BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Sentinel will not find SD Card

I've got a 436HP that's running 1.3.0 firmware. I've spent many hours trying to come up with a Google keyword combination that describes this problem and find a solution to fix it.

I found this page and followed the instructions exactly as they are given.

BCD436HP < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

When I run sentinel and click on Update >> Update Firmware a window pops up that is labeled "Select microSD". In that window there is nothing to select. I went to Best Buy and picked up another microSD and tried again but I get the same thing. I get a message that says to use Sentinel to clear user data. When I try that I can't find the scanner.

Now when I go back to the original SD card I'm getting the same message that the new card gives about using Sentinel to clear user data.

I can't be the only person that's encountered this issue but I just can't find any examples or what to do when it won't find the card or scanner.

I've tried running Sentinel on two Windows 7 machines and a Mac Book Pro running Parallels.

Can someone please point me in the right direction? I'm sick of setting the clock every time I turn this thing on.

When you read the radio there should be a box to display all drives. Check that box and it might show the sd card.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Markscan said:

When you read the radio there should be a box to display all drives. Check that box and it might show the sd card.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Do what Markscan said and you should be all set unless the card is not formatted correctly. Format it as FAT32 if it is not already.
I think FAT works also if the new card is really small.

I did that and the scanner still did not show up. I attempted to format the SD card over the USB and in two machines I would get the Blue Screen of death. I took the card out of the scanner and stuck it in the SD slot on a Windows 7 Laptop. Then I ran the software again and it allowed me to choose the SD card in the laptop and then I was able to insert the SD card back in the scanner and power up holding the power button until it initiated the update procedure.

/rant on.

Now why in the hell does Uniden list this as an alternate way of updating the scanner? If they had listed this as a second way to update the scanner I would have saved an awful lot of time not to mention how much faster the update would go even if the USB procedure worked.

/rant off

Were you in "MASS STORAGE" mode, the scanner prompts for it first thing.

battleop said:

I did that and the scanner still did not show up. I attempted to format the SD card over the USB and in two machines I would get the Blue Screen of death. I took the card out of the scanner and stuck it in the SD slot on a Windows 7 Laptop. Then I ran the software again and it allowed me to choose the SD card in the laptop and then I was able to insert the SD card back in the scanner and power up holding the power button until it initiated the update procedure.

/rant on.

Now why in the hell does Uniden list this as an alternate way of updating the scanner? If they had listed this as a second way to update the scanner I would have saved an awful lot of time not to mention how much faster the update would go even if the USB procedure worked.

/rant off

Click to expand...

The USB procedure works very well actually.
Like darunimal said, you may have been is Serial Port mode. Once you get your radios firmware up to date, the radio will default to Serial Port mode after several seconds with no button pushes. With the FW version you have now, it will just sit there waiting for you to select Serial or Mass Storage mode.

The other option it to use an external card reader. They are much quicker but you can do about everything that you can do with the card in the radio.

You also mentioned setting the time each time. If this is a brand new radio, make sure it is connected to a USB power source for about 50 hours to charge the RTC battery.
I'm pretty sure the 436HP can be left powered on so it's main batteries do not charge from the USB port but the RTC cell will still charge.
That can be a pain but the radio cannot sense each cells charge and voltage level which is really what is needed to properly charge a NiMH set of cells. Many use external smart chargers and keep a set in the radio and another set in the charger. If you get the Sanyo Eneloop series cells, they don't hardly have any self discharge. So you can charge them and use them two months later and they will still have over 80% of their capacity. It is not advised to charge in the radio.
I myself do charge in the radio but only for maintenance charges of an hour or less. If I run the cells dead, I use an external charger.

As far as your blue screens you were getting, that's an odd one. I've never seen a blue screen when formatting an SD card or any card.
Possibly a driver issue if using a 3rd party USB adapter.

I don't know much about Mac's and using Parallels but I know people do use it without much problem.

The 436HP is a good radio with excellent P25 decode ability so once you get it setup the way you want, you should enjoy it.

If the computer doesn't see the SD card, it's probably because it's not recognizing it as a card it can write data to. I find that generally, most new cards are 'invisible' to Sentinel.

In the main Sentinel screen, click SCANNER, then CLEAR USER DATA. If no cards are displayed in the SELECT MICROsd screen, click the DISPLAY ALL DRIVES box. Then your new card should appear. Select it. If you also have the scanner connected, as well as a bare card, be careful not to select the scanner/card with data on it. After you answer 'Yes' to allow the program to perform this procedure, it should recognize the card.

I hope this is helpful to you.
Curt

As I understand it, Sentinel looks for MicroSD cards with certain files on them, which tells Sentinel that's the correct card to deal with.

Some times SD cards can get corrupted and the "certain files" are missing or otherwise can't be accessed.

The "Clear User Data" process installs these "certain files" on an SD card.

As a rule, if I get a new SD card, I'll use the SD formatter utility https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ to re-format the card. This eliminate some of the utlity files included on SD cards, but not necessary for scanner use. I'll then do the "Clear User Data".

While this process will work with the SD card in the scanner (Mass Storage), I find it goes a lot faster if I use a card reader on the computer.

battleop said:

/rant on.

Now why in the hell does Uniden list this as an alternate way of updating the scanner? If they had listed this as a second way to update the scanner I would have saved an awful lot of time not to mention how much faster the update would go even if the USB procedure worked.

/rant off

Click to expand...

A better question might be: Why does your PC not recognize external storage which means the alternate method would be moot...

My money is on the bet that you never entered into Mass Storage mode which is in the instructions.

Are you using the USB cable supplied w/ the Scanner?

I'm having the same problem, but I am using a generic cable and there was a FAQ under their support area about prolific updating their chipset for security and that "Older" USB cables won't work.

I'm going to try to find my USB cable supplied w/ the radio and see if that works.....

KK4NAY said:

Are you using the USB cable supplied w/ the Scanner?

I'm having the same problem, but I am using a generic cable and there was a FAQ under their support area about prolific updating their chipset for security and that "Older" USB cables won't work.

I'm going to try to find my USB cable supplied w/ the radio and see if that works.....

Click to expand...

That FAQ about the Prolific chipset does not apply to the x36 scanners. It's referring to the Uniden USB-1 serial to USB adaptor cable.... which is not used (and will not work) with the x36 scanners.

The x36 scanners use a standard USB to mini USB cable.

.

Now this is for the homepatrol2 that also uses an SD Card.
Look at how someone I tried working with did fix the problem same as yours-
http://forums.radioreference.com/un...atrol-2-sd-card-file-error-2.html#post2510771

Full thread - http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-tech-support/325993-home-patrol-2-sd-card-file-error.html

FYI,

In order to write to microSD (card only, not sure how it works if the radio itself is plugged in with an empty microSD card, but I suspect it's the same issue), it must contain a copy of files that the scanner use to boot up. Sentinel apparently looks for those files in order to identify which card it can write to, which is stupid because if you have a fresh microSD card, because you bought a bigger one or the older one died and does not read, you'll be stuck.

So make sure you backup your microSD card files because you'll need to copy them to the fresh card before you can update the DB and Favorites lists.

kandrey89 said:

which is stupid because if you have a fresh microSD card, because you bought a bigger one or the older one died and does not read, you'll be stuck.

Click to expand...

There was probably a "method to the madness" - it was done so that scanner files would be written to the scanner rather some other destination. A user could have another SD card connected to the computer, or an iPhone, camera, etc. and the scanner files could be inadvertently sent there.

It's only one additional step to add the "scanner/system" files to a new card - Clear User Data - for that new card.

ofd8001 said:

There was probably a "method to the madness" - it was done so that scanner files would be written to the scanner rather some other destination. A user could have another SD card connected to the computer, or an iPhone, camera, etc. and the scanner files could be inadvertently sent there.

It's only one additional step to add the "scanner/system" files to a new card - Clear User Data - for that new card.

Click to expand...

Ah OK, I haven't noticed the Scanner->Clear User Data window, I did look for it though. This deletes all user info if any and writes all scanner necessary files to that drive and then you can "Write to Scanner" to write your Favorites and DB.