Topic: Notified of update, cannot download it

My Chumby which was up to date until (apparently) yesterday, has been telling me to update. It reboots into the update mode, then asks me if I'd like to go ahead and run the update...then gives me the download the update or run from usb options, but both are greyed out, leaving my only option as cancel.

When I cancel and reboot the Chumby, it tells me there's an update again, and it will do this over and over sad

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Please contact Customer Support.  It sounds like the Special Options partition may be corrupt.

They should be able to help you, or you can try following the instructions here (scroll to "updating with a usb flash drive").

You can also try the step in this thread to attempt to restore Special Options.

There's also a possibility that simply powering off the device completely and restarting it may address this.

Is the unit stock - ie are you running anything else on the device, or have you applied any hacks?

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Exact same problem here. Started suddenly. Won't do the update. And it nags me often to install the update "Now" or "Later". I know "now" won't, so I have to choose "later".

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Duane wrote:

Please contact Customer Support.  It sounds like the Special Options partition may be corrupt.

They should be able to help you, or you can try following the instructions here (scroll to "updating with a usb flash drive").

You can also try the step in this thread to attempt to restore Special Options.

There's also a possibility that simply powering off the device completely and restarting it may address this.

Is the unit stock - ie are you running anything else on the device, or have you applied any hacks?

Device is stock, I'll try your advice and report back later today.

Thanks.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

I've had the same problem.  I then tried to download the zip file to instal via USB drive, but the unpacking of the file is either unsuccessful or I'm prompted for a password.  The unpacking failure is different each time I download and try to unpack. Network problem?

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

I had the same problem, but upgrading using the USB drive did the trick (that does however wipe out all your settings though).

davidmoe - sounds like a download problem. Try downloading using a different browser; this avoids you getting the same copy from the cache (or just clear the cache).

Worked fine for me - downloaded using Firefox 3.5, extracted using Windows 7.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Tried clearing cache, using another browser, unpack fails in different place each time.  Also just downloaded an update for the BlackBerry Desktop software, but that file is corrupt as well.  These are new problems. Only change is a new fiber optic internet service.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

All this info about using the "USB drive"...what do you mean? My Chumby runs off my Mac iPort wireless network. The power cord is the only cable plugged into the Chumby. "Dongle", "Flash drive"...I do not understand. Too technical for me. I just want my Chumby to do the update and stop nagging me about doing it. This is the first real problem I've ever had with the little guy.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

davidmoe wrote:

Tried clearing cache, using another browser, unpack fails in different place each time.  Also just downloaded an update for the BlackBerry Desktop software, but that file is corrupt as well.  These are new problems. Only change is a new fiber optic internet service.

If you're unable to download an uncorrupted file on your desktop computer, that very likely explains why the chumby is having update issues, since it basically does the same thing.  Once it downloads the update, it actually does a check on the file (using an MD5 hash), and rejects the file if it's corrupt.

It may be that your ISP has some sort of content filtering that blocks the downloads of large files.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Tokyo1st-Chum wrote:

All this info about using the "USB drive"...what do you mean? My Chumby runs off my Mac iPort wireless network. The power cord is the only cable plugged into the Chumby. "Dongle", "Flash drive"...I do not understand. Too technical for me. I just want my Chumby to do the update and stop nagging me about doing it. This is the first real problem I've ever had with the little guy.

You've never heard of a USB Flash Drive?

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

You've never heard of a USB Flash Drive?

Know what it is. Don't have one. Don't think I should have to go buy one in order to do an update on the Chumby-ster. So it would be good if some of this thread were dedicated to those of us who do not have USB flash drives handy.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Well, if your chumby is having some sort of issue doing an over-the-air update (which can be for several reasons, not necessarily the fault of the chumby itself), the official backup mechanism for doing such updates is to manually apply this update through the USB subsystem. We set it up this way specifically to deal with possible network-related issues. If you're not interested in doing that, then I'm not sure what to tell you.

There are hacks to block the update altogether, but since you've declared yourself non-technical, that would not seem to be an option, plus your chumby would be left behind on features.

USB flash drives of the required capacity are under $10.

You're certainly welcome to contact Customer Support to see if there's some other trick they may have to address why the device is having difficulty updating over-the-air.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Duane wrote:

Well, if your chumby is having some sort of issue doing an over-the-air update (which can be for several reasons, not necessarily the fault of the chumby itself), the official backup mechanism for doing such updates is to manually apply this update through the USB subsystem. ..USB flash drives of the required capacity are under $10.

Duane, are you employed by Chumby?

If a USB flash drive is the official emergency option, it seems to me Chumby ought to have included a flash drive with the purchase of the Chumby unit. Please send me USD 10.00 so I may purchase a flash drive. Well, make that USD 20.00, as I reside in Japan and I'll need to pay a fee to convert your dollars to yen, and then, of course everything here is double or triple the USA price .

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Wow.

Perhaps it would be best if you worked through the official Customer Support for this issue.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Good Grief.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Wow. Good grief.

What? You think that all the parts necessary for proper operation of a product should not be included with the product? Does the Chumby package state that a flash drive, which you'll need if the above mentioned problem occurs, is not included, in the same manner as other packages tell you a product requires batteries and includes the information "batteries not included"? So you know to go and buy some batteries.
Until now, I didn't know I would need a flash drive.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Tokyo1st-Chum wrote:

Wow. Good grief.

What? You think that all the parts necessary for proper operation of a product should not be included with the product? Does the Chumby package state that a flash drive, which you'll need if the above mentioned problem occurs, is not included, in the same manner as other packages tell you a product requires batteries and includes the information "batteries not included"? So you know to go and buy some batteries.
Until now, I didn't know I would need a flash drive.


It's not even that we're going 'Good Grief' at, but the fact that you refuse to do anything and demand they send you money in order to get a flash drive. Let's be reasonable here. If Chumby actually did this for you, then they'd have to do it for everyone and they would quickly go out of business. Then, you'd have a lovely 200 dollar brick on your hands (No idea what it was in yen, it might have been more!). From products I've bought, only half (and I'm being generous here) actually include things that I've needed, such as batteries, usb drives, etc. So I do what most consumers do: I buy them without pitching a fit.

Honestly, get a low capacity usb drive and it'll probably cost you ten bucks or less, which is roughly the same price for a pack of batteries (at least in the US). USB drives are OPTIONAL on a chumby and that's why it's not included.  You're unlucky that you have this problem, but it's so easy to fix and really isn't THAT expensive to fix it. You just sound whiny, hence the good griefing.

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Tokyo1st-Chum wrote:

Wow. Good grief.

What? You think that all the parts necessary for proper operation of a product should not be included with the product? Does the Chumby package state that a flash drive, which you'll need if the above mentioned problem occurs, is not included, in the same manner as other packages tell you a product requires batteries and includes the information "batteries not included"? So you know to go and buy some batteries.
Until now, I didn't know I would need a flash drive.

It should also be mentioned that access to the internet is required for proper operation of their product. Should Chumby Industries be responsible for providing you with a working internet connection too? Let us know what they say when you ask them big_smile

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

The question is whether a product should come with all of the possible components that might be useful to address some sort of failure mode.

Clearly not all do - cars, for instance, generally do not come with battery jumper cables.

Note that there is at least one other way for this user to address this problem - for instance, he can take it to the distributor of the chumby product in Japan, and they'll gladly do a firmware update.  Using a USB dongle is not at all *required* to perform this update, it's just one way that's convenient for the more technically savvy.  We agree it's not for everyone, and fortunately for Japan, we have a local company that addresses these problems.

As a background in this update issue overall - in virtually all of the cases where this happens and the customer contacts support, the problem is network-related, typically the quality of the WiFi, some firmware issues in the access point or router, firewall issues, or some filtering goofiness on the part of the ISP.  There have only been a handful of cases where the problem was due to the device itself.

In this particular case, the poster claims to be using a "Mac iPort" as his access point.  I assume by that he means he's using an Apple Airport - depending upon the particular model and revision, it's quite likely that's the source of the problem, since recent firmware updates for the Airport have exhibited *many* problems.  I know this personally, since, as part of diagnosing another user's problems with an Airport, I applied one of these firmware updates to my own equipment, which subsequently starting having very similar problems with my devices, including my other Apple products.

20 (edited by Tokyo1st-Chum 2009-07-20 20:10:08)

Re: Notified of update, cannot download it

Duane wrote:

Note that there is at least one other way for this user to address this problem - for instance, he can take it to the distributor of the chumby product in Japan, and they'll gladly do a firmware update.  Using a USB dongle is not at all *required* to perform this update, it's just one way that's convenient for the more technically savvy.  We agree it's not for everyone, and fortunately for Japan, we have a local company that addresses these problems....In this particular case, the poster claims to be using a "Mac iPort" as his access point.  I assume by that he means he's using an Apple Airport ...a USB dongle

Well, then. I just might do that. But if I need to track something down, I may as well just get the flash drive. I assume you all are writing from the USA. Jump in the car, drive down to a discount store and get the flash drive, back home in a few minutes. Not quite as easy here, depending on where one lives. No big box local place for me to pop in. It gets quite inconvenient.

Yes, Airport. iPod, iPhone, iBook, Mac, Apple, easy to get it all mixed up.

The link to the Restore Special Options advice includes this:
"Download and unpack the 1.7.1 update to a USB dongle.."

I was getting confused. Wikipedia says "A dongle is a small piece of hardware that connects to a computer or laptop.[1] It is a portable device and is often identical in appearance to a USB Pen. Although earlier use of dongles was to authenticate a piece of software, the word dongle is now widely used to refer to a broadband wireless adaptor". Prior to checking Wikipedia just now, I thought a dongle was a kind of adapter.

So I guess the flash drive is the dongle.

It was starting to look to me like "unpack the dongle".

No, all of you are correct about products not coming with all of the possible components that might be useful to address some sort of failure mode. I agree with your assessments.

I'll survive with the Chumby nag screens for a few more days until I can get a flash drive. (Hey! It might be good to have the flash drive around for other purposes too, dessho?)

To everyone - thank you for the assistance.