CPS/Extras/OpenGD77Support

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WA5JDM
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:12 am

CPS/Extras/OpenGD77Support

Post by WA5JDM » Fri Oct 01, 2021 6:20 pm

RD-5R has communications issues.
The host computer is a new laptop running Windows 10 Home with USB 2 and 3. I tried both ports, same issue.

When trying to write flash to the radio, a window opens requesting a com port, the RD-5R uses a driver, not a com port. If, however, the flash is first read, then after completing the flash download (read), the write or upload works.

I was not able to backup the various memory segments, flash, EEPROM, MCU from a Baofeng version of software. The OpenGD77 did backup OK. Useless for getting the data required to restore a radio back to factory if desired or necessary due to issues with the upgrade to OpenGD77. It had the same issue of not finding the BF-5R programming port and requesting a com port

Curiously, the calibration data read from a BF version radio and an opengd77 RD-5R. I don't recall the exact circumstances. Perhaps I read the Open77 version first and then did the Baofeng version?

I did have transmit issues with the upgrade and needed to restore back to BF software and thanks to someone's thoughtful provision of native flash data, was able to first read, to get the port to work and then write the BF flash data to the radio.

I am waiting for CPS issues to resolve before trying again. This was two days of head banging, just get back where I started. I guess I'm slowing down in my old age.

Thank you for all that you do,
John, WA5JDM

oh1fss
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 11:53 am

Re: CPS/Extras/OpenGD77Support

Post by oh1fss » Fri Oct 01, 2021 7:48 pm

First you must install OpenRD5R firmware, see the FAQ https://www.opengd77.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1770 and the manual in https://github.com/LibreDMR/OpenGD77_Us ... r_Guide.md

Please note that the firmware is different from the flash contents in [Backup Flash] and [Restore Flash].

To install OpenRD5R, you must turn on your transceiver in bootloader mode (SK1 + SK2 + power on). Then your laptop sees your radio as a HID (human interface deice), not as a COM port.

After install, turn on your radio normally. When you connect it to your laptop, it will be shown as a COM port now. Now you can backup flash, EEPROM, MCU etc. The original Baofeng firmware does not support such backups at all. These backups are a feature of OpenRD5R, so you can make such backups only after installing OpenRD5R.

After that, you should upload your codeplug to your radio.

This has worked for several hams here in our ham club.

WA5JDM
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:12 am

Re: CPS/Extras/OpenGD77Support

Post by WA5JDM » Sat Oct 02, 2021 5:18 pm

Reply to OH1FSS

Thank you for the reply.

Everything you mentioned is true and the only misunderstanding is my generic use of OpenGD77 where I should have be clear by typing the correct name for the firmware I did install which is OpenRD5R.

I am beyond worrying about the CPS issues I encountered, they are most likely caused by PC and some ambiguities around the HID driver. I tried again and low and behold, the flash write did work without the preliminary read. I only made one pass and moved on to trying the OpenRD5R install again. The transmitter acted the same, flashing red led and a timeout.

I did some investigation and found what is very likely the problem or at least one of the problems. There is a discrepancy in the transmitter control data located at 8F000 in the flash memory. The data should be A0 0F C0 12, instead it is A0 0F 50 14. According to a paper, Radioddity GD-77 Tuning & alignment project, this data is critical to the proper operation of the transmitter. The article was written for a GD-77 but is in fact the same for an RD-5R. I cannot find where the CPS installer program gets the data that is written into the flash during the install procedure so I am at a loss for how to fix this problem. I found no such data in the OpenRD5R.bin.

One more bit of info, I found the correct data in the restore flash.bin in: www.opengd77.com/downloads/flash_and_ee ... ckups/RD5R directory. I can only assume that this version of flash data came from a Baofeng RD-5R that was in proper working order.

Any ideas or suggestions are always appreciated.

WA5JDM

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F1RMB
Posts: 2518
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:42 am
Location: Grenoble, France

Re: CPS/Extras/OpenGD77Support

Post by F1RMB » Sat Oct 02, 2021 5:39 pm

Hi,

So you have a RD-5R.
Only the first two bytes are always the same for this transceiver, hence the firmware only check for those.

If the CPS (and I mean "OpenGD77CPS", not the Baofeng one) can't communicate with your transceiver (running the OpenGD77 firmware), the possibles problems are:
  • Wrong or damaged cable
  • Windows drivers issue.
So, check the cable for GND/D+/D- signals (there is no chip in this cable), and reinstall the CPS + drivers.


Cheers.
---
Daniel

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