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WARNING EX1R Firmware Update…DONT DO IT YOURSELF
Warning to anyone considering performing a firmware update on the EX1r.
Because of the word out that things can go wrong I returned the camera to my vendor and requested they do it.
Six weeks later, lawyers now involved because ‘someone’ has trashed the camera big time. Not sure who is to blame yet, vendor blaming ‘Sony engineer’. Somehow I don’t believe them, I think the office geek has had a go.
Kind of glad I didn’t try myself. Spoken to a number independent Sony qualified engineers and they have shown concern that Sony should not have made this available as a download. I wonder if that has something to do with it? if it is the office geek.
Last response from vendor made me laugh. get this, “I would once again like to apologies for how long this has taken to get to this stage, I can assure you that we are as un happy with this engineer as you are.”
I had to respond…’no, I am more unhappy with you” you lying git!
So, you have been warned, any Sony guys out there like to comment? -
13 Replies
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Sounds like the office geek at the vendor tried to do it, maybe didn’t know about the “hidden” USB maintenance port, and bricked the sucker.
Cf
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There have been very few reports of “bricking” or other failures. The #1 issue that gets reported to our tech group is “no communication between the camera and the PC” and this is almost always a result of people not reading the instructions and connecting to the wrong port.
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A couple of month ago a guy posted to my private mail asking for help because he had tried to update the firmware by himself. Something went wrong and he could go forward, he couldn’t go back.
rafael -
I don’t believe the firmware can be downgraded on any of the models, at least not using the VersionUp application..
No process is foolproof, especially when a computer OS is involved. If users don’t feel comfortable doing the upgrade the Sony service team will be happy to do it for them.
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Maybe Ian can confirm this but I was told $130 for price. Turnaround was estimated 8 business days.
I was also told the repair of a failure was a bit over $3000 but someone mentioned that Sony Japan could do it for a bit over $300 as they were the only place that had the proper tools to avoid a complete board replacement. Of course I’d imagine the turnaround would be long to Japan.
Again Ian feel free to clarify or correct any of the above.
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Presumably you fellows all live in good old USA? Here in good old England I had a firmware update done in 40 minutes free by my vendor who deals in large quantities of Sony kit. Same a couple of years ago with the previous update.
Michael Slowe
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This is all more or less correct.
The cost of having Sony do the upgrade would be 135.00. This is the minimum 1 hour bench fee charged by the service department.
We strongly advise end users to do the updates but if they’re prefer not to risk it they can call the service group and have them do it.
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I paid some 35 USA$$ in Bangkok a couple of years ago.
Broth the camera to SONY and picked it the day after.
rafael -
Just did the V 1.10 upgrade on my EX3 myself and all went well. What a relief! The Mac PMW-EX3_1.10 software doesn’t seem to work om Mac OS X 10.4 (although the documentation sez Tiger) but the Win version works on XP. And during the upgrade, the REC light on the cam goes on a few times so be prepared.
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Just bought the EX3 and I’m wanting to upgrade the firmware. Is there a hidden usb maintance port on the EX3? I found a few video tutorials explaining how to upgrade using the EX1R but nothing about the EX3.
Read a few horror stories about using the wrong port, just want to be safe! 🙂
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