my first 501, need advice

[ninerblood]

This is my first 501 receiver and want to verify what am doing to make sure i dont mess up this expensive unit.

First I backed up my TSOP by jtaging it. I read that theirs 2 flashes that need to be backed up. Did I do that by backing up my TSOP?? Are both flashes read at one time when the jtag program detects the receiver. Is the backing up the TSOP information the same as the 2800 cause thats the way i did it.

This receiver has 2 DT chips, one at U6 and one at U7. This being a refurbished 501, do you do anything special to them??? Firmware is at P075 and the most current is P222. Should i put the receiver in the stream to get updated first before entering the card in. Can i use a ROM 10 card???

Id appreciate any advice.

[skinerd]

Lucked out with the DT chips, they are easy........

Back up all you want to, U6, U7 and the eeprom, never hurt to have a complete backup, but really all you need to save is U7, or flash 2.

When reflashing, all that you need to do is to erase everything and reload U7, U6 takes care of itself.

A 501 will need a yellow card to stream it up to 222, but then a blue or magiccard will work.

[ninerblood]

Lucked out with the DT chips, they are easy........

Back up all you want to, U6, U7 and the eeprom, never hurt to have a complete backup, but really all you need to save is U7, or flash 2.

When reflashing, all that you need to do is to erase everything and reload U7, U6 takes care of itself.

A 501 will need a yellow card to stream it up to 222, but then a blue or magiccard will work.

Thanx for the reply. How do i back up the U7 or flash 2 (which am assuming is the same thing) by itself?? Am used to backing up the whole TSOP as i only messed around with 2800's. Should i make a copy of U7 before and after upgrading software.

[skinerd]

Thanx for the reply. How do i back up the U7 or flash 2 (which am assuming is the same thing) by itself?? Am used to backing up the whole TSOP as i only messed around with 2800's. Should i make a copy of U7 before and after upgrading software.

The 501 has 2 tsop flash chips, and 2 flash bins, a 2800 only has one.

If you backup 1 and 2 you will have 2 bins saved.............don't know how else to explain.........

Flash 1 is irrerelavent tho.......you will only get frustrated trying to restore it.

U7 (flash2) is REALLY all you need to save.

[ninerblood]

Too back up flash 2 do you change the flash 1 to flash 1 after jkeys detects the receiver and then save it with flash 2 selected. Cause that what i did, hope its right.

Also i read something about having to change an address for refurbished receivers. The address of 03FFFAD = D500 change to 03FFFAD = 0000. Do you know anything about this??

[billko]

Yes, you backed it up correctly, the file should be about 4.1mb. Back up your eeprom as well (small file, about 8kb) by clicking EEPROM Programming, then OK, then Save.

The address change is for the vid mod, which you should not need with DT chips.

[skinerd]

Yes, you backed it up correctly, the file should be about 4.1mb. Back up your eeprom as well (small file, about 8kb) by clicking EEPROM Programming, then OK, then Save.

The address change is for the vid mod, which you should not need with DT chips.


Nope.....the address to change is 7FFFFFAC and is for blue card compatibility.

The vid mod is not needed cause the DT chips are not locked.

The vid mod is needed in those with GT chips in oder to enable flash writing to zero the address above.

[ninerblood]

Thanx, got it working. The recording features are cool but i thought i would be able to record a show while watching another, but i guess thats the 721 that does that. Ill probably end up getting that one. Is the 721 way different than the 501 as far as getting it to work?? Ive heard that their is 2 tsop's to back up. Do you have to worry about wether you have a DT or GT chips also and how many does it have? Time to look into it.

If anybody can answer some of this question to give me a head start i would appreciate it.

[dssturbo1]

no you can't watch one channel and record another at same time. that would take two tuners. you can watch any program already recorded to the hard drive and record a channel at the same time

[yodaman1]

I keep seeing everybody say to put in the yellow card for the software on the DP501 to update to latest version. I am confused though. Does the yellow card have to be virgin or can it be married to another receiver?

Also, are you saying that with a FW Version of L054 (one I got off EBAY) that a ROM2 won't work to update the software (after I get the box keys through the remote of course).

Sorry for the potentially stupid questions. I have been testing with the 7200 and 4900 for about 3 years and finally making the move to a faster box for my PVR.

[skinerd]

I can be a virgin yellow or married to the receiver you are working on, otherwise you get the wrong card message.

[yodaman1]

I can be a virgin yellow or married to the receiver you are working on, otherwise you get the wrong card message.


So a ROM3 card with the correct Box Keys and IRD # won't work to update the FW? If not, can I just write the correct FW to the 501 with the internal JTAG I am going to put in and then I will have the latest version of FW?