Upgrade DSP100

[Tj Hopland]

As with most everyone else its been a while since I had to do a DSP100 but did those have the ability to upgrade from the CD rom in the DSS100? And if they did did it start with a specific version? I know the 200's could if you followed the directions perfectly formatting and setting up the USB stick (including the max size of the stick which is a bigger problem now days) but I don't remember the 100's having that option. I always did it using the Dolby Software Update app.over USB. And I sort of remember even with that you still had to do the secret hold down several front panel buttons with 2 hands to put it into update mode which was then indicated as such on the little screen. One it was in update mode the app would auto connect and you could then select the files and hit go.

Its certainly possible at some point that feature got added, it may have just come along for the ride so to speak when they did it on the 200's. I do know for sure the software update app method worked for all versions of the DSP100 and Cat 862's so it is and was always an option for local updates.

[Leo Enticknap]

For the DSS200, you can get it to boot from a USB stick, but you have to change the boot order in the BIOS settings. There is no push F11 (or whatever) during the POST sequence to give you a one-time change of the configured boot device, but you can make it boot from USB by changing the configured order in the BIOS to include USB as an option, and then rebooting. As others have noted, the CD/DVD drive in a DSS200 is frequently unusable (either the tray won't open, it will but it needs levering with a screwdriver, or it will but it won't read a disc after insertion), and so doing this is often a needed workaround if you're trying to do a clean image software install on a DSS200.

I'm guessing that the DSS100 is similar, but as it's now almost five years since I've done battle with one, that is just a guess. You definitely installed software (clean image and upgrade) from a CD-ROM under normal, everything working OK, circumstances.

The DSS220's Dolby-customized BIOS has a factory default configuration whereby it will try to boot from USB first, and if it doesn't find a bootable USB device, it will then move on to the first of the three hard drives (which should be the one on the left, but will be only if the SATA cables have been hooked to their correct jacks on the motherboard). Because the DSS220 uses a software RAID, it will boot from a hard drive only if that first drive is OK, because it needs to load the code to drive the software RAID from that. If that first drive is NFG, a DSS220 won't boot: it'll give you a GRUB prompt and then stall.

[Kailai Nathan]

Dear Members, I put the iso CD in and the USB with the KDM. After reboot it now shows 'Error connecting to Media Block'. Do the KDM files need to be unzipped? Thanks

[Ryan Gallagher]

Dear Members, I put the iso CD in and the USB with the KDM. After reboot it now shows 'Error connecting to Media Block'. Do the KDM files need to be unzipped? Thanks

Not sure about this particular situation, but in general yes, KDMs and DCPs aren’t recognized in their zipped form.

[Marco Giustini]

DSS servers can deal with zipped kdm.

but as I said, I’d always check that the media block would recognise the kdm before upgrading.

you went ahead anyways and this was predictable.
it’s fixable. But it needs a computer savvy person I’m afraid.

[Leo Enticknap]

DSS servers themselves can deal with zipped KDM. However, you have to unzip them when installing a media block update via a direct USB connection from a laptop and using the Dolby Software Updater app. That app can only process an unzipped update KDM. This has tripped me up a couple of times.

I'm guessing that what happened here is that it updated the DSS100 OK, but that for whatever reason the DSP100 did not upgrade, and there is now a software/firmware version mismatch between the two.

I have the following in my notes to install an update on a DSP100 independently of the DSS. Place the media block upgrade file and KDM on a USB stick, and connect it to the DSP. On the DSP's front panel, press escape, enter and up arrow simultaneously. While holding all three down, press auto. While holding all four down, let go of escape, enter and up arrow, then continue to hold down auto for a couple of seconds, then release.