Unable to Connect to or Update Firmware on Replicator Fifth Generation

[Elijah Hughes]

Haven't been using the makerbots for a few months due to reliability issues.  I decided to update the software and firmware to see if anything has improved.  If you've experienced anything similar, please let me know.

We have two Windows 7 64-bit machines, both with Makerbot Desktop 3.7.0.108 installed.  The Replicator Fifth Gen has firmware 1.3.1.143.  I am unable to connect to the Replicator via USB from either machine.  I am thus also unable to update the firmware to the latest version.  Following the instructions on Makerbot's support page, I performed a factory reset.  I even tried replacing the USB cable.

Any ideas?  Anyone with a similar issue?

[Brandon]

Reliability issues? You don't say!?

Have you tried removing the drivers and all traces of Makerbot Desktop and then reinstalling? Failing that, can you connect over LAN? I think you can update FW over LAN still but I'm not 100% sure on that. Pretty sure that's what I used to do until I went back to USB.

[Jetguy]

Yes, firmware can be transferred over lan or Wifi.

[Brandon Pomeroy]

Interesting. I can recreate this bug -- Can't connect to a 5th gen over USB  on Windows 7. However, I can connect over USB on a Windows 8 machine.

I was able to go to Devices -> Connect to a New Device -> and select my machine through Networked Devices (And I do have the option to update firmware). This may not help you, considering that I think you have to set up the wireless through Desktop first...

I'd suggest seeing if you can find someone with a Windows 8 machine.

[joshu...@ieee.org]

This is a shot in the dark.  If you have a spare machine, try installing a Desktop version 3.4 or below and upgrade the firmware to v1.5 first before you use Desktop version 3.7.  There seems to be some signature check performed with Desktop version 3.5 and above before the firmware image is loaded onto the machine.

[Jeff Saltzman]

This happened to me-- Windows 7, Makerbot Desktop 3.7, and the Replicator 5th Gen reset to factory.

Desktop did not see it at all over USB. The ethernet in my office is complicated so I couldn't try that.

What worked for me was installing MakerBot Desktop 3.6: it saw the Replicator right away and updated its firmware. THEN I reinstalled 3.7 and it could print to the Replicator with the latest firmware (1.7.1.305).

[LB engg]

In the Makerware program under "Services" menu select "Restart Background Services".  This works when I cannot connect via an Ethernet cable, maybe it will work for the USB connection.