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Hi everyone
Looking for help to flash the firmware on my speakers.
I have a pair of Beolab 18's and a 19 sub connected via WISA to a BV11 46" acting as an audio master. These speakers are shared with a Beosound Moment, and I use speaker groups to allow me to switch between setups for TV watching and music listening.
Generally very happy with the arrangement, but I do experience occasional dropouts of the WISA connection. The speakers are only around 2m at most from the BV11, a chimney *** does prevent direct line-of-sight arrangement. When these dropouts occur, they are seldom easily fixed, and often result in a compete do-over on speaker connections to solve.
I replaced my old Apple Airport Extreme for Google's WiFi hubs to enjoy their automatic channel jumping to prevent interference, and that's improved things, but I still find this happening about once a month.
I recently acquired a brand new Beolab Transmitter 1 with he hope of flashing the firmware on the speakers to see if that will help, but despite following the instructions I can't seem to get the device to work as described.
I've searched the forums and there's little mentioned, but I wonder if anyone's had experience in doing this? I have popped the firmware on a USB stick, booted up as described and paired the speakers (I think) with the transmitter ... but it refuses (seemingly) to flash the firmware. The LED sequence that should happen doesn't!
The date of the firmware file is OLDER than when I bought the speakers (via LifeStyle AV!) so I would expect i'm on an older version than they might have flashed prior to my purchase.
Would welcome anyone with experience of flashing firmware in this way who may have experience / advice on any tips/tricks?
Thanks in advance
Tom
Hi,
Here the method I used to upgrade the firmware of my 2 Beolab’s 18 and my Beolab 19. Hope this help… and sorry for my bad english…
I recommend you to use a small USB key device. In my case, it doesn’t work with a 16 Gb one, but I work with a 4 Gb one.
The USB key must be formatted in FAT.
Step 1 : Before upgrading the speaker,s you need to disconnect them from your Beosound Moment. This can be done either by doing a reset on each speaker or by through the Beosound Moment by doing a speaker setup. When the speakers are blinking in green, just unplug the Besound Moment SoundHeart from main.
Then connect them to your Transmitter 1 by following the instructions in the manual.
When the setup in finished, unplug the transmitter 1 from the main.
Please note that it is important that all speakers are well connected to the Transmitter 1 before going further.
Step 2 : Download the software update from B&O web site (a zip file).
Step 3 : Unzip to file to the root directory of the USB key.
Step 4 : Connect the USB key to the USB port behind the Transmitter 1 and connect it to the main.
Step 5 : Normally the upgrading process will start automatically after few second (front led if the Transmlitetr 1 will blinking green after many second). Do not touch anything during the upgrading process. It will start by upgrading the Transmitter 1 firmware if necessary. Is so, the Transmitter 1 will restart automatically after the upgrading process.
After that the Transmitter 1 will switch again in upgrading mode (front led blinking green). If not, unplug the Transmitter 1 from the main, wait 1 minute and connect it again to the main.
Normally the upgrading process of the speakers will start automatically. The process takes approximately 10 mn for each speaker. You will see a small light blinking in the rear of the Transmitter 1 (one led above the PowerLink connecter for each speaker (the color will change during the upgrading process because there are 2 firmware per speaker (one main firmware and one DSP firmware)). The speakers will also blink green a little bit faster during the upgrading process.
It is important not to touch anything during the upgrading process. The Transmitter 1 will switch automatically from one speaker to another to upgrade all of them one at a time (10 minutes per speaker).
When the upgrading process is finished, the Transmitter 1 will automatically restart with the front led turning off after many seconds.
Step 6 : Unplug the Transmitter 1 from the main, remove the USB key, and connect it again to the main to disconnect the speakers from it (same process as step 1 with the Transmitter 1 instead of the Moment).
Step 7 (optional) : Connect the USB key to the computer. You will find 2 files (DEBUG.LOG and WPL-DUMP.TXT) on the root directory.
Open the DEBUG.LOG. You can see for each speaker if the upgrading process is correctly done (You have 2 firmware per speakers, one for the speaker software and one for DSP software).
Step 8 : To finish, you just have to connect the speakers again to the Moment.
Enjoy !!
Sully - Beosound Moment - 2 x Beolab 18 - Beolab 19
Hi Sully
Many thanks for your reply - I have successfully upgraded the firmware in all three speakers today!
Your instructions, plus the direct help from another Forum member, Jérôme, expand and buildupon the official instructions.
I think the two issues I experienced were as follows - in case anyone else tries to do this:
1. Creating the USB stick on a Mac. You can format the USB using Disk Utility as MS-DOS (FAT) but you have to also select the "Master Boot Record" Scheme sub-option (not the default which is a "GUID Partition". Once done the TR1 can read the USB stick no problem.
2. Network connectivity - I had to pull all of my speakers out from their wall positions and have the TR1 about 12 inches from them in order to get a reliable network connection between them!! And even then, the process failed once.
If you remember, I had firmware from approx. 2016 on these speakers, and suffered WISA dropouts - which is why I wanted to upgrade the firmware.I use a BV11 as an audio master, and it's only around 2m from the first BL18 and 4m from the second.
I know many have commented, but I'm convinced WISA is not that robust ... given how close I had to get the TR1 to the 18 & 19 to successfully transmit just a few 100 kb of firmware, and the fact it took 15min per speaker. Examining the logs, I can see it took a few attempts - there's a mention of at least one abandoned attempt and "poor network connectivity" messages
BUT!
It's done now, and for the past few hours no dropouts ... let's see how we get on in the longer term\
AND!
I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing better sound-staging and detail following the DSP firmware updates applied, so very happy with that bonus side-effect.
Many thanks again Sully and Jérôme - really appreciate your help.
BS Moment, BS Core, BG 4002, BC 4500, BS1, BL18, BL19, BL8000 + RCV1, A6, M5, M3, A1, P6 (tks Botty), H5, TR1
Glad to see that you finally did it with success.
It was a pleasure helping you.