Astro Saber Codeplug Corruption

[knockoffham]

Hello everyone. I got my first Astro Saber a couple months ago and am somewhat in love. Well, tonight I was uploading a fancy new codeplug to it and made an ass of myself tripping and unplugging the RIB. I now fear I have a fancy brick. The codeplug is corrupted- when I try to write to it, it tells me the radio is inhibited by dispatch (which it is definitely not- I have never had this thing programmed to listen to any trunked systems or transmit on anything it is not supposed to.) The screen displays 'Fail 01/82' and I cannot read the codeplug off of it. I do have a copy of depot but it is illegitimate and I do not have the license key for it... so basically I do not have a copy of depot/lab. I am using the newest release of the Windows based CPS and the computer can do DOS as well. What can I do? If I could somehow get depot working is there anyone that could send me an S-record for it? And would that reset the alignment values? Thank you.

Model: H04KDF9PW7AN
Do not know the flashcode but I think it is IMBE. Model II
Serial Number: 465AYY0895

 

[n3obl]

You would need a smart rib also to work with the D software.

 

[mikewazowski]

If he's upgrading features or firmware but for just forcing an s-record in, a regular RIB will do.

 

[knockoffham]

If he's upgrading features or firmware but for just forcing an s-record in, a regular RIB will do.

Ok. So it is possible to fix it without having to go buy an SRIB?

 

[knockoffham]

This thread is the same exact thing that somehow didn’t come up when I was searching. Astro Saber fail message (photo) is my radio DOA?
But if it was resolved it at least wasn’t on public RadioReference forums.

 

[knockoffham]

I have found some copies I guess I had of Astro Lab, a version from 1998. It launches in DOSbox but miserably slow and can’t do a read. When trying to run it in real DOS it crashes immediately with no error code.

 

[knockoffham]

I have the Windows version of Depot working. How do I “uninhibit” the radio, or just reset it? I have created a blank codeplug in Depot and when I go to upload it I get the same error.

When I try to read, it reads for a while (seems to read the whole radio) and then I get “No user function provided to convert block type to block ID for block with type 0. Unpack failed.” To me that sounds like generic codeplug corruption error, which it is. I just want to jam a default codeplug on this thing 😢

 

[ElroyJetson]

Where's that eating popcorn gif when you need it...we don't talk about lab here.

 

[n3obl]

If you are using the depot software you HAVE to use a smart rib.

 

[FFPM571]

did you save the original codeplug before you changed it?

 

[knockoffham]

did you save the original codeplug before you changed it?

Yes. But not the S-record. It is just a plain codeplug.

 

[knockoffham]

If you are using the depot software you HAVE to use a smart rib.

Oh. Alright. I found a program that someone made that claims to be able to do SRIB capability without an S-rib. I tested it and it seems like it might actually be real- I was able to read what seems like the entire flash of my Astro Saber. But I do not have a known good image of it. So now I have another VHF model II in the mail, the plan is to download an image of that radio and put it on mine. I am guessing that would reset the tuning values and it would need to be retuned though?

 

[knockoffham]

Where's that eating popcorn gif when you need it...we don't talk about lab here.

Sorry. I did not know. I thought it was only asking for software that was a big no-no. My bad. I guess I live on the wild side

 

[KevinC]

Even though it’s a 25+ year old SW package @ElroyJetson is correct. It’s off-limits here.

Closing.