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SkyFi Firmware Upgrade Error Message "SkyFi Updater Failed To Detect SkyFi. Make Sure You Connected It With A Null-Modem Adapter To The Serial Port You Specified." (Solution: Read On)

I purchased my Skyfi Feb 2012 from Southern Stars. I recently decided to upgrade the firmware from version 2.2 to the latest 2.3.3. I am unable to find the original USB Dongle. So instead I made one using the pinout from the documentation as follows Pin5 DB-9 to RJ11 Pin4, Pin3 DB-9 to Pin2 RJ11 and Pin2 DB-9 to Pin5 RJ11. When I run the updater it almost completes the process but stops with the green bar 1/8 of an inch of completion with the following message ... "SkyFi Updater failed to detect SkyFi. Make sure you connected it with a null-modem adapter to the serial port you specified." I have tried with higher baud rates and the slowest but still won't complete. Do I have the correct pinout? Do I need the correct USB Dongle? Do you sell replacements? Any ideas short of sending it in to get the update installed?

Thanks Tim Bihuniak

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7 comments

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    Bill Tschumy

    The SkyFi didn't come with a USB dongle.  You need to get a USB-to-Serial adapter to do this.  We recommend the KeySpan adapters.

  • 0
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    Tim Campbell

    To my knowledge there are three versions of the SkyFi

    The current version has an internal rechargeable battery (version 3)

    The previous version had AA batteries, a modular jack with the modular-jack to DB9 male adapter AND also had a USB port (version 2)

    The original version looks nearly identical to the version 2 except it does not have the USB port.

     

    I think he's referring to the model that used AA batteries ... that unit came with a short modular-jack to DB9 male adapter.  

    If I'm reading this correctly, you're missing a null-modem adapter.

    DB9 (and also DB25 ... older equipment used DB25) serial ports come in "male" and "female" versions.  The "male" version is for DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) and the "female" version is for DCE (Data Communications Equipment).

    To make sense of what this means, you have to go back in time to the days of using computer terminals to dial in to mainframe computers.  Back in those days, the "terminal" (which wasn't a computer) had the serial port for "data terminal equipment" (DTE).  The "modem" connected to the terminal but the "modem" provides communication ... so it's "data communication equipment" (DCE).  As time evolved and "computers" (not terminals) were connected to "modems" the computer still used the DTE (male) port so it would interface with the modem.

    If you look at the wiring diagram in your illustration... notice that pin 2 is "TD" (Transmit Data) and pin 5 is "RD" (Receive Data).  But this is only true of DTE (male) ports.  For DCE (female) ports, those pins are reversed.  This way the DTE "transmits" on pin 2 and the DCE "receives" on pin 2.  Conversely the DCE "transmits" on pin 5 and the DTE "receives" on pin 5.

    A "null-modem" adapter fixes this by wiring all the pins "straight through" EXCEPT for pins 2 & 5 ... which it swaps.

    But "null modem" adapters come in different versions.  If you are connecting (Bill, help me out here because I haven't tried to update the firmware in my old version generation 2 SkyFi) and this process calls for connecting the SkyFI's serial port directly to the computer's serial port (typically a USB serial port adapter since few computers built in recent years have physical serial ports) then both parts are probably DB9 male ports.  This means you would need the female/female version of the null-modem adapter.

    The female/female version means it's really a gender-change AND null-modem adapter.  There are also male/female versions which are null-modem but NOT gender-changing.  You do want to make sure you get the correct one.  It's also possible to get a straight gender-changer that is not a null-modem adapter.

    e.g.:  https://www.amazon.com/female-slimline-transfer-serial-adapter/dp/B075XGRLXW

     

  • 0
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    Timothy Bihuniak

    Hi Bill. I knew a dongle of a sort was supplied with the my SkyFi 2. However but my slip of the tongue "USB Dongle" phrase should really have been "Serial to RJ11" dongle. This was the Dongle I was looking for the correct pinout to build or purchase if it was available. I have a Belkin F5U409 USB-to-Serial adapter that I use to communicate with my ServoCat.

    Thanks Bill.

  • 0
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    Timothy Bihuniak

    Tim, thanks for the Communications refresher. It feels like a lifetime ago since I worked in the communication industry. Quite by accident I did find my RJ11 to Serial dongle. I did have to swap TD and RD to get the new firmware uploaded. Thanks for the null modem link. I didn't know these were available. I'm going to place an amazon order for a set just in case I need them in the future. 

    Thanks for the help.

  • 0
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    Tim Campbell

    Normally your computer or your SkyFi acts as the "DTE" device and the scope acts as a "DCE" devices ... so no need to swap pins or use a null-modem.

    But since you were updating firmware, you were connecting the computer serial port (which is "DTE") to the SkyFi serial port (which is also "DTE") and that requires a null-modem.

    Glad it's working for you now.

  • 0
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    Timothy Bihuniak

    My firmware update was completed yesterday using DB9 to DB25 to RS232 tester (red/green leds) to DB25 cross-connect block to DB25 to DB9. This allowed me to discover that TD and RD needed to be crossed.

    This morning after looking at the Amazon link I discovered I have a DB9 adapter with the Orange tape wrapped around labelled Mini Adapter. I wrongly assumed it was a gender changer. My other DB9 adapters have a yellow tape wrapped around lbelled Gender Changer. Futher testing proved that it was a null modem adapter. I believe it may have come in the package with my Argo Navis purchase last year.

    As I type this reply I starting thinking what an odd description "Mini Adapter" is for a Null Modem adapter. When I turn the adapter over discovered the words "Null Modem" printed too. Turns out that when everything was joined together this adapter ended up with Null Modem being face down. Oh well. I'll chalk it up to a learning exprience. It's too Cloudy and rainy to do anything outside astronomy related.

    Everything is working now and I'm just a little bit smarter. 

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Glad you got it worked out.  Sorry I misunderstood that you were referring to the short serial adapter that cam with SkyFi 2.

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