I have been having this issue for quite some time now, so I just spend the weekend trying to figure this out. I am using hughesnet as the isp, and have a BCD436HP as well as an SDS200. I can typically get the 436 to update (both firmware as well as the main DB, sometimes after a few tries), but the SDS200 will not update at all.
I started checking the network traffic using tools like Fiddler and WireShark to see what is happening. Through that I noticed that Sentinel certainly is connecting to the homepartol FTP site, it just never even tries to start the actual download. That to me means there is something else going on.
I tried this by connecting the scanner to my laptop using the USB cable, but then I also tried it by using the cardreader with the SD card in it, but no luck at all.
So, next was to check if there was anything I could do with Sentinel to change settings etc. .....and that worked.
Here is what I did :
- First, make sure you have the latest version of Sentinel, I currently have version 2.02 Rev. 01
- Next (if possible) take the SD card and use a card reader and insert that into your laptop. Make sure it is not read-only.
- Once the Windows Explorer shows the folder, right click on the BCD436 folder, go to Properties and make sure to un-check the 'Read only' box.
- Start Sentinel and go to 'Tools' then 'Target Model' and make sure the correct model scanner is checked. (This is the trick that solved my problem)
- Now update the main DB and/or the firmware.
- If there is a firmware update, once completed, take the SD card out of the reader, insert it back into your scanner, and turn the scanner on, it should now start the real firmware update. Let that finish.
- If a main DB download occurred, connect your scanner (after the firmware update is done) via the USB cable, and upload the DB to your scanner, like you always would.
This solved the issue for me, even though I am using Hughesnet ......