Upgrading Firmware on Mac wirelessly?

[seanb]

OK, so my APEX has been working perfectly since purchasing it 10 months ago. So now I am interested in upgrading the firmware, from 4.04.
I would love to use the new Mac OS updater, but I have no way to connect my Apex directly to my network without disconnecting it completely. It runs wirelessly using a gaming adapter. From what I can tell I should be able to update wirelessly, as long as, the boot loader is updated. Of course, I can't figure out how to do that! It does not appear in the system menu, I am guessing because I am running 10 month old firmware. Any help would be appreciated.

[bazineta]

If you have a Mac laptop with an Ethernet port, then one option would be to directly connect to the Apex; i.e., unplug the cable from the gaming adapter and plug that end into the laptop.

[seanb]

OK, I've done that, but the ApexFlash program on the Mac is not finding the controller. I am no tech guru. How do I get my Mac to talk to the controller?

[bazineta]

Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Network.

Click on your Ethernet port in the left hand side of the preference pane. In the right hand side, it'll likely have 'Using DHCP' set for 'Configure IPV4'. Change this to 'Manually'. You'll see three fields appear. In 'IP Address', use the address of your Apex + 1; e.g., if your Apex is at 192.168.1.50, use 192.168.1.51. In 'Subnet Mask', use 255.255.255.0. In 'Router', the entry shouldn't matter since you're directly connecting to the Apex, but 192.168.1.1 is common. Hit Apply.

The flash updater should now be able to contact the Apex over the dedicated Ethernet cable. Once the update is complete, change 'Configure IPV4' back to 'Using DHCP' and hit Apply.

That should take care of it.

[seanb]

My apex ip address is currently set to 10.0.1.x to work with my apple airport extreme, do I have to change its ip to 192.168.1.50? If so, how do I do that?
Thanks for your help

[RussM]

No. If your Apex is 10.0.1.10, just use a different number for the last part of the address in the network setting for the notebook Ethernet interface, like 10.0.1.20.

[seanb]

MacBook still can't find apex controller, but when I add the ip manually the update seems to work until I get the following messages:
"failed unlock attempt"
"attempting update with old bootloader"
and finally
"update failed: can't assign requested address"
Any ideas?

[bazineta]

Also turn off your WiFi connection on the Mac by right-clicking on the WiFi icon in the menu bar and choosing the appropriate item in the resulting popup menu. Turn it back on via the same technique after the update.

[seanb]

Thanks, that seemed to do it. I still got error messages, but I kept trying. Also changed server setting on mac to same ip as controller. Third time, it worked. Sometimes these things seem to rely more on luck than anything else.

[bazineta]

Good to hear. Since you're now on the new firmware, make sure you also activate the new boot loader, which is done via the display. That'll improve things substantially going forward. See the thread here (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19341109).