Force write on Orion

[Prospect62]

Hello all. I have an EDACS 800 Orion and R17A Programmer. Apparently, the Orion was programmed with V18 or 19 Programmer or RPM and I can't get into the radio to read it or write to it.

I have heard that I can somehow force a new personality into it from my R17A programmer but I have no idea how I would go about that because whenever I try to read or write to the radio I get an error.

Can anybody explain the process to me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sakurada29]

Get in touch with Harris TAC, they will have exact procedures, although if the radio was programmed with RPM there is no going backward that I am aware of.

 

[mancow]

Did you get my PM?

 

[sakurada29]

No I have not

 

[mancow]

I meant to reply to the the original poster.

 

[RK3AAG]

What's PERS VER?

 

[radioman2001]

I have the same problem, I sent radios back to M/A Comm for factory repair back in 2008 (they have been in storage at our warehouse since then) Now I need to use them, and I only have Programmer Ver 16 and RPM Ver 20. Right in the help menu of RPM, Ver 20 says it will not read/program an Orion. So how are you supposed to program the radio if it's programmed with Ver 17 or 18. I am for force writing if some one could give me a procedure.

 

[RK3AAG]

I have the same problem, I sent radios back to M/A Comm for factory repair back in 2008 (they have been in storage at our warehouse since then) Now I need to use them, and I only have Programmer Ver 16 and RPM Ver 20. Right in the help menu of RPM, Ver 20 says it will not read/program an Orion. So how are you supposed to program the radio if it's programmed with Ver 17 or 18. I am for force writing if some one could give me a procedure.

V20 - is a ProGrammer, not RPM (RPMs have versions from 1 to 8 and a liitble bit heavyweight - distributive takes 150-250MB when packed into ZIP). ProGrammer R20 should read radio programmed by any previous version of ProGrammer, including R17 and R18.

You need to know PERS VER to make right conclusion about previously used programming software. You can get it via radio menu or RadioMaint.

 

[Radioman96p71]

Easiest method is to just recover the radio with RadioMaint. DON'T overwrite the radio code when asked just erase the eeprom, push a new personality in it with whatever version you have and problem solved. Of course, make backups of all the important data like radio code, dsp/adi, tracking and feature string.

 

[radioman2001]

The software version listed is right from the help menu"RadPersMagr.exe R08B04 (8.2.1.4)" and it will not read any Orion I have.

"Of course, make backups of all the important data like radio code, dsp/adi, tracking and feature string."
How do you do that if you can't read the radio?

 

[Radioman96p71]

You are using RPM, that is the problem.

Orions can only be read with ProGrammer.

And RadioMaint can read that data off even if Programmer can't read the personality.

 

[MrAstroSaber]

Its not hard. I have bought a few radios that were programed with a newer ver. of ProGrammer. I just open my ver. of proGrammer R18 (I think not at the right computer) Anyways pick the radio I want to program, change the rf band if needed, then just add in the system info and write to the radio. No need to read them as I have no use for whats on them anyways. Hope that was helpful. Worked on my LPE-200s, Orion, and my m7100.

 

[radioman2001]

OK, thanks will try that, now have 8 radios with the sames error, all my stock must have been reprogrammed with a newer version at the factory. What a PITA, RPM removes all previous versions, and Harris wasn't able to tell me how to keep Programmer with RPM so I have to use 2 different computers to do programming, and people thought Motorola was bad.

 

[radioman2001]

OK, Programmer RadioMaint does not read a radio programmed with RPM and RPM RadioMaint does not read a Programmer programmed radio. I was able to force a Programmer ver16 Profile into an Orion that was programmed with something newer. Don't know if it was RPM or not.
Another question, I have some M7100's that were originally programmed with Programmer, I recently read that radio with RPM and now cannot read it with Programmer. Does Harris go one further than Motorola and if the radio is even touched (read not written to ) with a newer version block access to all older versions?

 

[Radioman96p71]

For one, RPM can't read or write any Orions. Support for them stopped at ProGrammer.

M7100s can be upgraded pretty easily with RPM. You can even upgrade older .per files and write them.

And yes, they block radios from being read in older software. You can use RadioMaint to clear the EEPROM so you can write over it, but you can't open newer personalities in older versions.

 

[roger51]

I have big problem too,Any advance can help me how to downgrade my P7100(FPP) and M7100.Because the R18 can't read or write the radio.......please

 

[Radioman96p71]

If i get a chance tonight after work I might do a writeup on it and post it, since it seems to be such a popular thing these days!