Appendix I – Firmware Upgrade Procedure
AB06064 · Issue/Rev. 0.0 (5/06) Page 9
Appendix I – Firmware Upgrade Procedure
The microLoad.net has flash EEPROM based internal non-volatile memory; this allows the device to be
upgraded without opening the housing and replacing EPROMs as in the past. To take advantage of this
ability, the boot loader in the microLoad.net supports firmware upgrades via TCP/IP.
The microMate must be upgraded first before performing the firmware upgrade. The microMate
application validates the firmware image prior to permitting the download. Visit the website at
http://www.microLoad.net
to check for newer revisions.
The boot loader ALWAYS uses 192.168.0.1 as the IP address. Before performing a firmware upgrade
make sure that IP address is available and the host machine is on the same network (192.168.0.x). If
your Ethernet network uses a different network address, it will be necessary to remove the microLoad
that is to be upgraded from the network, configure it for that network address, and configure the PC to
connect to it. (Note: this may not require physical disconnection from the network, only reconfiguring the
two devices.) The microMate will know to use 192.168.0.1 to perform the upgrade and can handle
switching host addresses, but this will only work if the original microLoad.net address is in the range
192.168.0.1 – 192.168.0.254.
Performing the Firmware Upgrade
With the microMate application is in ONLINE mode and communicating, select Tools | Upgrade Firmware from
the menu. Program mode access is required for the upgrade, so READ ONLY access is not sufficient.
The microMate will display a text message that says “This process erases all nonvolatile memory in the
microLoad (configuration, reports, equations, etc… continue?”.
IMPORTANT:
BE SURE YOU HAVE SAVED A COPY OF THE PROGRAM CODE CONFIGURATION BEFORE
PROCEEDING, ALONG WITH SAVING ANY ADDITIONAL CONFIGURATION ITEMS SUCH AS
ONFIGURABLE REPORTS, USER EQUATIONS, ETC. IN USE!
Select “OK” to continue the upgrade process, or “Cancel” to abort.
If the PC running microMate has an Internet connection, the firmware image will be downloaded
automatically from the FMC Technologies servers. If Internet access is not available or this step fails,
the message “Unable to access host server to check for newer revisions” will be displayed and the
image must be manually placed in the application directory.
Default location: C:\Program Files\Smith Meter\microMate for microLoad.net\ULOAD.BIN
o If you have manually placed the ULOAD.BIN image file in the application directory, you will
still see the error message above; this is normal and should not affect the upgrade process.
o If after either a successful download or the manual placement of a firmware image, the
microMate still fails to find a valid ULOAD.BIN file in the application directory, a message
indicating “No new application image found… aborting” will be displayed and the upgrade will
be aborted.
o Note: if the file exists as indicated above and the microMate still fails to find the image, save
the data file you are currently using (the ‘*.ml’ file) to the application directory and retry.
Having the data file in a different directory can affect the file search. Also make sure the
original microMate installation was to the default path. (Replace the default path above with
the actual installation path if different.)
Once the microMate has located the ULOAD.BIN file, it will validate the file. If the file is not
recognized by the microMate or is determined to be a revision older than the one currently installed in
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