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Kenwood NX 1000 Firmware Problem

S

swwifty

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Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
42
I have a NX1200-AV-K2 radio that i've run into issues with.

It was running the 1.51 firmware (which apparently didn't support the NXDN conventional license I added to it), so I attempted to upgrade the firmware to 2.13 with a software program my dealer sent to me.

I started the upgrade and it started writing to the radio, but half way through failed and now the radio says "No SYS" on the display and is flashing the LED red.

I'm afraid I've bricked the radio, because I can't read or write anymore in the Kenwood programming software or the firmware software. I tried unplugging the battery, etc but no no luck.

Any ideas, or things to try? I'm not sure why this would have happened, because everything seemed to check out fine. Any tips or help would be appreciated.
 
kd4efm

kd4efm

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BY THE WAY, AVK2 means it was an analog radio maybe with DMR firmware. There is no Analog firmware.
The license manager will or should show you that your NXDN license was loaded correctly.
IF IT DOES NOT SHOW kwd-1200CA, then you do not have the NXDN key installed.

Did you or the dealer install the NXDN KEY?
Also, did you use the KPG-22UM cable or a internet bought cable?
 
S

swwifty

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
42
kd4efm said:
BY THE WAY, AVK2 means it was an analog radio maybe with DMR firmware. There is no Analog firmware.
The license manager will or should show you that your NXDN license was loaded correctly.
IF IT DOES NOT SHOW kwd-1200CA, then you do not have the NXDN key installed.

Did you or the dealer install the NXDN KEY?
Also, did you use the KPG-22UM cable or a internet bought cable?
Click to expand...

I installed NXDN license loaded successfully no problem.

When I was flashing it did say something about DMR->NXDN, which I thought it was just related to the license but maybe it was related to the firmware which caused the issue.

I'm using a internet bought cable of the KPG-22, not the kenwood factory one.
 
S

swwifty

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Oct 21, 2019
Messages
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kd4efm said:
View attachment 139288

THIS IS WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE SENT YOU.

PLEASE ADVISE.
Click to expand...

They initially sent me the wrong one, which is what I used.

They then sent me the one you took a screenshot of their. The service manual indicates a way to force firmware onto it, but it requires taking the radio apart. I'll likely have to do that, it seems.
 
kd4efm

kd4efm

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swwifty said:
They initially sent me the wrong one, which is what I used.

They then sent me the one you took a screenshot of their. The service manual indicates a way to force firmware onto it, but it requires taking the radio apart. I'll likely have to do that, it seems.
Click to expand...
should be able to hook up and hit write
 
S

swwifty

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Oct 21, 2019
Messages
42
Okay, so I tried it again and noticed that it says "Loading" briefly on the radio when I hit write, in the firmware software. The software then errors out and says "Check all connections and com port settings"
 
dryfb

dryfb

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I had the exact same problem, everything was the same as you described except the radio I got had NXDN when I got it off of ebay but had the DMR firmware. I just kept trying again and again and it finally worked, I also went into device manager and changed what COM port my cable was associated with and after retrying more after that it worked.
 
S

swwifty

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Oct 21, 2019
Messages
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dryfb said:
I had the exact same problem, everything was the same as you described except the radio I got had NXDN when I got it off of ebay but had the DMR firmware. I just kept trying again and again and it finally worked, I also went into device manager and changed what COM port my cable was associated with and after retrying more after that it worked.
Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for the info. I'll try that and see what I can do.
 
S

swwifty

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Oct 21, 2019
Messages
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Well I tried changing the com ports around with no luck. I figure at this point I'm going to have to disassembly the radio to put it in the mode to force a firmware onto it. The service manual describes a way to do this, but it doesn't look trivial.
 
S

swwifty

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Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
42
I'm following up on this.

I ended up sending this radio back to my dealer. They thought they might have to ship it to Kenwood, but ended up fixing it onsite instead. Here's what they found:

You must have the Kenwood factory KPG-22U cable, with the latest drivers. Using the firmware tool, make sure the speed is set to normal, then you load an older firmware. After that you load the newer firmware. It was a pain in butt to get it to work, but it did.
 
dryfb

dryfb

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Nov 22, 2020
Messages
104
Location
America
I was able to upload the firmware with a BlueMax49ers cable, and I didn't load any older firmware first.
swwifty said:
I'm following up on this.

I ended up sending this radio back to my dealer. They thought they might have to ship it to Kenwood, but ended up fixing it onsite instead. Here's what they found:

You must have the Kenwood factory KPG-22U cable, with the latest drivers. Using the firmware tool, make sure the speed is set to normal, then you load an older firmware. After that you load the newer firmware. It was a pain in butt to get it to work, but it did.
Click to expand...
 
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