Issues with firmware downgrading

[aidanthehorrible]

Hi, I recently encountered an issue with my CubePro Trio, it was not printing anything because it kept saying something about there not being any PLA cartridges, when it can in fact see there are. It is strange, so I decided to try to downgrade the firmware. I am currently on v2.02.
I have a FAT32 formatted USB stick with a copy of 2.00 on it, but whenever I insert it to my machine, the whole thing turns off and on again, like it crashed. When I try to go into the update from USB option on it, it says "Firmware Download Failed", I really don't know what to do, I have been trying to get it to print for a month.

[TommyDee]

Not seeing cartridges is a sensor problem. Somehow your chips are probably not connecting to the contacts at the end of the tray. Make sure you can query the cartridge status from the menu. Cleaning the metal pads on the cartridge chips may also help.

There have been issues with downgrades. CubePro is not very forgiving in forcing firmware upgrades. One way is to corrupt the SSD but that requires disassembly to get to the motherboard.

[retock]

The same thing happens to me, it does not detect the cartridges and I put a new unused cartridge on, this has happened to me since yesterday

[TommyDee]

Was the new cartridge recognized?

[Cubical]

Is the firmware stored on the micro flash card that's plugged into the main board? I haven't pulled mine out to inspect or test, but am wondering if it is just a standard Windows-readable format. What I'd really like to do is make a back up of it. I know that occasionally (or eventually?) these flash cards start to go bad. I've had that happen in copiers (which is my main line of work). On those, sometimes you could make copies of the files on the card and then delete the original files (so it would store them in a different area) and it would work again but by that point you knew you were on borrowed time.

[TommyDee]

That is a good idea to back up the flash drive @Cubical. There are two .bin files that are coded to your printer's mac address. It is FAT32 IIRC. Readable non the less. You will also find your last print sent to the printer.