Why has the PCD lost the program while updating the firmware to 1.16.xx?

FAQ #101625

 

Symtom
When updating the PCD firmware from 1.14.xx (or earlier) to firmware 1.16.27 the user program as well as the PCD configuration is lost.

Reason
The reason for this loss of the user program and the user program backup is that the onboard flash is reformatted. This task is executed right after the firmware update and is required for the generation of an internal (hidden) file system where the new user program backups can be stored.

Solution
In order to avoid data loss of the installation please execute the following steps for updating the firmware:

• For security reasons always update the firmware by an USB connection (and not over the network)
• Before updating the firmware, execute an "Upload all..." of the PCD (from the Online Configurator menu "Online"):
  
• Download the firmware 1.16.27 or more recent. Note that after the download the Error LED is lit and the Run Led blinks for some seconds; during this time the onboard flash is reformatted
• Download your *.im5 file you created with "Upload All..." 

Additional information

• Thanks to this reformatting the new "user program backup to file system" can be executed.
  This backup also includes the media content (R, F, T, C) and the configuration of the IP Enhancements (DHCP, SNTP) and the configuration of the FTP and HTTP server of the PCD. See FAQ 101622
• Additionally, the "Extension Memory Backup size" is now always 256 kByte, independent of the hardware. The available memory for the user program is not reduced by configuring the "Extension Memory Backup size". See FAQ 101623
• The S-Bus and IP configuration remain valid even if the user program is lost
• PG5 2.0.150 with patch 3 or later shows now a warning if the user program and/or the user program backup is lost before the firmware download starts