• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

HELP!!! MTS2000 "Toolproof" Error

Status
Not open for further replies.

mfred

Member
Joined
May 17, 2004
Messages
44
Location
Dumont, NJ
My radio has the below problem, can someone HELP!!!

**WARNING**
The following information was passed along to me and is a potential hazard if you use LAB RSS and write to the radio (reading is fine):
"ToolProof" Error Information
This is (Service Repair Note) SRN 1173
Date March, 1995
Deadline Date n/a
Memo To SRN Mailing List
From Radio Network Solution Group/Product Services, Plantation
Subject MTS2000 Programming Sources - Unauthorized Tool Usage
Symptoms Radio Inoperative Error 01/93
Potential Problem Radios MTS2000 Models Only with firmware 5.42 or greater
Cause Implementation of Toolproofing in release 5.42 and greater
Motorola has been shipping FLASHport software upgrades on the MTS2000 radio since September of 1994. To date, 9,000 units have been upgraded in the field. To protect against illegal software copying and/or radio upgrades, Motorola is implementing "TOOLPROOFING" into the MTS2000 radio at the Florida factory beginning 2/27/95.
The result is many existing upgrade tools (PCON Plus, Depot RSS, Lab RSS, etc.) will no longer work with the MTS2000 radio. If these tools are used with MTS2000 radios that ship after the 2/27/95 date, the radio will fail upon power up. Any questions that arise as a radio fails to power up should be directed to Florida Product Services for diagnosis and further instructions. The number is 1-800-523-4007. Once an issue is diagnosed with the TOOLPROOFING as the violation, the individual will be instructed to send the radio(s) into the nearest depot location, where the "FLASHport depot tool" will be used.
Corrective Action
All Motorola owned Depots and International Regional Support Centers (RSC s) will be equipped with a FLASHport depot tool . This proprietary tool will ONLY be distributed to the National Subscriber Depot in Schaumburg, the Florida Regional Support Center, and 18 previously established International Regional Support Centers Worldwide who have signed license agreements not to copy or distribute the tool. This new tool will have the capability to reprogram as required to perform repairs.
This bulletin is for information only, no warranty is implied.
Toolproof Explanation
Now, above is the official explanation of the toolproof situation and its rectification. What follows below is what we have been told is the way this silly protection scheme is implemented.
First, a little info on the structure of the MTSX series codeplug.
In its native format (the format that is actually dumped to the radio), the codeplug file is actually a standard Motorola S-record. It is unpacked from the archive file format and converted to an s-record which is stored in memory when the codeplug is read from disk. When the codeplug is written to disk, the s-record is packed and converted to the archive file that is stored.
The native codeplug is a list of blocks or records. The first block/record begins at address 0000h of EEPROM space. The format of each block/record follows the general s-record format:
S<TYPE><LENGTH><ADDRESS><DATA....><CHECKSUM>
 

mikewazowski

Forums Manager/Global DB Admin
Staff member
Forums Manager
Joined
Jun 26, 2001
Messages
13,953
Location
Oot and Aboot
If you continued to read the toolproof explanation from Batlabs you would have seen the "fixing or recovering from a tooproof" section.

I hope you have your s-records backed up. You might be able to have someone else supply a s-record for your radio.

If not then you will probably have to send the radio to Motorola. Be prepared, they will probably want a good reason as to why they should fix your radio.

Ask your question over on the batlabs discussion forum. They deal with problems like this and might be able to suggest some other remedies.
 

certcom

Member
Joined
May 12, 2004
Messages
5
Toolproofing

Did you save an S-record? You can put your old s-record back in it. ALWAYS read a S-record and save it so that if you toolproof it you can recover. I bricked one once and learned my lesson.
 

certcom

Member
Joined
May 12, 2004
Messages
5
S-Record

If you don't have an S-record let me know. What is your model number and flash code?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top