If you are sending in your unit for the Legacy Upgrade - PLEASE READ

[WhistlerWendy]

Hi all -
If you are sending in your unit for the Legacy Upgrade, PLEASE do not send your unit in if it is in a locked state as we are unable to unlock it.

If you have an "unauthorized" version of the firmware running on your unit, I suggest you revert it back to the original firmware now, especially before sending it to us.

Thank you,
WW

 

[JustLou]

Whistler has made it impossible for most people that installed the unauthorized firmware to revert it back to the original firmware when it implemented the July 1st time bomb hidden in the 4.6 CPU and 3.1 DSP updates.

 

[Blackswan73]

Whistler has made it impossible for most people that installed the unauthorized firmware to revert it back to the original firmware when it implemented the July 1st time bomb hidden in the 4.6 CPU and 3.1 DSP updates.

which has precedent and has been judged illegal. I see lawsuits coming. It was ruled that though a company owns firmware and software, they do not own hardware. Jail breaking has been ruled also to be legal. I saw this years ago in the FTA community. Eric's tool was just a tool tool allow a legacy scanner to emulate a 1080. This in my opinion is no different than emulating a Windows PC with Mac software or Linux, or emulating a game console on a PC. I see a lot of problems of permanently damaging hardware, that could result in substantial monetary damages, including being forced to repair or replace the locked radios. Also not good for the company's public relations.

 

[Spitfire8520]

If you are sending in your unit for the Legacy Upgrade, PLEASE do not send your unit in if it is in a locked state as we are unable to unlock it.

I guess this means that Whistler's attempt to force users off of the "unauthorized" version of firmware to their official paid version has somewhat backfired since they do not have the ability to unlock your scanner once they disable it.

Whistler has made it impossible for most people that installed the unauthorized firmware to revert it back to the original firmware when it implemented the July 1st time bomb hidden in the 4.6 CPU and 3.1 DSP updates.

This is my impression given the comments floating around. This would mean a good number of users are now SOL both officially and unofficially once the kill switch kicks in.

 

[JustLou]

You can make this stuff up. Whistler purposely and without warning makes it impossible to revert back to the original firmware, and then tells people to revert back to the original firmware. What a fiasco.

 

[556223]

What would make unauthorized firmware unauthorized?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KevinC]

Hmmm...

First this...

https://forums.radioreference.com/r...ro-668-whistler-2-full-weeks-no-movement.html

And now this thread.

Related? :wink:

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

Renesas provides a firmware flash loader that gets executed if you set a pin (CNVss) high during reset. It uses Serial Port 1.
https://webpages.uncc.edu/~jmconrad...C62_Flash_Asynchronous_Serial_Programming.pdf

Since USB is using a PIC18 processor, I figured there was a magic incantation, like connecting a resistor value or voltage level to the ID pin of the USB connector, to make the PIC18 set the M16C into Standard Serial I/O Mode 2 so the USB port can talk to the Renesas Flash Loader.

Maybe this is lost knowledge that only the original GRE embedded software engineers knew. It seems reasonable to design it into the device as a second level of fail-safe. There has to be a method to get the firmware into the chip when the scanner was manufactured.

Wendy should talk to the embedded software engineers for a solution. I can not believe Whistler approved disabling scanners without any way of fixing them. It is just asking for trouble.

73 Eric

 

[SCPD]

Hello,

Renesas provides a firmware flash loader that gets executed if you set a pin (CNVss) high during reset. It uses Serial Port 1.
https://webpages.uncc.edu/~jmconrad...C62_Flash_Asynchronous_Serial_Programming.pdf

Since USB is using a PIC18 processor, I figured there was a magic incantation, like connecting a resistor value or voltage level to the ID pin of the USB connector, to make the PIC18 set the M16C into Standard Serial I/O Mode 2 so the USB port can talk to the Renesas Flash Loader.

Maybe this is lost knowledge that only the original GRE embedded software engineers knew. It seems reasonable to design it into the device as a second level of fail-safe. There has to be a method to get the firmware into the chip when the scanner was manufactured.

Wendy should talk to the embedded software engineers for a solution. I can not believe Whistler approved disabling scanners without any way of fixing them. It is just asking for trouble.

73 Eric

My thought on this, if it is true, is that the "disabled" scanners are not disabled at all. Indeed they still have much more capability and bug fixes than the original firmware and accomplish more than originally intended. The hyperbole from this group is amazing!

 

[Fasteddy2]

Glad I did not send my pro-668 in yet if they can not do anything to fix it what the purpose .The least they could do is let us revert back to original firmware.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

So being locked out of the DMR upgrade is not disabling the scanner? This does not make sense from a marketing standpoint as the group locked out of the DMR upgrade are people that expressed an interest in receiving DMR. It appears Whistler is punishing them for ignoring their warnings on the website and daring to use unauthorized software.

73 Eric

 

[Fasteddy2]

I agree why I am I punished for doing something that worked until the last firmware upgrade.That was just sneaky of them on their part.

 

[MtnBiker2005]

Sounds like lots of people will be flooding back to Uniden side after this 'Trojan code/Malicious code' from Whistler.

 

[Hamradiostuffing]

Sounds like lots of people will be flooding back to Uniden side after this 'Trojan code/Malicious code' from Whistler.

I will if they send mine back broken I will buy a bearcat.

 

[Blackswan73]

Same here, I was planning to buy a TRX2, but now, I don't think so

 

[tumegpc]

Whistler should have just exchanged them out for a true WS1080 and avoided all this mess. I'm not sending in my second 668 anytime soon.

 

[NC1]

I think the backlash is going to be severe on this one.

Hopefully Uniden can handle all the extra business soon to come their way. Not a single 668 owner is ever going to buy a Whistler product now, and will be sure to influence anyone they know not to buy one either.

Had they supported the 668 owners with the DMR, they could have had a bright future. Funny thing here, they would not write software to upgrade the 668, but they wrote software to disable the unit should it have the ability.
That was just going out of their way to screw people. Hmmmmm, I would not do business at all with a company like that.

 

[Blackswan73]

Same here, I was planning to buy a TRX2, but now, I don't think so

Just for the record, I don't have a hacked radio, just a genuine 1080. I just am appalled at this, makes me less supporting of the company altogether.

 

[mancow]

Nevermind. I finally found the thread that describes it.

 

[Voyager]

There is a "brick" joke in here somewhere...

IF, on the other hand, you just lose the ability to upgrade (or downgrade) and warranty, it's not like you were going to have either in the future anyway.

The most you may lose is the ability for Whistler non-warranty service.