig FW update you change the video card with the broken one and wait for it to be flashed.

I updated using the modded version, but is was the first NX Plus i did. I may give the pristine SP5.3 a try..

Well, i found the issue in the end!
Upgrading with the genuine SP5.3 did not change anything, so i started swapping some suspected parts from an working NX-Plus graphics-card with the non-working one i did the final test and swop the Flash - and this was it! The "defective" board runs like a charm with the flash from the working device. I attached a readout of the defective one.
Next i desolder the Flash again (a little bit a hell of a job... super-fine pitch and always frightened of ripping of pads) read it out and program it over to the other one.

So it seems that even parts of the flash where not updated the right way when using the modded SP5.3!

I remember clearly that it worked before the update and not after it. But as i reflashed the mainboard i need to do an update to bring main and graphics in sync again. Maybe the modded SP is missing the parts of the extra CLPD program, but also the use of the genuine SP cannot heal it.

The contents of the Flash should be, more or less, one-to-one what is found in fgs.dnl file on disc (beware that DNL is "encrypted" and need to be decoded)

I have a theory about that issue. If one manage to flash a non-rvc version onto the graphicsboard, from then on it will pick the wrong update file as it may think it is not rvc.
The reason is that i found a the non-fvc software in graphics-flash, fully byte equal to the one on disc (pristine, not modded) but the ford_hsr not the f_hs_rvc version of fgs.dnl.

And here the readout of a "good" NX-Plus graphics-flash, together with a unpacked version of both fgs.dnl files (without RVC=ford_hsr, with RVC=f_hs_rvc) just for completeness

What's interesting is, that the fgs.dnl files contains 3 parts (the hex-number denotes the start-address in flash where it should get loaded):

• flash_application_area_00080000.bin
• flash_fds_area_00020000.bin
• flash_testmanager_area_00030000.bin

but the Flash itself contains even more. So there is a area which is not affected by the update from disc.

Works with the borrowed flash content from the working NX!
Only that i now struggle to update again... but this time i first try the genuine SP 5.3

After update with original SP5.3 the device-keys are dead again. So currently i would say it is NOT possible to update an NX-Plus with this release.

Here the readout of the Flash which worked before and hat dead-keys after update with original SP5.3