HEX-NET Unable to Update

One of my HEX-NET Wifi devices (funny but expensive story to how I ended up with 2) is not able to update via USB. Neither device would update through wifi but one of them updated just fine via USB (slow as hell though). The other one gets stuck. For one, it beeps 3 times at certain intervals when plugged in via USB which the other one did not do. During the "download DS update" it stops about 3/4 of the way and says "Error code 11." "Unable to read versions. If the intrerface is on and not in use, try rebooting it."

Now, the above is what I am getting now on the 2nd/3rd try to update. The first time it got to the unpacking of files and froze around 10% for 20-25 mins until it finally gave me a similar error to the above and "update failed". I did not know how to reboot it so I unplugged from the USB. Bricked?

It should mount as mass storage here so that the files can be written to it. Do you have some kind of antivirus that might be trying to scan it? Maybe try with antvirus turned off. Also, what kind of computer it this? Specs? You say they won't update through wifi, so you've tried going through VCDS-Mobile [Options] -> [Check for Updates]? How does it fail?

dudadiesel said:

I did not know how to reboot it so I unplugged from the USB. Bricked?

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Highly unlikely. They can almost always be recovered. Worst case, we'll give you an RMA and beat it into submission here.

Give it a rest (no power for a while), then plug it back in and describe the behavior of the LEDs before you do anything else with it.

-Uwe-

Ok, Full Details based on today's attempt to update:

0. Verified my timing with my other working HEX-NET which was already updated and by using net over wifi. No issues.
1. Hooked up the older HEX-NET I'm having trouble to the car, it blinks lights as normal, shows LED2 as solid green as if it's connected to wifi and normal blinking on LED3 like the other one. Check my router, no device found (the working device shows up with an IP address on my router). Cannot find it by "Auto-detect" which is no surprise as it doesn't appear to have an IP address on my network.

2. Hook up by USB. Initial startup shows LED1 blinking red then goes away. LED2 goes solid green (yeah right, it's not connecting to wifi) LED3 blinks green normally.

3. Load VCDS and test connect to the device. It's successful but unusual (see screenshots). I get 3 subsequent beeps every so often, LED3 blinks orange-red-orange-red then green then off. Does this like 3 or 4 times then finally quits.

4. See further screenshots for the update process. "Unable to read versions" "Error code - 11" This happens right after the window that pops up saying it's about to overwrite the existing file. Device beeps 3 times with the same blinking lights as in point 3.

Now I will say (from memory) that I think what is happening is slightly different from the first time I hit this problem. I believe it was trying to update for a long time on the first run then finally flunked out. And now what it does is what's happened on every attempt since then.

So... bricked? lol

This specific computer is a gaming machine I built. Windows 10, Asus Zenith Alpha Extreme with AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Processor. If you want me to get into the graphics, case, hard drives and whatever I can but I doubt it matters.

I've also tried this on my HP Zbook 17 G4 (running windows 10) with the exact same issues. That was the initial computer I used when I ran into this problem (but successfully updated the other HEX-NET using it)

And if computers could really make a difference, I could try it on my Supermicro server (36 hard drive capacity) running windows server 2019. This thing is built to a very minimum mostly dedicated to serving movies etc.. but could be tried. Or one of my other 20+ computers at work.

As for the attempt to update via wifi, my working device was already updated via USB. So it doesn't bug me about updating it when I connect. Going to "config" under the options interface VCDS doesn't list the interface/device. Under "User Interface and Identification" (For software not devices right?) I get "VCDS was unable to reach the server (error code: -4) Long story short I appear to have no way of checking for updates via a net connection at the moment. It works fine with USB.

1. Hooked up the older HEX-NET I'm having trouble to the car, it blinks lights as normal, shows LED2 as solid green as if it's connected to wifi and normal blinking on LED3 like the other one. Check my router, no device found (the working device shows up with an IP address on my router). Cannot find it by "Auto-detect" which is no surprise as it doesn't appear to have an IP address on my network.

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This doesn't seem right, and should be diagnosable, so lets start with this first. When you first plug the interface in and it is in this state, once the led has turned green, connect the usb and open VCIConfig. On the main screen, it should show network details of the network it is connected to (or thinks it is connected to). What network does it show?

Ok. So when the light is green like it's connected to a network in infrasture mode, here's what I get:

This makes it look like it's in AP mode. However, it's not as you can see AP mode is selectable on this screen:

And if I switch it to AP mode where the LED2 is orange, I can see the AP on my laptop's wifi controller as available and the HEX-NET shows itself as in AP mode. So there was some sort of bug going on from a half update which made infrastructure mode not work properly and keep it in AP mode.

Now, since before I was trying the update with only the USB updated, I tried it again with it powered by the car and hooked up via USB. The update worked this time. So I think it was a power issue when trying to update before which could be due to using a crappy USB cable or is USB usually just not enough to power these things? It worked with my other one. Anyway, now that it's been updated, it connects to the wifi network as it should and all looks good.

I also realized this HEX-NET is my "new one" and the working one was my "Old One." I don't need 2 but the old one dropped under my car seat and I couldn't find it for over a year so I had to buy a new one. Anyone want to buy this one once I get it working? lol My old one was the dealer version this one is only good for 10 vehicles (All I ever really needed honestly) but that means 3 VINs already registered on it.

So I think it was a power issue when trying to update before which could be due to using a crappy USB cable or is USB usually just not enough to power these things?

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If the voltage on the USB is too low, it can definitely cause issues. However, there is a warning that triggers before the update which warns you of this. If the voltage is fluctuating, it might not trigger though, if the voltage is good at the time of the check and then drops mid-update, that could absolutely cause problems.
Generally, this isn't an issue and updating via usb will work fine, but certainly we have seen some questionable computers/usb extenders that could put you at risk of a low voltage situation.

I'll go pick up some new USB cables. USB2.0B isn't exactly a commonly used USB connection these days so my stock on those is down to just a few cables that mostly came with old printers. I know this cable came with the Q Loader I got from Kerma. I'll go find some which are shorter or at least specd with thicker cables for next time.

Still not sure why I couldn't update these things by the network though. That was how I did it in the past. Is it a known issue for updates to fail by net if you go like a year without running updates or something?