Batboard

Hello,

I've hacked together an adapter to use my Saber programming cable with the ASTRO Saber. When I go to read the radio, it reads the 13 blocks, but then throws a "Block Type Error," saying "An unrecoverable error has occured. Processing can not continue.180/53."

What does this mean, and what should I be looking at? I'm new to ASTRO land, so I don't know if it has to do with the adapter I built (entirely possible that it sucks?), or if it's something else.

(I wasn't sure if it was pin 6 to pin 8, or pin 8 to pin 6, so I did both. I'm also a little confused by pins 4 and 11, are they supposed to just be shorted together on the 'RIB side' of the cable?)

I can answer the programming cable side...

the only thing you change on the saber cable is having pin 8 switch to 6 for the astro




saber Astro
1 GND 1 GND
15 BUS 15 BUS
8 BUSY 6 BUSY

As for Pin 4 and 11 they are supposed to be shorted on the RIB side.

You can also install a toggle switch between 6 and 8 so you can switch back and fourth if you like

I had the same problem when using a factory rib, but with my aftermarket rib, everything is fine.

Strange.

What's stranger still is that I'm using an aftermarket RIB, not a Motorola RIB.

I could've sworn I replied twice already, but neither shows up here... (?) I've build a new 'adapter,' figuring the old one was defective. I still get the same error. It looks like it reads the radio fine, but then comes up with that fatal Block Type Error: "An unrecoverable error has occured. Processing can not continue.180/53" (Up top it says "Validating Codeplug Data" as a status, which makes me wonder if it 'reads' the codeplug but thinks it's corrupt or something? The radio works fine.)

When it's reading the radio, the screen says "1 CSQ." Is this normal?

What does the "180/53" error mean?

Okay, the service menu works fine. It'll read the radio, and let me mess with soft pot values. (However, since I have no clue what's going on, I'm not changing anything!)

So why can't I read the codeplug in?

Oh, search...

Working on installing something new. (But my understanding is that this error occurs trying to work with IMBE radios. My radio has a host firmware of AP_R03.32.00 and a DSP of A05.01.03... Doesn't this pre-date IMBE by a century or two?)

What rss are you using.

Jason

Problem solved now that I'm using 09.03.00.

I'm still curious about IMBE vs. VSELP, though. (Radio's not flashed for digital at all (000001-002000-5), but I had assumed it would only do VSELP if I ever upgraded to digital.)

How do I find out, BTW, whether it's got a 512KB or 1MB vocon?

If you put the radio into test mode (push the side button a few times when you turn it on), it'll pop through the model number, serial number, flash code and all that...then it'll come up and say 1 MEG if you have a 1MB vocon...if it doesn't, you don't (I think it says 512K).

Not that it helps anything, but I made a nice adaptor to go from Astro Saber to regular saber programming cables. I made the programming cable for an Astro Saber (as that's what I program the most), then bought an RS232 Surge Protector (such as this: http://www.pacificcable.com/photos/SP3.jpg). Inside it (at least, the one I bought) there are just a bunch of surge protectors on various data pins. I cut all the traces inside there, and wired up a cross over from pin 6 to pin 8, leaving the other necessary pins straight through. Now, when I want to program an Analog Saber, just plug this into the rib before the programming cable, and whala.