After seeing all the problems people had with firmware updates over the years, and the fact that my cam pan v1 is in an inaccessible location that would be a huge pain to replace, I have successfully avoided updating the firmware since I purchased the camera. (The firmware is from the May 2020 time frame).
Now, for the first time, the app is refusing to allow me to view the cameras live if I don’t update the firmware.
I am quite worried because there are lots and lots of posts here about pancam v1 firmware updates that ended with the cam pan v1 being thrown away due to the camera being bricked.
I am wondering if anyone with hardwon expertise would like to give me some advice:
Should I just let the app update the firmware to the latest version?
Should I flash it to a particular version?
Is there an older version of the Wyse app that would let me continue using the old firmware? Or is there anyway to continue using the old firmware?
The app will need to go through multiple updates to get to the current version. Fraught with issues that could cause problems. If possible, you should use the sd card manual firmware update process and go straight to the most current version for the camera.
Threre are ways to use older versions on android through side-loading the app, but I don’t use android and can’t give information on the process. Eventually, you’ll probably need to upgrade the app anyway.
As Bill said, it will likely take it in several stages. With that said, I have two original Pan cameras that have been updated any dozens of times without issue (I’m a beta tester and load almost every version).
Since the cameras are hard to access, try doing it via the app first. It if works, yo don’t have to access the cameras. If it fails, you can still use the µSD card method as a backup.
Thanks for the help. I finally got around to trying to update. With the first camera I let the app update it. Big mistake. The update failed and then I get the solid yellow light. Factory reset (holding down the setup button) does nothing. There’s no card in the camera when I try to do the factory reset.
I pulled the bin file out of the zip and renamed it to “demo.bin” making sure there’s no other file extension on the file. I put demo bin on the card and there’s no other files or directories on the card. It is formatted as FAT32.
I noticed that the firmware flashing web page seems to have a glaring error. It seems to be saying that you create a folder named demo.bin rather than a file named demo.bin. I tried both ways. With a folder named demo.bin nothing happens. With a file named demo.bin I get the blue and yellow lights for a couple minutes before the solid yellow light comes back.
Unzip/open the .zip file.
Ensure the unzipped folder is named “demo.bin”.
If not, rename it.
Drag the folder to the root directory of the microSD card and then remove the card from the computer.
Ok, well in any case, I used the file only and renamed it to demo.bin and still end up at the solid yellow light and clicking noises like so many other users have seen.
Is that the end of the line? Is a wyse camera that was attempted to be auto updated from a very old firmware to the latest a brick now?
Thanks, I figured out how to get FAT to work with Windows-- the partition size needs to be 2 GB. Anyway, I tried 2 GB FAT and 8 GB FAT32 and neither worked.
yes, just as a test so I could get the size down to 2GB or 8 GB since a couple people suggested that. But most of my tests have been with the full 32GB