Updating CFast card firmware

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1

A question about CFast cards: SwissBit Device Manager offers the option of loading new firmware onto the CFast card. But where can you get the new firmware for CFast cards? SwissBit does not provide support if the card was sold by B&R, and the B&R office in Wr. Neudorf tells me that there are no firmware updates for CFast cards and that this is neither planned nor necessary.

2

If there is a firmware update available, you can find it in the download section. You have to be logged in.

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3

Jaroslav, thank you, I’ve never logged into the download area before. That’s why I couldn’t find the firmware.

4

I found the firmware for the card, but I can’t flash it. This is what it says in readme.txt:

UPGRADE PROCEDURE

  1. Create a USB flash drive with the FAT32 file system.

  2. Extract the contents of UPG_5CFAST.xxxx-10_FW_V01xx_LIN.zip
    to the empty USB flash drive.

  3. Start it on the target PC using the boot menu ([F11], [F5],
    [ESC], etc.) from the UEFI entry of the USB flash drive.

  4. The Update process is executed automatically.

Since I have an industrial PC “5apc2100.by01-000” without a display output, I can’t select the USB stick as a boot device. So it’s not usable.
I couldn’t find any firmware in the ZIP file that can be flashed with the SwissBit tool.

5

I managed to update the card. Using an Intel NUC, I connected the CFast card to a USB reader and, as described in the Readme.txt file, created a USB stick with the update. This allowed me to boot up and flash the card. The new card firmware is SBS10073, which is the same firmware that Swissbit delivers on the cards currently being shipped (26/25).

The update has been available since 2022 and is also marked as a #Recommended Update#. Had I known this, I would probably have been spared the crash with the PLC.

It is unfortunate that our local B&R office is not even aware that there are firmware updates for CFast cards.

6

I moved the discussion to a new topic, so it is more visible and easier to find.

7

FW update of CFAST is not common and usually it is not needed. So colleagues were, in general, right. You know it is about experiences. I hope that with BRCommunity, where more people are involved, we will improve this knowledge sharing.

8

In this case, the update was important. As I see it, the firmware fixed a problem with the CFast card.

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