RT3S firmware won't run

[G4EML]

One thing worth double checking. It is easy to overlook, I have done it many times myself. Are you sure you are selecting MDUV380/RT3S in the downloader? It defaults to MD9600 and if left set to this it will appear to load OK but the radio will lock up in the way you describe. This is because the firmware will be encrypted with the wrong key.

Colin G4EML

[VE2NCK]

One thing worth double checking. It is easy to overlook, I have done it many times myself. Are you sure you are selecting MDUV380/RT3S in the downloader? It defaults to MD9600 and if left set to this it will appear to load OK but the radio will lock up in the way you describe. This is because the firmware will be encrypted with the wrong key.

Colin G4EML

that option was checked every times.. if any help, those radios were made in 2022-12 according to the sticker on the back
i'm still bugging about the hardware version 3, my rt3s-gps one is not hardware v3 ... i'm still going to try the radio_tool option and keep you udated

[VE2NCK]

well i have to admit i might need a little walkthru with using radio_tool to wrap and flash
there is a few generic examples but i can't find documentation

[VK3KYY]

well i have to admit i might need a little walkthru with using radio_tool to wrap and flash
there is a few generic examples but i can't find documentation

I've not used that tool, but looking at the documentation, to wrap (which means encode and add the header needed for the official loader), the Example command seems to be

./radio_tool --wrap -o wrapped.bin -r DM1701 -s 0x0800C000:main.bin


I checked and the offset address of 0x800C000 is correct for the UV380.

I presume the radio the is

MD-UV380

So the wrap command would be something like

./radio_tool --wrap -o wrapped_OpenMDUV380.bin -r MD-UV380-s 0x0800C000:OpenMDUV380.bin

Then in theory you can use the offical loader

However, if the firmware still won't run, then the problem could be the way the radio_tool 'wrapped' the firmware, or the firmware its self

To confirm radio_tool works OK, you'd need to compile OpenRTX from source and use radio_tool to wrap it and then load it with the loader.
However, you'd need to install the build toolchain for OpenRTX which I think uses something called Meson, which I think requires Python, and you'll all need the cross-compiler and any other dependancies etc etc

I don't think I've ever built openRTX

And AFIK, they don't publish a raw binary file, that you could send to radio_tool to wrap

Actually, if you make a wrapped file, emial it to me and I'll try loading it onto my RT3S using the official loader, because if it runs OK, then radio_tool is wrapping the file correctly

[VE2NCK]

well i have to admit i might need a little walkthru with using radio_tool to wrap and flash
there is a few generic examples but i can't find documentation

I've not used that tool, but looking at the documentation, to wrap (which means encode and add the header needed for the official loader), the Example command seems to be

./radio_tool --wrap -o wrapped.bin -r DM1701 -s 0x0800C000:main.bin


I checked and the offset address of 0x800C000 is correct for the UV380.

I presume the radio the is

MD-UV380

So the wrap command would be something like

./radio_tool --wrap -o wrapped_OpenMDUV380.bin -r MD-UV380-s 0x0800C000:OpenMDUV380.bin

Then in theory you can use the offical loader

However, if the firmware still won't run, then the problem could be the way the radio_tool 'wrapped' the firmware, or the firmware its self

To confirm radio_tool works OK, you'd need to compile OpenRTX from source and use radio_tool to wrap it and then load it with the loader.
However, you'd need to install the build toolchain for OpenRTX which I think uses something called Meson, which I think requires Python, and you'll all need the cross-compiler and any other dependancies etc etc

I don't think I've ever built openRTX

And AFIK, they don't publish a raw binary file, that you could send to radio_tool to wrap

Actually, if you make a wrapped file, emial it to me and I'll try loading it onto my RT3S using the official loader, because if it runs OK, then radio_tool is wrapping the file correctly

thx , i<m still stuck at the radio model, there seem to be RT3S listed .. not quite sure if i call it rt3s_cvs or plain rt3s , i'm going to take a shot at it after lunch thx for the walkthru

managed to wrap the firmware, but it wont write it to the radio, keep looping for about 3 minnutes then crash.

i tried to flash it with radio_tool but i get an error , wrong magic numbers

[VK3KYY]

RT3S is a rebadged UV380

Use MD-UV380 as the radio type

I'm not sure why you are referring to CVS ??? This has nothing to do with the official firmware , which I think has someting like CVS or CSV in its name

[VK3KYY]

Looks like there is a precompiled windows version of Radio Tool

However I downloaded it and wrapped the OpenMDUV380.bin file and attempted to upload using the official loader, and basically it didnt work.

The official loader seemed to get it a loop where the progress bar kept going back to zero and then getting to about 10% before it started again.

I also tried to directly flash the firmware, using the windows version of Radio tool, but it gave an error

Code: Select all

Failed to open device VID=0x0483, PID=0xdf11 (LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED)
Error: Failed to get serial port info from registry

I suspect I'd need to uninstall the official STM DFU driver and use Zadig to attach a libusb driver to that device, but I'm not going to do that, as it would stop the CPS or any other program using the STM DFU driver to update the firmware on any STM32 device

Possibly you can directly flash the firmware using radio tool on Linux,but I'm not sure how radio_tool knows how to wrap the firmware, before flashing it.

The documentation wasn't clear about whether you need to wrap the file first before the tool can be used to flash it

[VE2NCK]

RT3S is a rebadged UV380

Use MD-UV380 as the radio type

I'm not sure why you are referring to CVS ??? This has nothing to do with the official firmware , which I think has someting like CVS or CSV in its name

i'll try again with MD-UV380

i got the radio models while looking in the test/firmware folder of radio_tool .. that's what confused me

still got Error: Invalid start magic

[VE2NCK]

Looks like there is a precompiled windows version of Radio Tool

However I downloaded it and wrapped the OpenMDUV380.bin file and attempted to upload using the official loader, and basically it didnt work.

The official loader seemed to get it a loop where the progress bar kept going back to zero and then getting to about 10% before it started again.

I also tried to directly flash the firmware, using the windows version of Radio tool, but it gave an error

Code: Select all

Failed to open device VID=0x0483, PID=0xdf11 (LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED)
Error: Failed to get serial port info from registry

I suspect I'd need to uninstall the official STM DFU driver and use Zadig to attach a libusb driver to that device, but I'm not going to do that, as it would stop the CPS or any other program using the STM DFU driver to update the firmware on any STM32 device

Possibly you can directly flash the firmware using radio tool on Linux,but I'm not sure how radio_tool knows how to wrap the firmware, before flashing it.

The documentation wasn't clear about whether you need to wrap the file first before the tool can be used to flash it

i will put that on the todo list, as i'm able to flash the factory bin using radio_tool
it seem like it never really delete anything from the radio what ever i flash in it, also i notice that they were programmed using cps 1.20 ..retevis one is 1.12, tyt one is 1.20, can't see anything really different aside from a couple options with no human redable names called ???? and ????? (that wont lead me nowhere for my issue atm)

[SA0BUX]

all 3 of them are RT3S
1 with GPS S/N2201R03S11xxxxx
2 without GPS S/N2105R03S11xxxxx
all are hardware v3 (reported by the retevis cps)

I wonder if 2105 in the serial number could be YearMonth ?
If so ,those having problems is older than the one with GPS.

My GPS equipped RT3S has also 2202R03S11 in the beginning of the s/n and I bought it in 2022, the "seal" over one of screws says 2022 7